New era begins in energy efficiency for buildings

ISTANBUL

A regulation that came into force as of Jan. 1 ushers in a new era in energy efficiency in buildings in Türkiye.

According to the regulation, all buildings to be constructed larger than 5,000 square meters in size will be required to be B energy efficiency class and meet 5 percent of energy they consume from renewable resources.

With this regulation, the country’s energy consumption is expected to decline by 25 percent, while it will cut Türkiye’s energy import bill by 5 billion Turkish Liras.

Authorities will not issue construction permissions for building projects which fail to comply with the new requirements. According to the regulation, all new structures should be designed as nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB).

From January 2025, the NZEB rules will apply to buildings with more than 2,000 square meters in size, and the requirement for renewable energy use will be increased from 5 percent to 10 percent. That will help reduce the annual energy import bill by 7.5 billion liras. From 2030, those rules will apply to buildings with 1,000 square meters and larger in size.

As per the new rules, the thickness of the insulation materials used in buildings should increase from 5 centimeters to 8 centimeters in Istanbul and from 6 centimeters to 9 centimeters in Ankara.

With the start of the new year, some key regulations concerning the trade industry, tourism and consumers also came into force.

One of those regulations aims at preventing monopolization in the e-commerce sector and unfair competition by facilitating the entry of new players into the market.

As of Jan. 1, the 2 percent accommodation tax in the tourism sector also took effect. The new tax will apply to a wide range of facilities, including hotels, motels, resorts, apart-hotels and camping sites.

Meanwhile, the 10 percent entertainment tax charged from cinema, concerts, sports events and horse race goers will be abolished.

As part of those regulations, barbers, hairdressers and beauty parlors will be required to be closed for business once a week on Sundays.