İzocam Highlights Need for Energy-Efficient Buildings on World Habitat Day

In 1985, a United Nations General Assembly resolution established the first Monday of October as World Habitat Day each year. On World Habitat Day, which was set to draw attention to better living spaces, İzocam emphasizes the necessity of urban regeneration and the opportunity it represents for our country. İzocam General Manager Levent Gökçe explains the necessity for newly constructed residential and service buildings to be built in compliance with the Building Energy Performance Regulation and in an energy-efficient manner on World Habitat Day, while also emphasizing the need for Multi-Comfort Buildings within the scope of sustainable building approaches. In today's world where global warming is a major threat, energy-efficient buildings are very important both for protecting our planet and for the country's economy. İzocam General Manager Levent Gökçe underscores that proper insulation applied to the entire building, including installations along with heat gains and losses, will provide maximum benefit to both household and national economies. Levent Gökçe emphasizes that the currently applicable BEP Regulation must be implemented and monitored strictly; "The Republic of Turkey, in accordance with decisions 1/CP.19 and 1.CP/20, declares its nationally determined contribution (NDC) aimed at achieving the fundamental objective set forth in Article 2 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the planned policies to be implemented" and the outputs of the "National Energy Efficiency Action Plan" being prepared demonstrate the need for energy-efficient buildings for both our planet and the country's economy... Particularly in the NDC statement, the necessity for newly constructed residential and service buildings to be built in compliance with the Building Energy Performance Regulation in an energy-efficient manner, the requirement to create Energy Performance Certificates for buildings and reduce energy consumption year on year were emphasized, and the importance of minimizing energy needs through the promotion of green building and nearly zero-energy building designs to achieve the targets set in the NDC was underlined.

To realize all of these, innovative sustainable approaches from insulation and design through implementation come into play," he says.

Thick insulation applications are at the forefront of sustainable building approaches. Noting that the average material thickness used in Turkey is 4–5 centimeters, while the same material is applied in European countries with varying thicknesses of 20–30 centimeters and above, Gökçe states: "Although there is not yet effective inspection regarding insulation thicknesses, with the 'Building Energy Performance (BEP) Regulation,' the importance of insulation in buildings and installations is increasing, applications are spreading, and thicker materials are increasingly coming to the fore. Together with BEP, we believe that over the next 10 years energy efficiency measures and insulation levels in existing buildings will increase, bringing significant contributions to the sector and our country. BEP is undoubtedly an extremely important step for our country. However, implementing all the details and inspection mechanisms of BEP with full operational capacity is of great importance. The issues that need to be developed in this regulation must be reviewed and completed as soon as possible," he continues. Stating that he has expressed on every platform that urban regeneration is a great opportunity for energy efficiency, Levent Gökçe emphasizes that urban regeneration must be evaluated correctly for our country to achieve a healthy environmental setting, and adds: "Restricting the energy consumption of buildings to be constructed in urban regeneration more strictly will support Turkey's targets in the Climate Change National Action Plan and Energy Efficiency Strategy Document, like the EU's 2020 targets, and will promote the widespread adoption of innovative applications.

According to the Building Energy Performance directives published by the European Parliament, from 31 December 2020 onwards, all new buildings will be nearly zero-energy buildings. This future target must also be taken into consideration when implementing urban regeneration."

Gökçe further emphasizes that İzocam, within the scope of sustainable building solutions, focuses on Multi-Comfort Buildings that contain high-efficiency, new, and comfortable technology to replace ineffective, outdated, and uncomfortable technologies in structures, minimizing energy needs and consumption: "Derived from the concept of nearly zero-energy buildings and targeting bioclimatic design, 'Multi-Comfort Buildings' take into account sustainable, ecological, economic, and social factors, offering maximum thermal comfort along with high energy savings. Multi-Comfort Buildings, which provide flawless acoustic and visual comfort, quality indoor air, fire protection and security, and can incorporate highly flexible design solutions for both interior and exterior spaces, target at least 90% energy savings. These buildings play an effective role in reducing import dependence in countries like Turkey that import more than three-quarters of their energy."