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Reports

24 result(s) found

Modernising building energy codes to secure our global energy future

Policy report
Authors:
International Energy Agency

This is a revised report from the initial Building energy codes issued in year 2008. IEA and UNDP joint report shares best practices and lessons learned among IEA member countries and non-IEA countries in improving energy efficiency in the building sector.

Identifying macro-objectives for the life cycle environmental performance and resource efficiency of EU buildings

Working paper
Authors:
Nicholas Dodd,
Shane Donatello,
Elena Garbarino,
Miguel Gama-Caldas

This working paper brings together the findings of the first stage in this study, which focusses on the identification of 'macro-objectives' for the environmental performance of the EU building stock. This stage is intended to provide an initial 'top down' view of what the strategic priorities (the 'macro-objectives') should be for the building sector.

Low-carbon and Resilient cities: Local Governments in Japan

Policy report
Authors:
Ministry of the Environment (Japan)

This (English translation) document lists 35 Japanese cities and prefectures and efforts therein to become low-carbon cities.

Each record gives a number of government-instigated projects being undertaken and a government contact person.

Each record indicates how the city or prefecture is accredited as one- or more- of these:

JCM, Future City. Eco-Model City, ICLEI,C40

The EnergyFit Homes Initiative Working Paper 8: Home Energy Efficiency Stakeholder Map

Working paper
Authors:
Henry Adams,
Matthew Clark

Executive Summary Scope and objectives This report provides the findings from the stakeholder-mapping stage the EnergyFit Homes Initiative phase 1. The objectives of this phase were to develop a map of the relevant stakeholders and to understand their perspectives of the need, scope and implantation of a national home energy efficiency information framework. A secondary objective of this stage was to begin to build consensus and a coalition of support for options to be built on in the next stage. This is the penultimate research stage of Phase 1.

Synthesis report on the assessment of member states' building renovation strategies

Policy report
Authors:
Luca Castellazzi,
Paolo Zangheri,
Daniele Paci

The aim of this report, prepared by the Joint Research Centre of the European Union (JRC) is to summarise the efforts undertaken by EU Member States in order to meet the requirements of Article 4 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), to provide an overview of the policies and measures chosen and of the overall strengths and weakness, and to identify best practices.

The benefits of benchmarking building performance

Policy report
Authors:
Zachary Hart

Today, buildings account for 40 percent of the total energy used in the United States, with building owners and occupants spending roughly $450 billion on energy bills each year. Despite the size of the opportunity for improvement, building efficiency is not highly valued in the real estate market, largely due to a lack of available information about building performance and energy use. A growing number of jurisdictions in the U.S. are passing energy benchmarking and transparency policies to address this information gap.

Building better energy efficiency programs for low-income households

Policy report
Authors:
Rachel Cluett,
Jennifer Amann,
Sodavy Ou

Low-income energy efficiency programs are an important component of ratepayer-funded efficiency portfolios throughout the country, but there is room for improvement and expansion. In this report the authors address the challenges and opportunities of low-income programs that target single-family homes. This report includes a survey of the low-income program landscape and advice on scaling up energy efficiency in this sector.

Building energy codes: Policy overview and good practices

Policy report
Authors:
Sadie Cox

Globally, 32% of total final energy consumption is attributed to the building sector. To reduce energy consumption, energy codes set minimum energy efficiency standards for the building sector. With effective implementation, building energy codes can support energy cost savings and complementary benefits associated with electricity reliability, air quality improvement, greenhouse gas emission reduction, increased comfort, and economic and social development.

Sustainable council buildings policy 2016

Policy report
Authors:
Boroondara City Council

A range of sustainability rating tools for buildings exist in Australia. In setting sustainability standards for Council buildings, this policy primarily references the GBCA’s holistic design framework and assessment tool ‘Green Star - Design and As Built’ , which is widely used in the commercial and local government sectors and considered the most appropriate tool for Council buildings.

Green building policy case studies, New Mexico

Policy report
Authors:
United States Green Building Council

First adopted in 2007, and most recently renewed in 2015, New Mexico’s Sustainable Building Tax Credit supports the greening of many building types across the state. Released in October, 2017, this case study captures the impacts of this landmark policy and highlights the context and people that helped to create and sustain this nation-leading green building policy.

This is an example of LEED being used in an innovative tax policy across the United States and potentially serve as a tax model elsewhere.

Improved housing outcomes – for more affordable, sustainable housing

Policy report
Authors:
Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council

Housing affordability is defined and measured in a variety of ways. For ASBEC, affordability means enabling people to make a housing choice that suits their needs within their available budget – regardless of whether it involves renting, ownership or having options as they age.

AIBS policy - building regulatory reform in Australia

Policy report
Authors:
Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS)

This has been a major project of the AIBS Board over the past five months and represents a significant achievement in enabling AIBS to lead and influence public debate around building regulatory reform throughout Australia.

Circular economy in the Nordic construction sector: identification and assessment of potential policy instruments that can accelerate a transition toward a circular economy

Policy report
Authors:
Linda Hoibye,
Henrik Sand

The purpose of this project is to identify and discuss potential policy instruments that can accelerate a transition toward a circular economy in the Nordic construction sector. Sixteen interviews were carried out with actors representing stakeholders from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The objective of a transition toward a circular economy in the construction sector is to maintain, reuse, refurbish and/or recycle resources and materials used in all parts of the value chain.

Renewable energy policies in a time of transition

Policy report
Authors:
Hannah E. Murdock,
Ute Collier,
Rana Adib,
Diala Hawila,
Emanuele Bianco,
Simon Muller,
Rabia Ferroukhi,
Michael Renner,
Divyam Nagpal,
Christine Lins,
Paolo Frankl

This report, produced jointly by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21), offers policy makers a comprehensive understanding of the options available to support the development of renewables.

The Bottom Line – The household impacts of delaying improved energy requirements in the Building Code

Policy report
Authors:
Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council,
ClimateWorks Australia

The National Construction Code is a ready-made policy instrument to influence the energy efficiency of new buildings and major renovations. Improved building energy efficiency presents a win-win-win solution, reducing stress on the electricity network and supporting a least-cost pathway to decarbonisation while also delivering cost savings and improved comfort to households and businesses.

Built to perform: An industry led pathway to a zero carbon ready building code

Policy report
Authors:

Improved energy performance of buildings presents a win-win-win opportunity, reducing stress on the electricity network, offering bill savings, supporting a least-cost pathway to a zero carbon built environment, and improving health and resilience outcomes for households and businesses.

Green Infrastructure Benefits for State Legislators

Policy report
Authors:
Skip Wiltshire-Gordon

Cities and states are always looking for ways to more efficiently and effectively deliver public services, such as flood management, resource conservation, pollution prevention, social equity and human health. Green infrastructure is an integrated set of strategies that help realize these outcomes in the built environment through the deployment of design, materials and methods that uses or replicates natural systems.

The distributional effects of building energy codes

Working paper
Authors:
Chris Bruegge,
Tatyana Deryugina,
Erica Myers

State-level building energy codes have been around for over 40 years, but recent empirical research has cast doubt on their effectiveness. A potential virtue of standards-based policies is that they may be less regressive than explicit taxes on energy consumption. However, this conjecture has not been tested empirically in the case of building energy codes.

Pathways to zero energy buildings through building codes

Working paper
Authors:
Christopher Perry

Designers can use superior building design and energy management strategies to create buildings that produce at least as much energy as they consume. These are called zero energy buildings (ZEBs). ZEBs exist in the United States and Canada now; however building energy codes will have to be continuously improved to achieve widespread ZEBs by 2030, a common goal of many cities and some states.

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