Dec. 2, 2020
Moving the needle in Lebanon: BUILD_ME national workshop on 3 November
On 3 November, the local partner of the BUILD_ME project in Lebanon, Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC), organised a national workshop in Beirut. The objective of the workshop was to share information about the BUILD_ME project activities in the three partner countries, with an in-depth focus on Lebanon.
The workshop started with a live stream of the BUILD_ME online seminar Climate-Friendly Buildings in the MENA Region: Understanding the Context, Barriers in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The seminar included a live presentation by Dr. Sorina Mortada, Technical Consultant at the LCEC and event co-organizer, who was on-site at the workshop in Beirut. For the slides and a recording of this webinar, check out this news item.
The on-site portion of the workshop with 19 participants began with an introductory note by Rani Al Achkar, Director of Engineering and Planning at LCEC, who emphasized the long-term impact of the BUILD_ME’s activities and outputs on the future of energy efficiency in the Lebanese building sector. His presentation was followed by an overview of BUILD_ME’s objectives, work streams, and deliverables by Patil Mesrobian, LCEC Environmental Specialist and BUILD_ME project coordinator.
The next portion of the workshop was dedicated to an in-depth look at the Building Energy Performance WebApp developed by the BUILD_ME team. This included an introduction to the tool by LCEC Energy Engineer Mohammad Hamad as well as a case study and live demonstration of how the tool works.
Lebanon Green Building Council members Aram Yeretzian and Sarah Jaber also provided insight into their contributions to the project such as, for example, reviewing the building typology sheet developed by BUILD_ME team, analysing the existing certification scheme in Lebanon, and supporting the development of a concept for a voluntary energy performance classification scheme. Lastly, the two most advanced Lebanese pilot projects, College Notre Dame de Nazareth and KLEOS, were showcased. Both pilot projects outlined the recommendations and findings of the BUILD_ME team to improve the energy performance of their projects.
The workshop presented a good opportunity to share project developments with key stakeholders and enable them to exploit the useful resources of the project in order to accelerate and expand the implementation of energy efficiency measures in the Lebanese building sector. Following completion of the workshop, the beta version of the BEP tool was sent to the participants so that they can test and provide their feedback and suggestions.
The on-site workshop respected all COVID-19 safety and social distancing measures to comply with national safety regulations and ensure the well-being of the participants.
