Experimental Validation of Building Codes and Removal of Barriers to Their Adoption

Tunisia’s Agency for Energy Management (AME) has estimated that total energy consumption in Tunisia will increase from 4.3 Mtoe in 1996 to 14.2 Mtoe in 2020. Due to a shift in sectorial demand, the service and residential sectors will together represent the largest energy consumer by 2020, the main source of increased energy demand being the building sector. The Government of Tunisia has therefore decided to adopt regulatory measures introducing energy efficient building standards for new buildings. This process will begin with minimum standards to be introduced in 1999, culminating in the endorsement and adoption of maximum standards by the Government of Tunisia by the year 2002. For significant energy savings to be achieved, it is essential that the regulatory measures introducing maximum standards be adopted. At the present time, a certain number of critical barriers exist which could prevent or indefinitely postpone their adoption. Through the proposed project, an Experimental Validation Process - EVP accompanied by targeted barrier removal activities will be carried out between 1999 and 2002 to validate already developed energy efficiency codes and ensure their adoption as standards. Without such validation and barrier removal, it will not be possible for the Government of Tunisia to adopt the regulatory measures to impose the standards.