Energy use by buildings offers a tremendous opportunity for governments seeking to foster clean energy technologies. Sustainability-minded policymakers should focus on three interlinked policy approaches related to better buildings: 1) energy policy that favors energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy sources, 2) climate policy that recognizes and internalizes the cost of carbon pollution; and 3) standards and performance criteria for the building envelope and the building components.
Most building owners and occupants do not have any knowledge about the energy performance of their buildings. This information gap prevents property and financial markets from valuing energy-efficient homes and buildings. Internationally, new government policies are starting to require the disclosure of energy performance. Generally, these policies obligate owners to benchmark...
Energy efficient buildings and urban environments are vital to reaching goals on climate, energy and development in emerging economies. On Aug. 30, 2012, representatives from the Institute for Building Efficiency briefed members of the World Bank Energy Efficiency Community of Practice on the Institute’s second-edition report, Driving Transformation to Energy Efficient Buildings: Policies...
Thousands of leaders from governments, civil society and industry converged in June for the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Summit, known as the Rio Summit. The outcome of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janiero was a document adopted by all countries titled The Future We Want. The group recognized that improved energy efficiency, increased share...
The Institute for Building Efficiency recently participated in a Latin American regional dialogue in Bogota, Colombia, on the development of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The dialogue was organized by the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) as part of its Mitigation Action Implementation Network (MAIN)i. The dialogue brought together experts...
The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative aims to double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.i Efficient buildings are vital to achieving sustainable development because they align economic, social, and environmental objectives, creating triple bottom line benefits. However, the scale and pace of current actions around the world are insufficient to transform buildings...
