Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan
Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan (LEEAP)
The GIZ project "Energy Efficient Building Refurbishment in Mongolia" (EEP) works with the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar (MUB) and other stakeholders on public investment management and energy efficiency in the building sector.
Why Energy Efficiency is Crucial for the Sustainable Development of Mongolia
Buildings are responsible for 40% of global energy consumption, and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions. More than 80% of Ulaanbaatar’s
district heating is used to heat the city’s buildings, which contributes to at least 50% of Ulaanbaatar’s carbon emissions. The city consists of old building stock mainly built during the socialist era. As a consequence, and due to a lack of refurbishment activities, the insulation of most buildings is poor.
It is critical to ensure that new buildings are sustainable, and energy-efficient. However, given the thermo-technical refurbishment of a building is around eight times cheaper than constructing a new one, it is also crucial to widely refurbish old structures in the city, and across Mongolia.
Increased energy efficiency in the building sector results in reduced heating needs and this in turn to lower fine particle emissions, and lower CO2 emissions. The heat demand in Ulaanbaatar increases by approximately 7% each year while the supply capacity is not increasing at that rate and therefore does not meet the demand. Instead of investing in new coalbased heat plants, there is the chance to lower the heat energy demand by about 50% with simple energy efficiency measures. This is a win on many levels compared to building new coal-based heat generating capacities:
- lower investment costs
- lower CO2 emissions
- running costs remain at the same level (instead of higher costs, due the expense of more power plants)
- increased temperatures, and living comfort for residents
Introducing a Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan (LEEAP) in Ulaanbaatar
The City of Ulaanbaatar’s priority is to be a safe, healthy, and green city that is resilient to climate change. This will be achieved by providing a liveable environment for its residents through appropriate land use, planning, infrastructure, and housing. This target is challenging, and will need a great number of actions to demonstrate how the city can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport, electricity, heating, power generation and transmission within the city boundaries.
A first step to tackle this challenge is to focus on the building sector by introducing a Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan (LEEAP) for the City of Ulaanbaatar, with practical and immediately applicable actions. Between 2019 and 2020 a multi-stakeholder process took place to create the LEEAP. Through many workshops, along with the support and steering of international consultants and the GIZ, the plan was developed by the Municipality of Ulaanbaatar, the Ministry of Construction and Urban Development, the Energy Regulatory Commission and non-governmental organisations.
What is a Local Energy Efficiency Action Plan?
A LEEAP describes actions that will be decided by the councils of the city for reaching energy efficiency targets in the building sector, and also improving air quality. It also includes monitoring and energy management actions, which will support the development of new climate and energy efficiency goals. LEEAPs are the first step in the right direction for a safer, healthier, and greener city; establishing a common understanding of the starting point, and the setting of short, mid, and long-term targets. A LEEAP shall be used as a guiding document and reference for budgeting programmes and operational planning to deliver building renovation programmes. The plan sets a boundary for planned interventions and includes a first attempt to quantify the size of the problem.
Tapping into energy saving and building renovation projects, requires policies and mechanisms to develop and deliver large numbers of relatively small projects, which are scattered amongst thousands of buildings in different sectors. As such, the energy efficient renovation of buildings often does not compete well against other opportunities for using up-front capital, such as capacity expansion of power plants or a new wind farm. Barriers and problems exist, such as high transaction perceptions. Unmet needs for technical expertise and lack of financial intermediation mean that much of the potential for saving energy will remain untapped and the existing building stock will dilapidate further. Institutional innovation is required to address these barriers, and to put in place efficient policies and programmes for identifying ways of delivering building renovation projects.
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