Romania Green Building Council

The Romania Green Building Council is a non-profit association of businesses encouraging the market, educational, and legislative conditions necessary to promote high performance construction that is both environmentally responsible and profitable. The RoGBC is officially accredited as an "Emerging council" with the World Green Building Council.
Organizational structure
RoGBC was formed in 2008 and since then it brings together companies and organizations from a variety of real estate and construction-related industries. The organization is owned by its members and governed by a Board of Directors which appoint an Executive Committee and CEO to perform the regular activities of the organization and work toward reaching its objectives. Membership is divided in four categories with different rights and responsibilities: founding partners, partners, members and associate members.
On its official website, the RoGBC describes its formation as follows:

Mission
The mission of Romania Green Building Council, is to "create an exemplary development model for the region by ensuring the built environment will not imperil future generations but rather be a source of safety, comfort, innovation, and opportunity."
Specific activities
The RoGBC's activities interfere with different areas of interest for the construction industry, some of which are the following:
* Awareness Building for the greater community of the benefits of green buildings (including supporting the WWF's "Climate Caravan" with information on "how to green your home while saving money".)
* Training for the construction industry for green building principles
* Legislative Outreach to encourage to adoption and implementation of legislation promoting greater environmental responsibility and energy efficiency in Romanian buildings. (the RoGBC is supporting the implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and green procurement requirements.)
* Support and implement pilot projects to demonstrate the viability of the next generation of high performance green buildings, low-energy and zero energy buildings. (the RoGBC is currently supporting the development of pilot projects for low and zero energy buildings and will release information when authorized by the project partners)
* Promote networking among professionals within the green building industry
* Conduct and disseminate actionable research on green building principles (see www.RoGBC.org for more information)
* Support government, civil society, and private businesses in joint efforts to promote the sustainable development of Romania (the RoGBC provided input for Romania's National Strategy for Sustainable Development)
* Support academic programs to increase the emphasis on green principles in architectural, engineering, urban planning, business, and other related disciplines. (the RoGBC offered a significant number of scholarships to students and professors to today's training and will develop a monthly lecture series).
Present opportunities
In the current building environment, where “buildings account for one-sixth of the world's fresh water withdrawals, one-quarter of its wood harvest, and two-fifths of its material and energy flows” (Roodman and Lenssen, 1995) there is an acute necessity for applying the principles of intelligent construction.
According to the "Global Green Building Trends: Market Growth and Perspectives from Around the World" report,
• By 2013, 53% of responding firms expect to be largely dedicated to green building (on over 60% of projects), up from 30% today.
• The fastest growing regional green building market is Asia, where the population of firms largely dedicated to green building is expected to jump from 36% today to 73% in 2013.
• 86% of firms expect rapid or steady growth in sales and profit levels associated with green building.
• Solar power is the most common form of renewable energy in every region, used by over half (52%) of industry professionals today and expected to grow to 76% in the next five years. The most dramatic growth is expected in wind power use (57% expected in 2013, up from 20% today), followed closely by geothermal power (expected to double from 22% today to 45% in 2013).
• “The right thing to do” is the top business reason driving green building around the world. “Supporting the domestic economy” is prominent in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East/North Africa, while “environmental regulations” are driving market activity in Asia and Europe.
Romanian legislation on energy efficiency
The existing Romanian Building Code sets low standards for the quality of new buildings in terms of energy efficiency and environmental impact. This situation is exacerbated by poor implementation and adherence to the existing code. There are a number of laws that have started creating more stringent building requirements especially with regard to energy efficiency.
* Law no. 10/1995 - regarding building quality.
* Ministerial Order no. 550/2003 - regarding the approval of the "Guide to the certification of energy auditors for buildings and related equipment"
* Law no.199/2000 - "Law on energy efficiency" regarding efficient use of energy - republished with modifications
* Government Ordinance no. 29/2000 - rehabilitation of the existing building resources and stimulation of reduced thermal energy use, approved by the Law 325/2002
* Government Ordinance no. 18/2009 - setting up of special measures for the thermal rehabilitation of a multi-story residential building; the text of the law supposed to approve the ordinance - is still in discussion within the Parliament
* Law no. 372/2005 - regarding the energy performance of buildings (Dir.2002/91/CE) + Methodology published in MOf 695 din 12/10/2007
* Government Ordinance 187/2005 - modifying the OUG 174/2002 approved by the Law 260/2006
* Government Decision 1735/2006 - Methodology for putting into operation the OUG 187/2005
Emblematic events for the RoGBC
As a part of its information dissemination and education outreach, RoGBC is involved in several successful events among which the ones listed below:
* "Green Architectural Design and the Enabling Technologies" (January ‘09)
* “Greening our Hotels” (February ‘09)
* co-organized “Roof Gardens, Green Roofs, and Urban Landscape” (March ’09)
* “Sustainable Construction Materials” (March ‘09)
* “Creating Greener Workspaces” (April ‘09)
* partnered in the organization of the Architecture Days 2009 in Cluj-Napoca (May ‘09)
* co-organized the demonstration on “Ecological Paintings”
* “Valuation and Costs of Green Building” (July ‘09)
* “Green Café - The Future of Green Buildings” (July ’09)
* “Green Café - Urbanization and Adaptive Reuse” (August ’09)

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