Minergie revises building standards
At the beginning of the year, the Minergie Association comprehensively revised the three building standards Minergie, Minergie-P and Minergie-A. In addition, the new products MQS Construction and MQS Operation were launched.
The revised standards are intended to incorporate important technical innovations and remain a pioneer for the sustainable development of Swiss building culture, Minergie says.
The three Minergie building standards are differentiated according to energy efficiency and already comply with the upcoming cantonal energy laws (MuKEn 2014). A total energy balance has now been newly introduced, which takes into account all the electricity consumed in the building. In the future, all new buildings will cover part of their energy consumption themselves, usually through solar energy. In the case of the Minergie-A innovation standard, self-production is even greater than the annual energy requirement.
In certified new buildings, fossil firing systems are no longer permitted; however, indirect fossil loads in electricity and district heating remain permissible. For large buildings and Minergie-A, energy monitoring will be introduced. According to the association, the additional work involved in planning and constructing Minergie buildings remains comparatively low thanks to a restriction to a few effective requirements.
Certification of refurbishments
The new MQS Construction and MQS Operation products are also designed to ensure that buildings are "not only planned to an above-average standard, but also built without defects and operated highly efficiently."
A certification path has also been developed for the renovation of buildings, comprising five system solutions. These solutions combine measures in the areas of building envelope and building technology. The renovation can be implemented in stages over several years.
According to the association, more than 43,000 buildings are certified throughout Switzerland. The share of Minergie buildings in the total volume of new construction is over 25 percent, depending on the region.
