WHAT IS AN ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING?

PEEB´s Criteria for Buildings

The building sector consumes about half of the electricity worldwide, representing an energy
reduction potential of 60% for heating and cooling needs (IEA 2016). Using air conditioners and
electric fans for cooling account for nearly 20% of the total electricity used in buildings worldwide
today, and is projected to triple by 2050 under a Business as Usual (BAU) scenario (IEA 2018).
Measures to reduce energy consumption can provide ample win-win opportunities. They
contribute massively to the fight against global warming, while leading to a reduction in capital
and operation costs and improved thermal comfort. Energy savings can be achieved through
climate responsive and passive design features, appropriate and ambitious technologies and an
optimized facility management throughout the entire building life cycle.

The Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) facilitates technical and financial
support to large-scale programmes in the building sector in developing and emerging countries.
PEEB focusses primarily on new construction, but energy retrofit projects for existing buildings
may also qualify.

As minimum criteria, Projects shall:

 Adhere at least to the existing building codes and regulations in the respective countries,

 Apply the most efficient locally available technologies and systems and

 Demonstrate the possibility for large-scale replication and duplication.

This document outlines PEEB´s basic criteria for energy efficient buildings. They serve as a
compass or guidance for decision-making, as generally not all criteria may be fulfilled in one single
project. This is a living document and will be updated or amended as needed.

February 2019
BUILDING NORMS AND REGULATIONS

 As a prerequisite, Projects must acknolwegde and adhere to the existing construction

guidelines, building codes and regulations in the respective countries.

 In the second place, Projects should pursue more ambitious energy saving goals compared to
conventional buildings of the same building type and located in a similar climate and, thus,
aiming at a higher level than the existing building codes and standards.
BUILDING DESIGN

 Projects shall apply bioclimatic and passive solar building design features based on the local
climate conditions and building culture aimed at reducing future energy demand. Approaches
may include:
 Orientation and shape: Appropriate building orientation maximising the use of natural
daylight and natural ventilation according to function and time of the day and suitable
building shape regarding form and grade of compactness,
 Adaptation to (urban) micro-climate: Designing with respect to the microclimate of the
site due to surrounding factors such as open spaces, vegetation, water bodies, proximity
of other buildings, concrete and asphalt roofs and pavements, contributing to reduce or
limit the urban heat island effect, for example through green roofs, lighter-coloured and
high reflectance surfaces and limiting the rain run-off.
 Building envelope: Ensuring control of air flow, heat flow and moisture infiltration into
the building by choosing climate appropriate building materials and insulating roofs and
walls, optimal positioning of openings (e.g. use of natural daylight), using high
performance windows and/or natural ventilation in accordance with climate conditions,
 Solar protection: Shading to avoid direct solar radiation into the building or on its
exposed areas to minimise the heat gain and, thus, avoiding the need for artificial
cooling to achieve thermal comfort.

 Projects shall respect the local building design, culture and contribute to the local cultural
diversity and, thus, to the sustainable urban development of cities and human settlements.

 The building design shall be functional, optimizing the building floor area for the different
uses of the project and allow for a flexible and adaptable use throughout the life span of the
building, and thus, reducing the need for additional floor area.
ENERGY AND RESOURCE EFFICIENCY

 Projects shall apply highly efficient technologies, systems and appliances which are
appropriate for the local conditions, such as as climate, adequate operational and
maintenance costs and acceptance by users.

 If building typology and climate conditions allow, projects may integrate the use of on site or
nearby renewable energies, such as solar or geothermic energy, for water heating, space
cooling and/or heating, and/or electricity generation for the building.

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 Projects shall aim for a low water footprint by adopting options such as efficient water
distribution systems; low water-consuming devices, rainwater harvesting and use, and
innovative wastewater reuse/recycling technologies.

 Projects shall focus on the use of locally available and sustainable building materials and
systems in the first place and imported materials and systems only in the case of non-
availability at local level and if so, with a focus on contributing to the introduction of new
sustainable materials or systems to the local market.

