Various policies targeting at building energy efficiency have been promulgated by the Chinese government in the past decade. However, few studies evaluate if China is on the right path to meet its energy goals through these policies by providing an assessment of their effect in reducing energy consumption in residential buildings or the feasibility of such policies to catalyze these reductions.

Australia’s current national emissions reduction target is to reduce emissions to 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to the goal of reducing global emissions to net zero emissions and to five yearly reviews of the national target starting from 2020, with the requirement that new pledges be higher than the previous pledge and reflect the highest possible level of ambition.

Buildings can balance the grid through proactive energy demand management and can play a leading role in transforming the EU energy market, shifting from centralised, fossil-fuel-based systems towards a decentralised, renewable, interconnected and variable system. Many actors agree that buildings have a role in shaping the Energy Market Design Initiative.

In February 2015 the principle of ‘Efficiency First’  (E1st) was formally endorsed by the European Commission within the framework of the Energy Union.

This paper outlines and critically ‘maps’ existing roadmaps relevant to transitions to a low or zero carbon built environment in Australia. A roadmap describes the measures required to achieve goals and/or map future innovation opportunities. The three questions addressed by a comprehensive roadmap are: Where do we want to go?, Where are we now?, and How can we get there? The review identified 13 roadmaps/plans that have been produced by: peak industry bodies (Australian Institute of Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating); academic research groups (e.g.

This document contains the highlights from the high-level roundtable organised in the framework of the RenoValue project. The event took place at the European Parliament, in Brussels, Belgium, on 26 January 2016, providing the opportunity to discuss how policy makers can strengthen the role of property valuers as drivers of the market transition towards sustainable buildings.

For building owners, the renovation process can be a hassle, shaped by the ambiguity of the measures to implement. Uncertainty is one of the reasons why the renovation rate continues to linger around 1% and private investments remain limited. Achieving the full market potential of renovation calls for a paradigm shift, where a more service-oriented supply-side together with a deeper awareness on the demand-side play key roles. The BetterHome case study shows how innovative business models can drive energy renovations across Europe.

This report is an update from a similar document published in 2013. In 2018, evidence gathered by the International Energy Agency has identified six critical factors to guide policy makers in realising potential savings in both new and existing buildings through the modernisation of building energy codes.

The “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package confirms the pivotal role of the EU building stock in meeting EU 2030 climate and energy targets. In fact, the projected decarbonisation of the EU energy system is mainly based on the renovation of existing buildings and the increased penetration of renewable energies in heating, cooling and power generation.

The current shift from fossil energy resources to “green” energy — renewable energy plus storage in smart grids, many with electric vehicles providing grid services — is now a global phenomenon (International Energy Agency 2016; International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA] 2017b).

The EU building sector needs to develop and deploy more innovative solutions in order to enhance the building stock’s energy efficiency and help meet energy and climate policy targets. The European Union is therefore supporting projects that address design and construction processes as well as new technologies, with funding from the Horizon 2020 programme. The results developed by these projects address key challenges at each stage of the value chain for new nearly zero-energy buildings, deep renovation of existing buildings, and energy-smart buildings.

In NSW more than 10% of households and small business premises have installed a solar photovoltaic (PV) system (commonly called solar panels). When these solar customers use the electricity generated by their solar panels rather than buying electricity from their retailer, they save money. When they don’t use all this electricity themselves, the excess amount is exported to the grid, and they may be paid a ‘solar feed-in tariff’ for this electricity.

Discussion paper and roadmap Stage 1 for commercial, institutional, and government buildings and fitouts

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) green building certification has transformed how the building industry
and the public consider sustainability in the built environment. The most recent update to LEED, known as LEED v4, is the new standard for high-performance

Analysis of energy renovation costs, as provided by the French Observatory for Low Energy Buildings, identified the following:

Most energy efficiency programs target only one fuel, usually electricity or natural gas. While they achieve savings, they sometimes miss opportunities by failing to address other fuels. Dual-fuel programs, on the other hand, have the potential to save more energy, reduce program costs, and improve customer satisfaction. Yet many utilities still do not offer them because they often require collaboration with other utilities or program administrators, making them more difficult to run.

This paper on the zero carbon and circular challenge in the built environment puts forward several policy recommendations. In order to achieve the net-zero carbon goal by 2050, adapting the built environment is paramount: the EU estimates that the climate change-related damage to infrastructure could grow tenfold under a business-as-usual scenario. The paper advocates the need to come up with a comprehensive strategy for the building and construction sector which should build on the principles of sustainability and circularity.

While governors across the United States are setting innovative energy policies, energy efficiency can help them go even farther toward meeting state goals. Saving energy creates jobs, develops the workforce, grows state economies, improves public health, promotes technological innovation, protects the environment, and saves taxpayers money. This toolkit lays out steps governors can take to increase energy efficiency in homes, businesses, and transportation.