The provinces and the City of Buenos Aires are in a position to adhere to the brand new National Housing Labeling Program (Pronev) which aims to incorporate energy efficiency criteria in the construction and remodeling of houses and apartments in the real estate market throughout the country, with a certification of characteristics similar to that of electrical appliances.
The labeling of homes has an incipient development in Argentina, so it is expected that the implementation of Pronev in most of the country will give impetus to a modality already established in several countries of the European Unionin tune with the need to save energy and care for the environment.
About, the architect Silvina López Plantéfrom the Group of Institutions for Housing Energy Labeling, expressed to Télam his satisfaction with the measure embodied in resolution 5/2023 of the Ministry of Energy.
“We celebrate all the actions leading to the development and consolidation of energy labeling in homes”, he stated, convinced that “it is necessary to have a legal and national order so that there is consistency and unification in the different stages, tools and procedures”. .
López Planté stressed that “much progress was made” in terms of energy efficiency in homes “But there is still a lot to be done and the best way is to have all the legal instruments, the consensus and all the different actors involved so that home labeling is used and implemented in Argentina.”
The Group of Institutions for Housing Energy Labeling is made up of the Argentina Green Building Council (AGBC), the National Association of Insulating Materials Industries (Andima) and the Dry Construction Institute (Incose).
From Andima, the technical consultant Federico García Zúñiga, pointed out to Télam that only with adequate thermal insulation could “save up to 35% in energy consumption and up to 60% in electricity and gas bills consumed to air-condition a home”.
The IRAM 11,900 Standard of 2017 determined the range of values for energy efficiency labeling for homes, with a letter scale from “A” (highest level of efficiency) to “G” (lowest level), although that scale ” it is different for each climatic zone of the country,” said the Ministry of Energy in a report from the Directorate of Renewable Energies.
To get an idea of the difference between the categories, a report from Spain’s Ministry of Ecological Transition determined that a home with an “E” label or worse consumes 90% more energy than a category “A” home.
From the IRAM 11,900 Standard, the Energy Performance Index (IPE) arises, which represents “the theoretical primary energy requirement to meet the needs of heating in winter, cooling in summer, heating domestic water and lighting, for one year and per square meter of surface, under normalized conditions of use and pre-established comfort”, indicated the Ministry of Energy.
The IPE is expressed in kWh per square meter per year and makes it possible to quantify the energy performance of homes in order to compare them with a unified criterion.
Based on this information, Energía clarified, it is possible to “build a baseline that serves as a reference for the elaboration of public policies and the direction of various incentive mechanisms.”
The label is determined by aspects related to the architectural design of the house, orientation, solar protection, the construction systems used, the quality and condition of the openings, air infiltration, heating, cooling, water heating and lighting systems. installed and any renewable energy installations.
The loading of data and the issuance of the label is carried out through the National Housing Labeling Computer Application, an online tool that allows professionals who work in the field of civil constructions to carry out the energy efficiency evaluation of a housing anywhere in the country.
Currently, more than 700 professionals use the application, indicated Energía.
