Shaping the Energy Efficiency in New Buildings - Building Energy ...

Japan only supervises the building design, and does not inspect buildings forenergy code issues. China relies heavily on third parties, both in the design review and in inspections. India does not enforce its voluntary code. Since state and local governmentswould need to adopt the code for it to become mandatory, these governmentswould likely have a large role in enforcement, as they do with other building codeissues. Several APP countries provide penalties and incentives to encourage codecompliance. Common consequences for non-compliance include prohibiting aproperty owner from occupying a building, publishing the names of noncompliantproperty owners and issuing fines. Rewards for compliance commonlyinvolve one or more of the following: monetary awards, relaxation of zoningrequirements for a building, low interest rates from banks and other lendinginstitutions, and tax benefits.Strong building codes are an effective and low-cost approach to improve energyefficiency. However, without stringent enforcement by officials and compliance from theconstruction industry, building codes do not deliver the promised energy savings.Enforcement of building codes encompasses several stages of building construction andis carried out by different bodies of government or the private sector. The first element ofenforcement or point of control is at the design stage. All APP countries except Indiahave local governments oversee this stage, albeit to different degrees (India’s code isvoluntary, so there is no enforcement framework currently). In most cases, this meansthat local governments oversee the process and conduct the actual reviews. This is true inAustralia, Canada, South Korea, Japan and the United States. South Korea, Japan and theUnited States also in some cases allow third parties to verify designs, although in mostsuch cases, local governments review the verification of the designs. For example, inSouth Korea, the Korea Energy Management Corporation may be asked to verify designsfor local governments. In Japan, local governments review and approve all buildingdesigns. However, third parties, referred to as “designated confirmation bodies,” firstvalidate building designs (Cabinet Office of Japan 2006).Enforcement is just as crucial during building construction and before a building iscertified for occupancy. Local governments in Australia, Canada, South Korea and theUnited States perform building inspections. With small buildings, inspections willtypically take place twice: once during construction (before the interior walls are sealed)and once before the building is put into operation. Large buildings, on the other hand,may require a series of inspections as construction takes place at different paces indifferent stories of the building. In Japan, there are no inspections for building energycode requirements. China relies primarily on third party entities for inspections and thereis typically one inspection. India does not yet enforce its code. In the United States, Chinaand other countries there is a growing effort to verify and document compliance rates.For example, in the United States, recent legislation sets a goal of 90% enforcement ofthe building energy codes, and the U.S. Department of Energy is developing detailedmethodologies for tracking compliance rates.58