Policymakers convened in Glasgow at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) and discussed numerous strategies to reduce the building sector’s influence on climate change, such as the worldwide adoption of building energy codes.
February 17, 2022
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Throughout the world, buildings use about 30% of the world’s energy that is delivered for use, which releases about 28% of the world’s energy-related carbon emissions that drive climate change. So when policymakers convened in Glasgow at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), they discussed numerous strategies to reduce the building sector’s influence on climate change, such as the worldwide adoption of building energy codes. By establishing uniform building energy codes at local and national levels, the world could decrease energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions while making energy more affordable.
Alongside COP26, a delegation from DOE’s Building Technologies Office contributed to this conversation through the International Energy Agency’s Energy Buildings and Communities (EBC) Programme’s Working Group for building energy codes. The group consists of members from 12 different countries that contribute innovations and research to facilitate the collaborative development of building energy code practices by focusing on three main objectives:
- Enhancing understanding of impactful options and practices regarding building energy codes across different countries.
- Providing methods for cross-national comparison that lead to meaningful information sharing.
- Fostering collaboration on building energy code issues that leads to enhanced building energy code programs by incorporating new issues and practices.
Every year, the group meets in an annual symposium to advance these goals, and this year’s meeting focused on using building codes to achieve carbon reductions, creating national roadmaps that incorporate building energy codes, and establishing best practices for building energy codes compliance.
“It’s literally a brave new world for building energy codes – around the globe, countries and states are developing and implementing aggressive innovative codes to help their citizens have more efficient, resilient and affordable buildings,” said EBC’s co-chair David Nemtzow. “This year’s symposium was an exciting time for global collaboration, and the U.S. is proud to be a leading part of it.”
Three Working Group members presented case studies of what jurisdictions in their countries are doing to align building codes and standards with climate goals in order to achieve carbon reductions. China discussed upgrading codes for buildings to use net-zero energy and produce net-zero carbon emissions. Japan focused on establishing national building codes that incorporate into their greenhouse gas reduction targets. And the United States showcased strategies and examples of regional energy code implementation in the Northeast.
Another three Working Group members shared examples of long-term strategies for energy efficiency, steps for implementation, and how to influence market transformation. Brazil presented their plans for building energy code implementation. Canada displayed its plan to use tiered energy codes nationwide. Instead of focusing exclusively on their country, the United Kingdom presented a global status report on green buildings and construction, as well as a roadmap of future needs for building energy codes.
The annual symposium also featured a publication from the Working Group on best practices for building energy codes compliance. The publication, “Best practices for building energy codes compliance,” consists of a detailed review of current building energy code practices, including enforcement and verification, education on energy codes, penalties, and other mechanisms for improving compliance and code assessments. The publication also includes a section highlighting notable best practices, such as pooling resources across jurisdictions, requiring accreditation of inspectors and government endorsement of third parties, and utilizing a data-driven approach to improve code implementation.
International collaboration on the development of building energy codes is essential, and the Department of Energy’s continued support of the IEA-EBC Programme’s Working Group will improve their efforts to decrease energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and save on energy costs.
To learn more about BTO’s work on building energy codes, visit its Building Energy Codes program.