Second Webinar: "Applications and Good Practices in Chile and Germany"
"In order for our cities to be sustainable, it will be important to consider the carbon footprint of the entire construction cycle".
Daina Neddemeyer
On October 27, the second episode of the webinar series, with the topic "Applications and Best Practices in Chile and Germany", was held. On this webinar, representatives from the Chilean Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINVU), Fraunhoffer ISE, the Latin-American Passivhaus Institute, and the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie spoke about energy efficiency promotion programmes in Chile, façade-integrated photovoltaic systems, and concrete examples of passive cooling and heating in structures.
The topic has been gaining much relevance in Chile in recent years, which is reflected, among others, in the enactment of the first Energy Efficiency Law at the beginning of 2021. This seeks to promote the rational and efficient use of energy resources to help improve productivity and economic competitiveness, as well as to improve people's quality of life and reduce pollutant emissions. The regulation aims to promote energy management in large consumers such as mining, cement and forestry companies, but also covers other industries such as real estate, setting clear targets that would allow a 10% reduction in energy intensity by 2030.
Daina Neddemeyer, head of the Energy Partnership Chile-Germany project at GIZ Chile (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), the implementing organisation of this alliance, opened the round of presentations by stating that "for our cities to be sustainable, it will be important to consider the carbon footprint of the entire construction cycle".
In the same direction, the Chilean Ministry of Energy has been promoting different programmes to promote the use of renewable energies, for example, through the installation of photovoltaic panels connected to the grid. In the webinar, the Chilean Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (MINVU), delved into different public programmes to promote energy efficiency measures in construction. "One of the lesser known roles of the housing ministry is the regulation of the building sector. Under this logic, we have decided to cross the roles of promoter of public housing policies and regulator, to advance in favour of energy efficiency", explained Marcelo Soto, Head of the Department of Construction Technologies of MINVU.
In addition, the event presented photovoltaic systems integrated into facades on which the Fraunhofer ISE Institute is working, examples of good practices in Chile of the Passivhaus building standard and a pilot project between the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) and the University of Concepción in the south of Chile. Renzo Vallebuona, Architect for Building Design at the KIT, presented the IceLab III project: "We have designed a fully airtight structure based on aluminium and wood. This prototype was designed for the Patagonia region in southern Chile and will be tested in Caleta Tortel. For insulation, we decided to compare all the local insulating materials we knew, from the most to the least ecological, and we decided on sheep's wool as insulation."
It is worth noting that only 4 countries, including Chile, were declared by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) as robust, with concrete actions and plans for 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality, being recognised as "climate champions" in the framework of the COP26. Being a relevant actor on the scene, more than 330 people connected from Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, USA, Mexico, Peru and Switzerland, followed the webinar with interest. How is energy efficiency in the area of interior lighting of buildings reflected in construction? Are there currently any measures that focus on energy efficiency during the construction of a project? When will the new thermal regulations come into force? When does the amount of energy needed to produce insulation material pay off in proportion to the energy savings in the house? These were just some of the questions that the public put to the experts during the dynamic question rounds.