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International Partnerships
Project

Building Energy Efficiency in Nepal (BEEN)

On-the-job training for Rat-Trap-Bond and Hollow Brick application
On-the-job training for Rat-Trap-Bond and Hollow Brick application
© SWITCH-Asia

Nepal is one of the fastest urbanising developing countries. It is estimated that 1 million homes will be built in Nepal in the next decade. Over the past few decades, market demands of space have resulted in buildings being designed without consideration of local climate. A lot of energy is used for heating and cooling, and the overall energy requirement in buildings has increased with Nepal’s growing urbanisation. In addition, the use of building materials with high embodied energy is resulting in larger carbon footprint in the building sector in Nepal.

Currently, Nepal does not have standards, guidelines or regulations regarding energy efficient building design for new construction or for retrofitting of existing buildings. Awareness and capacities of building sector MSMEs on energy efficient buildings and service offerings remain low. 

Women using the Hollow Brick production
Hollow Brick production initiated
© SWITCH-Asia

Working with multiple stakeholders, the project promotes climate-responsive building designs and retrofitting, as well as use of energy efficient space heating and cooling technologies, resource-efficient building materials and integration of renewable energy sources. The project aims to achieve results at multiple levels: 

  • Policy interventions by providing advisory on standards through local multi-stakeholder consensus processes; favourable policies create an enabling environment for scaling up of measures by builders/owners while also availing policy incentives for MSMEs to continue its services;
  • Technical and business capacity of designers and architects improved to integrate passive design strategies, use resource-efficient materials or renewable energy sources;
  • More than 400 MSMEs integrate and adapt their services to EE and RE design;
  • By improving building or retrofitting of at least 200 buildings in 60 municipalities and advising these on policies, the project seeks to decrease operational energy consumption by at least 25 %, and 10% of energy embodied in materials.
  • Develop passive design guidelines, design tools, technical standards and manuals as well as training programmes in collaboration with local governments and related associations;
  • Capacity building throughout the value chain of the building sector to utilize measures developed under the project;
  • Support Building-MSMEs to prepare relevant communication and promote Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy (RE) in buildings;
  • Technical support or performance monitoring for showcase buildings;
  • Support awareness campaigns for end-user on consolidated energy efficiency measures and resource-efficient materials;
  • Development of financing mechanism to implement EE in cooperation with government, municipal and financial institutions;
  • Assist construction MSMEs to access fiscal and policy incentives;
  • Facilitate development and access of EE-friendly policy incentives in collaboration with municipalities to promote uptake of EE buildings;
  • Facilitate the recognition and implementation of European and international standards for EE and RE building products and support their translation and adoption at national level; 
  • Dissemination among municipality officials and general public about the municipal policies (guidelines, by-laws) on building energy efficiency solutions.
  • 200 buildings apply energy efficiency and renewable energy  measures
  • 25% savings in energy consumption in selected new and retrofitted buildings
  • 8 showcase buildings demonstrating EE and RE measures
  • 400 BUILDING-MSMEs capacitated to offer EE and RE measures in their services and products
  • 3 policies developed for promoting EE in building sector
  • 30 targeted municipalities adopt policies promoting EE and RE in Buildings
  • 2 banks offer preferential financial instruments to attract private investment for energy efficient building sector.

Related links

BEEN project website: www.been.minergynepal.com (to be launched in May 2023)

Universität Innsbruck: https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/

MinErgy Pvt Ltd: https://www.minergynepal.com/

Greentech Knowledge Solutions Pvt Ltd: https://www.gkspl.in/

Asociación Española de Normalización (UNE): https://www.une.org/

BEEN project social channels: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter