Global Sustainable Communities Handbook by Clark Woodrow III

Author:Clark, Woodrow, III
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780123979292
Publisher: Elsevier Science
Published: 2012-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Buildings: Caught in a Vicious Circle

The last decade has experienced record high mean annual temperatures globally, but also locally in Mauritius. To counter days of heat waves, people turn on air-conditioning units at home, in industry, and in the services sector. The Building Control Act, which requires energy efficiency in buildings, has yet to be enforced. Similarly, the introduction of labels and minimum performance standards for appliances is not yet a reality in Mauritius. Hence, a vicious circle sets in as power from fossil-fuel combustion is being used for short-term cooling of buildings through air conditioning. Such a practice increases, in the long term, greenhouse gas emissions and accelerates global warming, the very cause of extreme high temperatures.

As a first measure, the government is now proposing differentiated excise duties on appliances, 0% on the most efficient and up to 25% on those with minimum performance standards (MOFED 2012). The EU labeling system is being adapted for this purpose. While this is a proper initiative, it is doubtful if its impact will be significant. It may lead to rendering appliances too expensive for lower income groups. A bonus on the return and scrapping of old inefficient appliances targeting the latter, as well as tariff structures discouraging higher consumption of electricity, may also be needed to boost energy efficiency. It is also feared that without focused education and sensitization of stakeholders, particularly households, the aimed objective of energy efficiency may not become a reality.

In the case of air conditioning, a coherent holistic approach in terms of energy management will also require the urgent enforcement of energy efficiency regulations under the building control act. However, the sheer complexity of the matter, involving regulatory and institutional changes, is leading to much delay in such enforcement. Training and monitoring mechanisms are also taking too long to be set up. This is probably largely due to the low critical mass or economies of scale related to small islands such as Mauritius. The same reason lies, to some extent, behind the slow emergence of an energy services sector. International cooperation exists but has been mostly happening in the form of desktop studies by foreign consultants, not as technology or know-how transfer to the local population.

The decentralized combination of renewable energy sources, smart grid, introduction of labels and standards, and several other means of achieving sustainable energy management in Mauritius rely much on the use of new techniques and technologies. They have administrative and management costs, are subjected to bureaucratic hurdles, and rest upon top-down implementation that has to be reckoned right from scratch, that is, from the design stage.

A complementary approach is next discussed with reference to heat recovery for air conditioning in the Mauritius context. It promotes a more bottom-up, end-of-pipe grassroot method applicable in the case of existing buildings. It relies on current, often locally available materials and knowledge. Its emphasis is not on sophisticated methodologies or technologies. It favors behavioral change, even simple traditional ways of achieving efficiency such as good housekeeping, maintenance, and waste minimization.

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