 Projects shall apply materials and systems with a low carbon footprint throughout the entire
product life-cycle, i.e. as little as possible energy used to extract raw resources, process
materials, assemble product components, transportation to the building site, construction
techniques, maintenance and repair and, deconstruction and disposal.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

 Projects shall achieve an adequate indoor air quality with a minimum ventilation airflow to
ensure a sufficient fresh air supply to keep occupants healthy and to protect the building
condition especially adverse effect from moisture.

 Projects shall apply low emitting indoor equipment, materials and furnishings to reduce
concentrations of chemical contaminants that can damage air quality, human health,
productivity, and the environment.

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

 Projects shall provide permanently installed connected metering systems for monitoring the
total energy (electricity, heat, gas, others) and water consumption of the entire facility.

 Projects should additionally include, where appropriate, intelligent building systems for the
rational use of energy and water (e.g. lighting, cooling and heating).

 Projects shall apply materials and systems which provide an optimum performance with a
minimum of long-term operation and maintenance efforts and costs. Taking into account local
conditions, maintenance and repair works shall be manageable without the need for
importing parts or expertise.
URBAN SUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCE

 Projects shall contribute to a sustainable local urban planning and/or regional development
planning, being integrated in the existing urban structure or located in future urban or
regional development corridors.

 Projects shall be integrated into existing or potential new public transport infrastructure,
including soft mobility options (e.g. walking, cycling) and / or shall provide a good accessibility
to clean mobility infrastructures to the occupants.

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 Projects shall pursue the efficient land use of the available city area and/or building
development zone, applying the principles of compact building design and mixed use as well
as considering brownfield re-development or re-densification of inner-city areas when
relevant.

 Projects shall respect the local environmental protection, disaster prevention and climate
adaptation planning to avoid building in natural disaster risk zones, to ensure resilience to
events such as flooding, (e.g. near river or coastal zones) landslides, earthquakes or fires and
to respect urban fresh air corridors.

REFERENCES

ADEME and Partners. Tropical Buildings. Bioclimatic Architecture in the Tropics.

http://www.tropicalbuildings.org/system/pages/images/000/000/004/original/Need_for_Bio_C
limatic_Architecture.pdf?1471082185
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Framework guidelines for energy efficiency standards
in buildings. Global transformation of buildings in the built environment: Framing the design,
delivery and operation of buildings as integrated, thermodynamic and environmental
systems. 2017.
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/documents/2017/ECE_HBP_2017_3.en.pdf
https://www.unece.org/hk/housing-and-land-management/projects/ee-standards-for-
buildings.html
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing. 2015
https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/hlm/documents/Publications/EN_Geneva_UN_Charter
_on_Sustainable_Housing.pdf
International Energy Agency (IEA). IEA Building Energy Efficiency Policies Database.
https://www.iea.org/beep/
International Energy Agency (IEA). Transition to Sustainable Buildings. Strategies and
Opportunities to 2050. 2013.
https://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/Building2013_free.pdf
International Energy Agency (IEA). The Future of Cooling. Opportunities for energy-efficient air
conditioning . 2018.
https://webstore.iea.org/the-future-of-cooling
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate
Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Chapter 9: Buildings. 2017
https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter9.pdf
World Green Building Council. About Green Building. 01.04.2019.
https://www.worldgbc.org/how-can-we-make-our-buildings-green

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 French Environment &
Energy Management Agency

The for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) is currently funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety (BMU), the French Ministère de la Transition écologique et solidaire (MTES), Agence Française de Developpement (AFD) and the
Fonds français pour l’environnement mondial (FFEM).

This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conversation and
Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

CONTACT
Publisher PEEB is implemented by Contact Design
Programme for Energy Agence de l’Environnement Christiana Hageneder © creativerepublic, Germany
Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie christiana.hageneder@giz.de Image Credits
Secretariat (ADEME) © p. 1: Shuttterstock
p. 2: GIZ + Shutterstock
c/o Agence Française de Agence Française de Author/Editor
Développement (AFD) Developpement (AFD) Programme for Energy As at
5 Rue Roland-Barthes Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) June 2019
75012 Paris, France Deutsche Gesellschaft Secretariat
E info@peeb.build für Internationale
T +33 (0) 1 53 44 35 28 Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH