RP: Development of Policy Guidelines and Identification of Viable Technologies for Public Buildings in the Kyrgyz Republic

In the Kyrgyz Republic, nearly 85% of the housing stock, 77% of the administrative buildings and over 60% of public buildings such as schools and hospitals were built before 1991 (Green Economy Development Programme for 2019-2023, 2019). These buildings were built according to building codes’ requirements developed during the Soviet era, which are no longer in line with today’s energy efficiency performance benchmarks and technological advances. As a result, the country’s buildings feature high heating losses (70%), which puts heavy pressure on the national energy demand.

The present technical assistance (TA) proposal aims to tackle this major national challenge through updating national building codes with improved energy performance parameters. As per the country’s request, the TA will revise the following three building codes:

• Boiler Installations;
• Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC); and,
• Multicompartment Residential Buildings, or building envelop (energy consumption and performance part only).

The revised building codes will set mandatory minimum energy performance requirements designed to regulate the energy use in all new and existing public and residential buildings. Existing above-mentioned building codes cover both new buildings and existing buildings that undergo energy equipment renovation in 5 functionality building types, namely: residential family buildings,  residential multicompartment buildings, administrative buildings, schools and kindergartens. These will constitute the focus of the present TA.

The TA will unfold through the following sequence of outputs:  

1. TA coordination mechanism established and inclusive stakeholder working group formed;
2. International best practices and gaps in the current national legal and regulatory framework related to public and residential buildings analysed. Most relevant clean energy technologies and building materials identified;
3. First drafts of the three selected building codes developed;
4. Official review of the first drafts conducted and revised building codes finalised;
5. Effective mechanism and tools to implement and enforce the revised building codes designed.