The vast majority of Nepal's population still lives in rural areas, and Nepal is now one of the fastest urbanising developing countries. It is estimated that 1 million homes will be built in Nepal over the next ten years. In addition to housing, tourism, hospitality and commercial buildings are also expected to see a large increase in the building stock. In recent decades, the market's demand for space has led to buildings being designed without taking the local climate into account. A lot of energy is consumed, especially for heating and cooling, so that the total energy demand for the operation of buildings has increased with the increasing urbanisation of Nepal. In addition, the use of building materials with high energy content leads to a larger carbon footprint of the construction sector in Nepal.
In Nepal, there are currently no standards, guidelines or regulations for the energy efficient design of new buildings or for the retrofitting of existing buildings. The awareness and capacity of MSMEs in the construction sector for energy efficient buildings and service provision remains low. While the structural stability of buildings in Nepal has come into focus due to earthquakes, there is a lack of consideration of climate compatibility and energy efficiency in most new buildings. Efficiency issues need to be addressed through the integration of passive strategies to design climate-friendly buildings and the use of energy-efficient space heating and cooling systems. In addition, priority must be given to materials that consume little energy in production and during their service life and are resource-efficient. The integration of renewable energy measures into the design and operation of buildings must also be promoted in order to further reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.
Tasks in the project
In cooperation with various stakeholders, the project promotes climate-friendly building concepts and retrofits as well as the use of energy-efficient space heating and cooling technologies, resource-efficient building materials and the integration of renewable energy sources. The project aims to achieve results on several levels:
- Policy interventions through advice on standards through local consensus processes between different stakeholders; favourable policy frameworks create an enabling environment for the scaling up of measures by builders/owners while providing policy incentives for SMEs to continue their services;
- Improve the technical and entrepreneurial capacities of designers and architects to integrate passive design strategies, use resource-efficient materials or renewable energy sources;
- More than 400 SMEs are integrating and adapting their services to EE and RE design;
- By improving the construction or retrofitting of at least 200 buildings in 60 municipalities and advising these municipalities on policy measures, the project aims to reduce operational energy consumption by at least 25 % and 10 % of the energy contained in materials.
The project supports the overall objective of the European Green Deal (2019) and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan (2020) by promoting circular economy strategies in the building sector. It facilitates the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient and circular building sector by supporting green technologies through capacity building, policy and financial interventions. It is in line with national commitments to mitigate climate change, in which the building sector plays an important role. It also supports the new EU Standardisation Strategy to promote European standards in other regions.
