Sustainable Building in Japan – Observations on a Market Transformation Policy

Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite the lack of mandatory thermal requirements in the housing sector, an average Japanese household consumes around one‐third of the energy for heating and cooling compared with a UK or German household. Based on a policy analysis and interviews, this paper identifies the concept and policies for sustainable building in Japan considering the characteristics of the building stock and household energy use behaviour. Energy and housing policies are described in terms of regulations, fiscal instruments and labels, and visualized in the context of a market transformation. The research shows that the Japanese policy has a clear preference for market‐based instruments. Thermal regulations are limited to large developments only (over 300 m2) and exclude most of the residential sector. The market transformation is likely to work with appliances, and the Top Runner programme has proved to be an effective policy in making a current market leader a future standard, but the ‘scrap and build’ housing policy leaves little incentive for energy investments in the building sector; in 24 years the resale value of a Japanese home declines to almost zero and the payback time of most environmental measures exceeds the life‐cycle of a building. As the implementation of environmental policies is voluntary, and the insulation levels low, the low heating demand per household seem to be due to different behavioural culture. The research concludes the necessity of introducing mandatory thermal regulations in housing in addition to market based instruments in order to gain further savings in the housing sector. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.