Senate Body Recommends NEECA To Audit Energy Efficiency Of Parliament Building

The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change has recommended the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA) to conduct energy efficiency of the Parliament building to ascertain its share in conserving energy through solarisation

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jan, 2023 ) :The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change has recommended the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NEECA) to conduct energy efficiency of the Parliament building to ascertain its share in conserving energy through solarisation.

The meeting chaired by Chairperson of the Committee, Senator Seemee Ezdi discussed agenda items pertaining to consideration of public petition on Green Building Initiative and international conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan co-hosted by Pakistan and the United Nations in Geneva.

The Ministry of Climate Change officials briefed the Committee on the agenda items and informed that the guidelines were available for Green Building Initiative whereas the codes to be followed in the process would be prepared by the end of this month.

The official added that the building structures consume 80% of the global energy whereas the initiative aimed to curb environmental impact of buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He also clarified that the Green Building Initiative was for high-rise buildings and not houses. It would not cause greenhouse effect rather would help absorb carbon emissions, he added.

Director General, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, Farzana Altaf Shah added that the people were using paints that contained zinc and were also carcinogenic in nature that were also affecting the environment.

She told the Committee that there was no work done in Pakistan regarding the use of hand washing water for flushing. Moreover, the dumping of cement bags, glass etc. was also important as it remained on the dumping sites as non-decomposed.

"Even though many buildings are built, there is still a lot of solid waste lying around after the culmination of construction work. At present, there is no company in the country for ensuring complete solid waste management.

In Capital, the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (MCI) is responsible for municipal solid waste management," she added.

She informed that there was need to conduct research on the leaching effect on the roads being constructed from plastic waste because where solid waste dumping occurred, leaching did take place.

Senator Dr. Humayun Khan Mohmand said square designing uses less building materials. However, there should be incinerators to ensure solid waste management and all the institutions had to work together for safe dumping of solid waste, he added.

The Climate Change Ministry officials briefed the Committee that waste to energy plant was not established yet, whereas the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had demanded to charge nine points per cent power for setting up any waste-to-energy plant.

Senator Taj Haider said all public buildings in the Capital should be shifted over solar. "Solarisation will help save money and provide room for new ideas to generate and provide benefit to the masses," he added.

The Ministry official also briefed the Committee on International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan. He said the main objective of the conference was to attract the global community for the rehabilitation of flood affected people.

He added that almost one-third of the country was still flooded and the conference theme was Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF).

The flood damages were determined by the Planning Commission and the Provincial Governments whereas the post-flood needs assessment was by several institutions in joint effort, he said.

In Sindh, there were losses mainly due to the population residing on the banks of the Indus River, the Ministry official said.