Starting This Month, Seoul Implements Energy Reporting and Rating System for Buildings

Green Building Conference on Climate Crisis Response Held
Business Agreement Ceremony for Building Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Seoul City Launches Climate Companion Building Project from This Month

Starting this month, an energy usage target rating system will be implemented for buildings owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

On the morning of the 2nd, Kim Sang-hyup, Private Sector Chairman of the Presidential 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, Ahn Deok-geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Park Sung-woo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul, jointly held a Green Building Conference at Seoul City Hall to respond to the climate crisis and signed a "Business Agreement for Building Greenhouse Gas Reduction."

At the signing ceremony, the four organizations agreed to cooperate on establishing a collaborative system for greenhouse gas reduction, supporting technology development and commercialization to improve building energy efficiency, and activating systems to enhance the performance of new and existing buildings. Additionally, according to the energy source unit target management system implemented by the government starting this year, Seoul City decided to launch the "Climate Companion Building Project."

The energy source unit target management system for existing buildings manages energy usage for medium to large non-residential buildings with a total floor area of 5,000㎡ or more (3,000㎡ or more for public institutions). It sets energy usage targets per unit area by building use and classifies achievement levels into five grades from A to E.

The energy source unit refers to the energy use efficiency of a building, indicating the amount of energy used (kWh) per unit area (1㎥).

Starting in May, Seoul City will disclose the energy usage target ratings for 500 buildings it owns. From July, the system will be expanded to approximately 1,800 public buildings and district offices.

At the subsequent conference, experts from academia and research institutions presented on "Green Transition of Existing Buildings" and discussed ways to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings.

Senior Research Fellow Lee Seung-eon of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology introduced Seoul’s leading cases, including a reporting and rating system where building owners report energy usage and receive a grade (A to E), and a cap system that allocates total allowable greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, through his presentation on "Introduction of Building Greenhouse Gas Management and Evaluation System."

Professor Song Doo-sam of Sungkyunkwan University presented "Directions for Improving Carbon Neutral Policies such as Green Remodeling," proposing the necessity of Retrofit Carbon Credits to expand private sector participation in green remodeling and suggesting mandatory disclosure of energy consumption data for zero-energy certified buildings to ensure the effectiveness of the zero-energy building certification system.

Director Kwon Pil-seok of the Green Energy Strategy Institute, who presented "Building Energy Transition Strategy: The Role of Heat Pumps," explained the difficulties in adopting heat pumps under current laws and systems, such as exclusion from installation subsidy beneficiaries due to the progressive electricity rate system and limited inclusion of heat pump heat sources in renewable energy, and proposed active government promotion.

In the policy discussion session moderated by Hwang Jeong-ha, Chair of the Building Expert Committee of the 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, participants including Professor Park Jin-cheol of Chung-Ang University, CEO Go Bae-won of Integra DNC, Kim Hyun-chul, Director of Energy Efficiency at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Kim Yeon-hee, Director of Green Building at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Research Fellow Yoo Ki-hyung of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology discussed challenges for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.