The new Energy Efficiency (EE) building regulations that come into effect next month will boost the manufacturing sector as well as the economy. The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies announced this at the South African Bureau of Standard (SABS) Convention held in Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand today.
The EE regulations are the first for South Africa and require that all new buildings, whether it is homes, industrial buildings, hotels and schools will have to meet minimum energy efficiency requirements. The energy efficiency regulations are in terms of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act No.
‘The EE building regulations requirements include that new buildings will have to have solar water heaters, heat pumps, or similar technologies. Ceilings, walls, windows, will have to meet minimum requirements for preventing heat loss (in winter) or heat gain (in summer) in order to meet the energy efficient targets. Buildings will also have to be fitted with energy efficient heating, air conditioning and mechanical ventilation systems’ said Davies.
Minister Davies added that the Energy Efficiency regulations will contribute positively towards government’s goal of creating five million jobs by 2020.
“Opportunities will be created in the manufacturing sector as well as the installation services when we produce and install one million solar water heaters by the 2014/15. If we achieve this, the estimation is that we can create around 18 000 jobs,” said Davies.
According to Minister Davies, the EE building regulations will contribute to the drive to use electricity in a more sustainable manner, to encourage industrial development through sectoral support and ultimately to create more jobs. It will also contribute to South Africa’s green industry and climate change mitigation initiatives.
Coinciding with the World Standards Day, the SABS Convention is held annually to engage stakeholder from industry, government, consumers, on standardisation developments. This year’s theme of the Convention is ‘creating confidence globally, activating locally’. The message of the Convention is – standards development and conformity assessment play a critical role in supporting the manufacturers, including small, medium and micro-enterprises and the nascent green economy in South Africa.
Key Speakers included the CEO of SABS, Dr Boni Mehlomakulu and Mr Kevin McKinley, Deputy Secretariat-General, International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) from Geneva.
The Convention will end tomorrow with the annual SABS Gala Dinner, during which a number of awards will be presented to loyal customers and stakeholders who contributed to the activities of SABS in the past year. The awards will be presented to customers who have been with the SABS for 20 and 50 years. A number of Standards awards will also be presented for achievements such as the Standards Media Award, the SABS Essay Award as well as an award for a student who excelled in Total Quality Management studies at a tertiary institute.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe – Chief Director: Media Liaison and Publicity
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
