[Report] A Comparative Analysis of Best Practice Renovation Policies from Europe and the United States

To provide insight into how to accelerate more and deeper renovation policies, the GBPN recently launched an on-line Policy Tool for Renovation that captures the performance of the current best practices in Europe and in the United States and enables their comparison. The new paper Reducing Energy Demand in Existing Buildings: Learning from Best Practice Renovation Policies details the methodology behind the work and highlights how a package of complementary policies can help policy makers embark on highly ambitious renovation strategies.

Methodology:

With the support of a panel of international experts in the field, the GBPN identified fourteen criteria that define the key elements of a state-of-the-art policy package and scored the selected twelve best practice policy packages against these:

Best practice policy packages were selected from the European Union (E.U.) and the United States (U.S.) due to the large existing building stock, slow replacement rates and the more advanced experience in renovation policy in both regions. To be selected, policy packages had to comprise elements of best practice or to have proved a reduction in residential energy consumption, between 2000 and 2012.Selected jurisdictions in Europe include Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Chosen jurisdictions in the U.S. include: California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont. Brief overviews of the renovation strategies per selected jurisdiction are available here.

A number of key findings have emerged from the research:

Energy renovation policy is an emerging field and there is scope for further progress. The tool shows elements where positive steps have been taken and where countries and states can learn from these actions.
The countries and states that were successful in reducing all consumption indicators were found to have holistic policy packages in place that address all aspects of the renovation process.
There is no such thing as an overall “best” policy package and all countries and states can benefit from best practice sharing.
Financial mechanisms need to be locally adapted and linked to broader national renovation strategies. National incentives and taxation mechanisms are widely used in the European countries whereas utility-funded and market based mechanisms are used in American states.
Among the current best practice renovation policies, there is a general absence of clear and ambitious targets for the renovation of the existing building stock.

Documents
08. Renovation Tool Report.pdf 03.Renovation Tool_ES.pdf 02. RT_Briefing.pdf 06. CS1-DENMARK 1.pdf 06. CS2-FRANCE.pdf 06. CS3_GERMANY.pdf 06. CS4 THENETHERLANDS.pdf 06. CS5 SWEDEN.pdf 06. CS6 UNITEDKINGDOM.pdf 06. CS7 CALIFORNIA.pdf 06. CS8 MASSACHUSETTS.pdf 06. CS9 NEWJERSEY.pdf 06. CS10 NEWYORK.pdf 06. CS11 OREGON_0 06. CS12 VERMONT.pdf