According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Yadollah Sabouhi, manager of the specialized table of energy and environment optimization, stated: optimization of energy consumption in various areas, such as buildings, industry, transportation, power plants, and gas and oil transmission lines, is significantly important, in a way that it has been emphasized in higher-ranking documents of the country. Statistics have shown that about 40% of the final energy of the country is consumed in buildings, including residential, administrative, commercial and public buildings.

Tehran Will Be the Pilot City in the Area of Energy Optimization

In terms of becoming of Tehran into a pilot city for energy optimization in buildings, Sabouhi expressed: in 2008, the energy consumption optimization company presented a model to United Nations civilian office to optimize energy consumption in these buildings with the cooperation of the company and supply a section of costs of this project using the supports of the United Nations. This proposal was given to the environment global fund and was eventually approved in 2010 to supply four million dollars for optimization of energy consumption in Tehran’s buildings by the environment global fund, and the rest (28 million dollar) will be provided by the Iranian government. Therefore, Tehran will be turned into a pilot city, so that the project could be performed across the nation in case of success in this city.

Motivation of the Private Sector to Invest

Sabouhi regarded investment by the private sector and activation of energy service companies necessary to implement these actions, stating: investment occurs when there is economic justification, which is scarcely obtained due to low costs of energy agents and high bank rates in the country. Therefore, the evaluated project can provide solutions since it will be carried out to develop the energy market using market mechanisms and performing energy optimization in buildings and motivating the private sector to invest in this field.

He affirmed the three components of this project, conveying: the first component is evaluation of regulations in the area of energy optimization in buildings and providing modifications that somehow help the implementation of policies. After that, specific pilots are implemented for performing modern technologies with high energy profit in sample buildings to motivate technology development in the country. The final component is modifications in the energy market of the country to make energy optimization projects of buildings more justifiable according to the mechanisms of the market and enhancement of activities of the private sector in this field.