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.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This guide is a planning resource for small to medium-sized companies involved in the buildings sector value chain. This includes building materials suppliers, trades and contractors, transport companies and architects, engineers and other design firms.

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.

The buildings sector contributes nearly 40% to global energy-related annual GHG emissions (IEA/UNEP, 2018). Final energy demand from buildings is predicted to increase 50% by 2050 compared with 2015 levels under business as usual scenarios due to rapid urbanisation and the doubling of the built surface area. Effective decarbonization of the buildings sector is therefore critical to meeting the Paris Agreement Goals and exceeding the current level of ambition in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

This Guide to Implementing Low Carbon Retrofits for Social Housing is intended as a simple to use reference for social housing asset managers and others involved in social housing upgrades. The guide presents a concise summary of effective energy efficiency options for social housing properties, including:

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.

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.

This guide from the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC’s) Europe network and EeMAP's partner E.ON sets out how they believe the sectors and stakeholders involved in delivering green buildings should support the growth of energy efficient mortgages.

Why refurbish commercial buildings?

Energy audits have been conducted for many years, and there is a well-established cohort of service providers trained to perform them in accordance with standards developed by ASHRAE and others. These standards define the process and quality of work that should be achieved for energy performance audits. However, a corresponding level of industry maturity, and an understanding of what should be included, does not yet exist for auditing water performance.