The 20th Annual Meeting of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Sub-sector Network (EE&C-SSN) in Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar) this year also included the 11th Evaluation Meeting of the Board of Judges (BoJ) for Energy Management (2 May 2016), the 22nd Evaluation Meeting of the BoJ for Energy Efficient Buildings (3 May 2016), and the 3rd Evaluation Meeting of the BoJ for Green Buildings (4 May 2016) of the ASEAN Energy Awards (AEA) 2016.

The AEA for Energy Management was launched in 2007, and aim to promote best practices, innovative and creative energy management demonstrated and applied in buildings and industries towards energy conservation in Southeast Asia region. All sectors are encouraged to adopt and implement innovative and creative energy management approaches to enhance business growth, to save energy, and to improve environmental quality in the region. The Meeting was participated by BOJ members from 5 (five) ASEAN Member States (AMS) namely; Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand.

The Energy Management competition comprises of 6 (six) categories: a) Small and Medium Buildings; b) Large Buildings; c) Small & Medium Industry; d) Large Industry; e) Special Submission Buildings; and f) Special Submission Industry. For the evaluation, the judges were not only looking at energy saving achievement but also at its impact, sustainability and replicability to transform the way they are using energy.

For this year’s competition, ACE received a total of 32 (thirty two) entries from 7 (seven) AMS; Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam for all categories. From 2007 to 2016, the total entries for ASEAN Energy Management Awards reached 141 entries which shows that building consumption index (BCI)/ specific energy consumption (SEC) has improved significantly.

Meanwhile, the AEA for Energy Efficient Buildings were launched in 2000, and have been recognised as Southeast Asia’s highest reward for excellence in the field of energy to promote awareness and private sector participation in energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) in buildings. There are 4 (four) categories for these Awards:  a) New and Existing Buildings; b) Retrofitted Buildings; c) Tropical Buildings; and d) Special Submissions.

The 22nd Evaluation Meeting for Energy Efficient Buildings on 3 May 2016 was participated by BoJ from 6 (six) AMS; Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.  For this year’s competition, ACE received 27 (twenty seven) entries from 6 (six) AMS; Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. From 2000 to 2016, the competition has reached a total of 182 entries for all categories.  This hows that building consumption index (BCI) has improved significantly. The energy consumption index of buildings in ASEAN building competition is improving year by year, starting from ~250 kWh/m²/year in early 2000 and currently ~75 kWh/m²/year based on 2000 hours operation/year.

The judges conducted their evaluation on the entries following these criteria: overall site design; energy saving achieved; passive design; active design; maintenance and management; as well as environmental impact.

On 4 May 2016, the BoJ’s 3rd Evaluation Meeting for AEA 2016’s Green Buildings was conducted and attended by 7 (seven) AMS; Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.  Launched in 2014, the AEA Green Buildings competition aim to build competency in adopting, developing and applying green building principles in the design of built environment as well as contributing to global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.

The ASEAN Green Building Awards have specific objectives to: i) increase the public’s level of awareness in green buildings; ii) encourage the utilisation of resources efficiently; iii) contribute to global efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and to promote measures to address climate change resilience; iv) enhance eco-friendly supply chain and create a market for green building technologies, materials and products; v) build the competency of buildings and real estate professionals and other stakeholders in the building industry in evaluating and interpreting the design, construction and maintenance of green buildings; and vi) adopt, develop and apply the green building principles in the design of the built environment.

The Green Building Awards have 2 categories:  a) Small and Medium Green Buildings; and b) Large Buildings. The awardees were selected based on the following criteria: i)  Energy Efficiency (30%);  Renewable Energy (5%); Water Efficiency (10%); Environmental Sustainability (25%); Indoor Environment Quality (20%); Operation and Maintenance & other green features and innovation (10%).

For this year’s competition, ACE and the BoJ received 10 (ten) entries from 5 (five) AMS; Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand. As of now, the total entries received under this competition since its launch are 19 (nineteen).

The winners for all of the 3 Awards (Energy Management, Energy Efficient Buildings, Green Buildings) with different categories will be announced and receive the prizes during the gala dinner organised in conjunction with the 34^th ASEAN Energy Ministers Meeting and ASEAN Energy Business Forum 2016 in September 2016, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. (RJPS)