The Asia-Pacific region has experienced significant growth in its green building market. APEC members have supported a number of related activities over recent years to advance building rating systems, promote life-cycle analysis for products and materials, and document policies regulating building design and construction. The common goal of these efforts is to work toward a sustainable built environment supported by the free flow of trade in products and technologies.

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.

This document is an example of Recommendations for EU states that gives guidance on how to proceed with zero-energy buildings.  It is likely the recommendations apply elsewhere.  The document answers questions like "How do renewable energy sources contribute?".  Other information includes

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.

Without strong and ambitious policy support, the energy efficiency potential of cities is likely to remain largely untapped. Often cities have the opportunity to implement policies and programmes in the building sector that are complementary, more stringent or reflect greater ambition than national activities. 

This is the third in a series of papers intended to guide states as they embark on the path to Clean Power Plan (CPP) compliance. As one of many approaches to reducing pollution and complying with the CPP, states and localities can offer energy efficiency programs to low-income households or businesses and community-based organizations that serve low-income communities. This guide discusses some best practices for implementing and evaluating low-income energy efficiency programs and addresses considerations in using them for CPP compliance.

This guidebook aims to be a practical resource for governments (ministries of energy, environment, housing, climate change, finance, planning and others), private sector investors and civil society organizations by illustrating how to create a Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) for energy efficient buildings based on a country-led national strategy, possibly articulated as a Nationally Determined Contribution.

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.

This toolkit is designed as a first step in helping countries, cities and experts in developing, adopting and implementing their codes. In its present form, this toolkit is set out as a useful reference, but also as a means of assessing the potential of such information to help governments and other stakeholders. The toolkit covers five main topics: guidance for cities and jurisdictions that are just getting started, and tools that can provide inspiration and knowledge regarding code development, adoption, implementation and evaluation.

Buildings are central to meeting the sustainability challenge. In the developed world, buildings consume over 70% of the electrical power generated and 40% of primary energy, and are responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions from combustion. While developing countries will need to accommodate 2.4 billion new urban residents by 2050, in Europe 75-90% of buildings standing today are expected to remain in use in 2050. Renewable energy technology alone cannot meet those requirements, despite recent improvements.

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

More and more large energy users across Australia are exploring distributed energy solutions to reduce costs, lower their exposure to volatile energy markets and drive down carbon emissions. With opportunities such as generating electricity on site using solar PV and load management through the use of batteries, corporates can take a far more active and strategic role in energy management.

The Central Melbourne design guide has been prepared by the City of Melbourne to support the use and interpretation of the Urban Design in the Central City and Southbank Design and Development Overlay Schedule 1 (DDO1) within the Melbourne Planning Scheme. The guide is intended to raise the bar on the design quality of development outcomes in the Central City and Southbank.

Residential and commercial buildings accounted for over 2,000 Million Metric Tons (MMT) of carbon equivalent emissions and 40% of the total energy consumed in the United States in 2016. New construction and major renovations in buildings have a long-term impact on emissions as many of the features incorporated at time of construction will impact energy consumption for decades.

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and the former Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) developed this Handbook to assist users with the application and understanding of the National Construction Code (NCC) Volume One energy efficiency provisions.

Sustainable finance has been an area of interest to the National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) for some time. NABERS have been closely monitoring green bond issuances in the property sector and are encouraged by the uptake of sustainable finance solutions many customers are pursuing. NABERS want to see more green finance unlocked in the industry.

It is a response to an increasing need to address carbon emissions from existing residential buildings. Historically, policy on reducing carbon emissions has focused on regulating new-build projects; however, with less than 2% of the building stock in Australia replaced each year, there is a clear need to reduce carbon emissions in homes that have already been built and occupied.

This guide acts as a practical reference for the design of high-performance, low-carbon commercial buildings. The target audience is everyone involved in the creation of new commercial buildings, from architects, consultants and designers, to developers and owners.