Push for 'green' houses in Vietnam
Play
Environmental experts have called on Vietnam to renew their efforts in providing economic incentives and better policies to promote "greener" buildings in the face of resource depletion and rapid urbanisation.
Speaking at yesterday’s conference on green housing organised by the Goethe-Institut in Hanoi, Michael Waibel, a senior researcher at the University of Hamburg in Germany, said housing offers enormous potential for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions due to the country’s huge construction boom and emerging middle class.
According to Waibel, residences account for 24 per cent of global energy consumption, but the figure is around 54 per cent in Vietnam and 33 per cent in Southeast Asia as an average, citing statistics from the International Energy Agency.
Urging leaders to promote climate-adapted and energy-efficient buildings, Waibel said: “Clearly it would be a lost opportunity if policymakers did not try to foster energy efficiency related to Vietnam’s building and housing sector.”
However, green housing in Vietnam should be developed in ways that suit the country’s economic conditions, stressed Nguyen To Lang, vice rector of Hanoi Architecture University.
These include harnessing local resources, looking to simple construction solutions that are relevant to local technology capabilities as well as easy to maintain and affordable for consumers.
