Building energy: a review on consumptions, policies, rating schemes and standards

Abstract

The building and construction sectors account for more than one third of the global energy consumption. In order to understand the status quo of building energy around the world, a study, as reported here, reviewed the energy consumptions of the major countries/places, their energy policies and rating schemes and standards applicable to building energy use. The review shows that countries with abundant energy resources tend to consume more energy per person than those with less energy resources. Some developing countries have green building rating schemes in place, but many others have not adopted any building energy standard. For those countries who have the standards in place, they may find it difficult to implement the standards in reality. In addition, some new building energy standards have been released lately; studies that make reference to such standards are yet to be seen. Research in future should investigate how the building energy standards could be effectively adopted to reduce building energy use.