Around the world, engineers, architects and policymakers have been exploring ways to deliver highly efficient buildings whose reduced energy demand is satisfied by clean, renewable energy. Building off of the broader concept of a green or sustainable building, the concept of the “net zero building” focuses on the energy dynamics and performance of the building. And as policymakers and leaders align toward the net zero concept, the focus on achieving deep energy efficiency has centered on integrated technologies as well as ways to connect buildings to the natural environment.

It is clear that city must be part of the solution if an urbanizing world is to grapple successfully with ecological challenges such as energy depletion and climate change. A system dynamics model was developed in this study using STELLA platform to model the energy consumption and CO2 emission trends for the City of Beijing over 2005–2030. Results show that the total energy demand in Beijing is predicted to reach 114.30 million tonnes coal equivalent (Mtce) by 2030, while that value in 2005 is 55.99 Mtce, which is 1.04 times higher than the level in 2005.

This article provides useful information that could help you address some barriers to sustainable initiatives: Every executive that you speak to is aware that data can be manipulated and may be skeptical of studies conducted by organizations that could benefit from a particular set of results. So I've included information on independent third-party studies. In challenging economic times, people are particularly concerned about short-term cash flow.

This research combines two parallel and complementary work packages.The first examines the relationship between technical building energy performance improvements relating to electricity and gas end uses (e.g.

This project, “International Review of Residential Building Energy Efficiency Rating Schemes”, is the fifth project in a series of work conducted through the Building Energy Efficiency Task Group (BEET), under the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC). This project report presents key governance and administrative considerations in the design of energy efficiency rating schemes, available information on the cost-effectiveness and market impact of rating schemes, barriers to uptake of schemes and lessons learned from the implementation of schemes.

The contribution of buildings to climate change has become widely acknowledged. On 3 December 2015, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) held the first ‘buildings day’ at COP 21 (the UN Climate Change Conference) devoted to the decarbonization of the building stock. There are several forms of negative contributions that buildings make to climate change, but high on the list are embodied and operational energy demands, which largely depend on fossil fuels and result in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Dutch Government stimulates the application of energy efficiency measures to reduce the energy requirements of buildings, which are responsible for about 20% of the Dutch CO2 emissions. For our assessment, we followed a qualitative approach, due to a lack of data. We reviewed the mix of policy instruments and used stakeholder surveys and interviews. We found that energy use is not very likely to decline fast enough to achieve the Dutch policy targets for 2020. For new buildings, the policy mix works well, but its contribution to the policy targets is limited.

Under Article 7(1) of the Directive, France must make annual savings of 1.5 % of energy sales to end consumers compared to the average for 2010-12. To obtain the volume of energy sales, own generation of energy and the renewable share of renewable heat energy were subtracted from the non-climate corrected end energy consumption.

In-home displays, dynamic pricing, and automated devices aim to reduce residential electricity use—overall and during peak hours. We present a meta-analysis of 32 studies of the impacts of these interventions, conducted in the US or Canada. We find that methodological problems are common in the design of these studies, leading to artificially inflated results relative to what one would expect if the interventions were implemented in the general population.

The Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (“EFFIG”) identifies the need to engage multiple stakeholder groups, scale-up the use of several financial instruments within a clear and enforced “carrot and stick” legislative framework. This report identifies a number of approaches and instruments that have proven to encourage investments and multiple market barriers that stand in the way of an energy efficient Europe.

Improving residential energy efficiency is widely recognised as one of the best strategies for reducing energy demand, combating climate change, and increasing security of energy supply. However, progress has been slow to date due to a number of market and behavioural barriers that have not been adequately addressed by energy efficiency policies and programmes. This study is based on updated findings of the European Futures for Energy Efficiency Project that responds to the EU Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014–2015 theme ‘Secure, clean and efficient energy’.

This report sets out the positive and negative impacts of improvements in energy efficiency in buildings that could come about through a recast of the Energy Performance Buildings Directive (EPBD). Successive studies have shown that energy efficiency offers many of the most cost-effective options for meeting global emission targets. In many cases, energy efficiency measures have been shown to be ‘negative cost’, meaning that it would be economically advantageous to implement them.

The building sector is not on track to lower total greenhouse gas emissions. Given that emissions from the sector represent nearly 40% of global energy-and process-related emissions, this represents a serious challenge to keeping global warming to 1.5oC. The Buildings sector must therefore decarbonize.To support this goal, this report focuses on policy drivers for decarbonisation, and the costs and benefits associated with their implementation.

A JRC workshop on split incentives organised in the framework of article 19(1)(a) of the Energy Efficiency Directive (Directive) has been organised in order to examine current solutions addressing split incentives in the building sector in Europe and beyond. The workshop focused on the social housing, private residential and commercial sectors. Practices from Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, Denmark, Sweden and the US were presented and a panel discussion between representatives from groups of landlords, tenants, social housing and ESCOs was held.

Residential buildings use approximately 20 percent of the total U.S. energy consumption, and single-family homes alone account for about 16 percent. Older homes are less energy efficient than newer ones, and, although many experts have identified upgrades and improvements that can yield significant energy savings at relatively low costs, it has proven to be difficult to spur most homeowners into making these investments.

The gap between actual carbon prices and those required to achieve ambitious climate change mitigation could be closed by enhancing the public acceptability of carbon pricing through appropriate use of the revenues raised. In this Perspective, we synthesize findings regarding the optimal use of carbon revenues from both traditional economic analyses and studies in behavioural and political science that are focused on public acceptability.