GERES MONGOLIAN COUNTRY DIRECTOR'S INTERVIEW ON 'MONGOLIAN ECONOMY'
Here is an interview about Geres Mongolia and its ongoing projects in Ulaanbaatar, Arkhangai and Khentii aimags on Mongolian Economy with Country Director, Mrs. Beatriz Maroto Izquierdo. Beatriz spoke about the EU SWITCH-Asia Switch Off Air Pollution project, which aims to decrease air pollution by insulating detached houses in ger district of Ulaanbaatar, CEMAATERR project that aims to increase energy efficiency of educational buildings in Arkhangai and IMPACT that aims to increase gender equality in rural economic development in Arkhangai and Khentii. Full interview available here.
ROOF INSULATION OF 100 HOUSEHOLDS CARRIED OUT UNDER THE 'SIMPLE SOLUTIONS' CAMPAIGN
Within the framework of the Switch Off Air Pollution project, the Simple solutions campaign has been officially launched in Sukhbaatar and Songinokhairkhan districts with a call to insulate your house with the materials at hand. As part of the campaign, the project team and its brigades insulated the roof of the 100 vulnerable households in the both districts with 5-cm materials, who were chosen in three different stages. The insulation work was carried out by the project brigades in collaboration with family members. 100 households were selected to provide information on simple solutions to their friends and neighbors and to ensure that neighbors installed the insulation in their houses, and received the 5-cm insulation as prize.
The aim of the campaign is to encourage the target group households to insulate their houses through low-cost and simple solutions, and to spread the importance of insulation among the population. As part of the campaign, 250 households will be provided with roof insulation incentives, and about 1200 households will be able to implement simple insulation solutions at home. We work with the Red Cross Society and volunteers in each district. Due to Coronavirus pandemic restrictions in Ulaanbaatar, quarantine trainings and meetings are organized online.
WINTER MONITORING REPORT FOR 2019-2020 RELEASES
Switch Off Air Pollution conducts winter monitoring activities among ger district households in Ulaanbaatar to measure heat loss and to raise awareness on the importance of proper insulation. Winter monitoring includes a variety of measurements such as indoor air quality and CO2 emission derailed from fuel consumption and so forth. The project team divides the households into insulated and non-insulated groups to compare the data later. We install devices to collect data from indoor air quality, indoor and outdoor air temperature and humidity and electric heater wattmeter.
Here are the first and second winter monitoring reports for you to see and read the process in detail. At the same time, we are completing our third year winter monitoring. This time we have monitored 45 households for three months and classified the households into properly insulated, self-insulated, and not insulated households.
The results of the first two years show that fully insulated households use 2.5 times less fuel than uninsulated households. Moreover, indoor air temperature of an insulated household fluctuates less and does not change abruptly, making it more comfortable for family members. The results of this measurement confirm another interesting fact, which shows that proper personal habits of regularly ventilating not only positively affect the health of family members but also improve the efficiency of the insulation in the house.
ONLINE HEAT LOSS MEASURER OF THE HOUSES
Switch Off Air Pollution includes inside the project website www.dulaalga.mn a simple calculator to measure the heat loss and calculate the cost of the insulation needed to your detached house. It is the first ever energy loss calculating tool that is available to the public in Mongolia to measure where you are losing energy and heat in the house by entering simple measurements. Depending on the material choice, it will also provide you with cost calculation for insulation packages tailored only for your house including material and labor costs. While there are different types of insulation materials such as wool, fiber, rock insulation and EPS, XPS materials provided by project suppliers, there are different types of insulation packages that work for your house. These include roof insulation or full insulation with roof, wall and foundation. Here is the link for the explanation on the calculator and how we measure the heat loss.
Virtual field visit for “Households that insulated their detached houses”
During this virtual field visit, the Switch Off Air Pollution visited beneficiary households to discuss about their satisfaction after insulating their homes, changes and challenges in the economy of households, and importance of Energy Efficiency. The brigade member introduced suggestions on insulation measures and talked about market demands. Households said they felt very warm and comfortable at home since their households were insulated. They also reported using twice as less fuel compared to the pre-insulation period.
The objective of the Switch Off Air Pollution project is to reduce the emissions of CO2 and PM from unplanned settlements of Ulaanbaatar’s Ger areas through coordinated action in the field of energy efficiency in housing construction and renovation. This is to be accomplished through raising awareness, providing technical training and technological support for SMEs, the local construction supply chain, and households. Watch the virtual visit here.
Switch Off Air Pollution is implemented by Geres Mongolia, Building Energy Efficiency Center, Mongolian National Construction Association and People in Need INGO.
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