Colombia. The Administration of Mayor Enrique Peñalosa signed the Action Plan of the Building Efficiency Accelerator Program (BEA) of the United Nations (UN), which involved Bogotá in recognition of its potential in terms of energy saving and energy efficiency.
The capital of Colombia was selected as one of the six cities worldwide that participates in the BEA Program directed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), and that received resources to develop the commitment to double the rate of energy efficiency in buildings by 2030.
The Colombian Council for Sustainable Construction (CCCS) was selected by the Mayor's Office of Bogotá and the World Resources Institute (WRI) to develop this program with the authorities of the capital and define a policy, an emblematic program and a monitoring mechanism to contribute to the city in its objective of reducing its urban footprint and increasing its resilience to climate change and climate variability.
After an extensive process of participation, a Work Plan was finalized, which was signed today. In its formulation, it involved the different sectors that have an impact on urban governance in terms of buildings, such as government and civil society; providers of technical and financial services; the owners, managers and occupants; and home utilities.
"The Territorial Planning Plan (POT), currently under review, will be harmonized with the current national policy (Resolution 549 of 2015 Guide for saving water and energy in new constructions of the Ministry of Housing), regarding energy and water efficiency for buildings. And a regulation will be issued that lands the national standard to Bogotá in a clear, detailed and measurable way," said Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, during his speech at the VIII version of the "CONSTRUVERDE International Forum & Expo on Sustainable Design and Construction".
"The subscription of the BEA Program action plan that was made today by the district administration represents a New Agreement that will generate a detailed policy that guarantees that all new buildings in Bogotá meet sustainability and efficiency standards in water and energy consumption. There will be a protocol for the implementation of the Guide for saving water and energy in new buildings, Resolution 548/15, which the Ministry of Housing hopes will also be useful for other cities in the country," added Cristina Gamboa, Executive Director of the Colombian Council for Sustainable Construction.
The BEA Program is financed by the World Bank and corresponds to one of the energy efficiency accelerators of the UN's Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which emerged at COP 21 in Paris, where Colombia committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"The goal of achieving a more sustainable and environmentally friendly city is fundamental in consideration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the commitments assumed in the Paris Agreement and the vision of sustainability of Bogotá," explained the District Secretary of Planning, Andrés Ortiz Gómez.
"With our participation in the Energy Efficiency in Buildings Accelerator Program - BEA, we hope to identify weaknesses and strengths in meeting the minimum percentages of water and energy savings for new buildings, as provided in Resolution 549 of 2015, in the development of the pilot project selected by the program," added Rodolfo Beltrán Cubillos, Director of Urban and Territorial Space, Ministry of Housing, City and Territory.
The total electricity consumption of residential buildings in Bogotá is 583.94 kWh/inhabitant-year. This is above the average optimal value in Latin America which is 427.6 kWh/inhabitant-year.
Figures that justify the BEA Programme and its promotion of sustainable construction:
- Bogota and the region will grow 2.1 times by 2050.
- The population of Bogotá grows 132 thousand people a year.
- By 2030 11.09 million people are expected and by 2050 the figure is 13.05 million people.
- By 2030, 1.16 million additional homes are expected in Bogotá-Region and by 2050 the amount amounts to 2.89 million.
The BEA Program will ensure that everything new that is built in Bogotá corresponds to a vision of green growth and sustainable construction and urbanism policies.
Likewise, with the support of the Universidad de los Andes, the BEA Program for Bogotá defined that the Partial Plan Triangle of Phoenicia will be an emblematic project for its efficiency in water and energy in buildings and urbanism. When considering the energy reduction goals of Res.549/15 it is estimated that this project located in the center of the capital of eight hectares and about 120,000 square meters of new construction could reduce 26% of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 with respect to its baseline (in cumulative terms the potential for emission reduction for the period 2020-2030 would be 3,625 tons of CO2 eq.).
The objective of this pilot is to be able to have tangible results and lessons learned within 18 months to later replicate and scale them to the city.
Finally, the city will have a reporting and verification mechanism by 2018 to meet the expectations of this initiative. It will require the commitment and contributions of domestic utilities, as it will require the georeferencing of indicators, their articulation to the construction licensing process, and the design and implementation of a reporting and verification mechanism, within the local government and facing consumers. This mechanism will allow to have a first applied example of implementation, monitoring, reporting and verification of the Res. 549 of 2015, whose lessons will be important for the successful implementation of the national policy.
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