Government unfolds national building energy efficiency guidelines

Striving to ensure access to sustainable energy service, the federal government has launched the Building Energy Efficiency Guideline (BEEG) for the country.

The document was a collaboration ministry with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) under the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) and the guideline is expected to be a handbook for all professionals in the built environment. It consists of the reality of energy efficiency in building and factors to consider in achieving it.

To maximize energy efficiency in building, factors to be considering include, the specific micro climatic condition of the site; Site selection, orientation and shape of the building, in line with wind direction; conscious selection of building materials and envelop systems aimed at miximizing heat; the use of energy efficient lighting and equipment and deployment of renewable energy in powering few or all the building electrical loads.

Speaking at the event in Abuja, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said that the document may in future be harmonized with the National Building code as its energy efficiency component.

The minister observed that the present reality of insufficient energy supply in the country has been a major bane to the socio-economic development of the country adding that this has made government to explore all sources to achieve incremental power.

He said, “ It was the realization of this challenge that made the Heads of ECOWAS government in July, 2013, here in Abuja renew their commitment to provision and access to sustainable energy service in West Africa and the issue of energy efficiency building, to be up-scaled in ECOWAS sub region by adopting ECOWAS Energy Efficiency Policy (EEEP) as well as ECOWAS Renewable Energy Policy (EREP).

On plans to provide affordable houses, the minister stated that the government was looking at ensuring that citizens who earn up to N70,000 monthly, whether in the public or private sector, would be able to access the kind of homes to be developed across the country.