VietNamNet Bridge - The terms  ‘green works’, ‘green architecture’, ‘green cities’ and ‘green energy’ are now commonly used in Vietnam, but the practices are not applied widely. 

“Just ask building owners with energy modeling reports to find out how green buildings are. Without the reports, the owners won’t know the energy cost savings and they can only guess,” said Tran Thanh Vu, an energy simulation expert.

Building Energy Modeling – BEM – is the use of computer software to simulate buildings with a focus on energy consumption and energy costs related to different energy consumption systems such as air-conditioners, lighting and hot water supply.

According to Vu, a lecturer of VCEP (Vietnam Clean Energy Program) funded by USAID, very few Vietnamese architects understand well or use BEM and the Building Information Modeling (BIM) when designing construction works.

If young architects are not equipped with BEM and BIM, they will lag behind colleagues in the region.

The ASEAN Economic Community which formed in late 2015 allows workers in eight fields, including architecture, to work within ASEAN countries. 

Speaking with young architects in HCM City on November 9, Joseph Deringer, an American architect, said 70 percent of multi-storey buildings in the US apply energy-saving solutions. 

The terms  ‘green works’, ‘green architecture’, ‘green cities’ and ‘green energy’ are now commonly used in Vietnam, but the practices are not applied widely.

He said a team designing multi-storey construction works always comprises engineers in five sectors – architects, construction engineers, lighting engineers, air conditioning engineers and work simulators. 

The engineers all have to discuss solutions if there are changes in the works’ design, architecture, structure or materials.

In Vietnam, according to Vu, this cooperation principle is not respected. “In many cases, investors still have not decided what kinds of opaque glass to be used, but air conditioners were already decided,” he said. 

“As such, the air conditioning system was equipped with abundant capacity, which was a big waste,” he said, adding that many architects don’t have deep knowledge about air conditioning and ventilation.

The director of an architecture consultancy firm said in Vietnam, the government in recent years has called upon investors to build ‘green works’ and save energy. 

State agencies have also set up national standards on works using energy effectively (QCVN 09:2005 and QCVN 09:2013). However, very few investors follow the standards.

Saving energy is also an issue of investors’ interest. However, green works require high initial investments. 

The Ministry of Construction’s Circular 09 in 2013 stipulates that state budget funded construction works must use unburned building materials. However, very few projects have used these materials.


Kim Chi