Five companies join green drive
FIVE companies signed an agreement with the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) to promote the designing of energy-efficient buildings and houses, Thai News Agency said today (April 7).
The five companies are Siam Cement Plc, Pruksa Real Estate Plc, Central Pattana Plc, Ananda Development Plc, and Narai Property Company.
Energy Minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat said linking up with the private sector is in accordance with the country’s Energy Efficient Partnership (EEP 2015) strategy which gives importance to using energy to the maximum advantage and sets a goal to reduce consumption by approximately 30% by 2036.
Praphon Wongtharua, director general of Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, said the amended laws on Building Energy Code take effect from 2018 with this first to be tried with buildings having over 10,000 square meters of space with around a hundred built a year.
After that it will be imposed on buildings with 5,000 sqm of space with around 2,000 built a year and then finally on buildings having 2,000 sqm of space with around 4,500 built a year.
Nine types of buildings are covered namely hospitals, educational institutions, offices, condominiums, buildings where people congregate, theaters, hotels, service structures and shopping malls.
The department and its private sector partners will arrange activities to spread the knowledge on this issue among the public while also encouraging designers to design green buildings and houses and spurring the market to build more green structures.
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Top: Energy efficient lights being used in US Department of Agriculture (USDA) greenhouses at the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, CA reduce greenhouse gas emissions and saves about $200,000 a year in electrical costs. Photo: US Department of Agriculture (CC-BY-2.0)
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