Building Energy Efficiency Programs İn Europe and Australia

The United States can become more energy efficient and create more "green" jobs by adopting some of the strategies used by the European Union and Australia to rate and disclose the performance of commercial and government-owned buildings, according to a new RAND Corporation study issued today. The study finds that wealthier countries use more than a third of their energy to heat, cool and illuminate buildings, but not always efficiently. Recent steps taken by the European Union and Australia to inspect, rate and publicly disclose the energy efficiency of buildings indicate the buildings use less energy and are worth more when sold or leased.

The buildings sector has unique characteristics that make design of energy efficiency policies particularly challenging: transactions are infrequent, capital costs are high, and the variablility of design and siting makes energy efficiency comparisons difficulty. Often, owners must bear the costs of efficiency improvements while costs savings are obtained by tenants.

"Nevertheless, investments in renovation and energy-aware construction should be part of a green jobs strategy," said Charles Ries, the report's lead author and senior fellow at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "If the United States wants to be a global competitor in green building technology, it can learn from the ways in which information disclosure, building codes, financial incentives and benchmarking have been used in Europe and Australia."

In examining the recent efforts in the EU and the Australian Commonwealth to promote energy efficiency, researchers focused on five key policy tools: building codes, energy efficiency ratings, the role of public buildings, the training and certification of experts, and the issuance of tradable "white certificates."

Building codes have been effective in improving energy efficiency in new buildings and in buildings undergoing major refurbishments because they are mandatory and have specific requirements. However, codes are slow to have a significant effect on energy use because at most three percent of a nation's building stock is newly constructed or renovated, the study finds. The EU now requires all member nations to have energy efficiency elements in building codes, and the EU codes must be reviewed every five years.