The current state of the Maltese legislation and the available strategic plans, are summarized with the following three documents:
- L.N. 47/18 and especially Tech. Guide F regarding minimum requirements for the energy performance of a building. For Small and big developments feasibility study of alternative systems have to be produced (solar systems, heat-pumps, combined heat and power plant) as potential collective heating and cooling strategies for buildings.
- Malta nZEB plan, strategic plan to implement new benchmarks with the aim at overcoming the previous minimum requirements and thus leading to a superior overall energy performance.
- Green Public Procurement criteria for Construction works and other related products and services, are voluntary in case of public bids. It is mainly focused on construction specs and particularly Indoor Air Quality (I.A.Q.)
These provisions combined all together can have a huge impact on the Maltese market since they will address topics like fuel poverty, indoor comfort and generate savings on operational costs (mainly the water and electricity bills as well as I.A.Q. for the tenants). Developers could also address specific niche of customers just because their buildings have smaller carbon footprint: Applying for a voluntary green building rating schemes (LEED, BREEAM, so on) may push forward with.
As a matter of fact, the new legislation LN 47/2018 regarding Energy Performance of Buildings emphasizes the fact designers of have to provide an Energy performance Assessment for all new buildings and the ones under major renovations before getting the planning permit and that needs to be compliant with the Guide F.
Guide F is structured with both mandatory and performance requirements and allows trade-offs in order to let designer find tailored solutions per case.
Here the full list of the figures
To have an idea: 10 kWh/ year are equal to burning a meter cube of natural gas.
The above limits are achievable and easily satisfied by an integrate approach to design.
G.P.P. specifications can also be used as a reference for private tenders.
Malta needs more venues to discuss and address this topics: all the actors of the building sector should be aware of the evolution that we are currently living, from Real Estate Agents to politicians. As an example a topic of interest is Fuel poverty: in a recent document from CiBSE (UK):
A home should be warm and comfortable and provide a healthy and welcoming environment. The Government is clear that it is unacceptable that some people living on a low income should have to do so in properties that cannot be kept warm at reasonable cost. Living in a cold home can result in a range of negative health outcomes . It is also associated with poor educational attainment, which may have knock on implications for social mobility and life chances.
What we need is just to properly apply the current legislation, that’s it: for me this is (R)evolutionary!
References
L.N. 47, Guide F and nZEB plan > https://epc.gov.mt/legislation?l=1
GPP > https://msdec.gov.mt/en/decc/Pages/environment/gpp/gpp_criteria.aspx
Fuels – Higher and Lower Calorific Values > https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-higher-calorific-values-d_169.html
Eco Help to Heat consultation > https://www.cibse.org/getmedia/4023f148-5423-4fb6-8cfe-1a7e9e4e4616/ECO_Help_to_Heat_Consultation_Document.pdf.aspx
http://modulo.net/it/realizzazioni/parliament-building