T

he Jakarta administration says at least 260 buildings are potentially conserving 850,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy per year, saving the city US$68.3 million.

According to data gathered by the city administration, 260 new buildings registered between 2013,
when a related regulation took effect, and May 2016 used green principles to save energy and water as well as reduce greenhouse emissions. The power saved was the same amount used by 110,000 typical households.

Gubernatorial Regulation No. 38/2012 on green buildings obliges offices, malls and apartments of at least 5 hectares, hotels and hospitals of at least 2 ha and education facilities of at least 1 ha to make efforts to save energy based on their technical designs.

Sandra Pranoto, operations officer of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an institution that has helped the city in designing and implementing the program, said projects could not obtain building permits (IMB) or building worthiness certificates (SLF) if they did not comply with the regulation.

Building owners need SLF to operate their facilities once construction is completed.

“When they apply for the permits, the developers or building owners should show that their buildings are energy efficient,” Sandra said.

She said efforts to develop energy efficient buildings could take many forms, including designing buildings to be more efficient in electricity and water usage as well as using energy-saving features such as light and elevator sensors, central air conditioning, pedestrian access and waste management systems.

Giving an example of energy saving through building design, she said: “You can change glass with walls, for example.”

She said many people believed that installing glass windows could help save electricity as rooms would be filled with natural light, reducing the need for electricity.

“However, they should consider that the air conditioners need to work harder to cool down the rooms due to the sunlight,” she said, adding that more energy was needed overall.

Sandra said the biggest energy cost for building came from air conditioning and glass windows.

She said the initial investment for green buildings was slightly higher than regular buildings, but operations would be more efficient.

She cited the example of the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry’s green building in South Jakarta, which has received a platinum certification award from the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI).

Ministry data shows that the new building uses 44 percent less electricity compared to older buildings that lack energy saving methods.

It shows that older buildings use more glass windows — absorbing more heat — than the new building, which has a window-to-wall ratio of 45 percent.

“The old building is 17,000 square meters but it needs 215 kilowatt hours per square meter in one year while the new building, which is 22,000 square meters, only uses 124 kilowatt hours per square meter annually,” Sandra said, referring to data from the ministry.

She added that the new building also featured a light shelf to provide lighting during the day, reducing electricity consumption.

Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said previously that the city aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and electricity and water usage by 30 percent by 2030.

“The results can already be estimated. Hence, we will intensify the efforts in the future,” he said.

Ahok said the city administration would implement the concept for all its buildings.

“We will build seven low-cost apartment towers in Daan Mogot [West Jakarta] using the green building standard,” he said.

He added that existing buildings would also participate in the efforts when they applied for