Implementation Strategies

Policy Theme 3

Make the building fleet energy efficient and renewable inclusive.

Strategy 1: Develop standards, codes, and policies to encourage energy efficiency in buildings.

Strategy 2: Encourage the use of captive and renewable energy in buildings. Strategy 3: Integrate natural and local materials into building codes. Strategy 4: Reduce water consumption in buildings.

Strategy 5: Launch energy awareness campaigns and training programs.

Some of the important aspects of developing an efficient building fleet in a city are to ensure that strict guidelines are developed to encourage the adoption of energy-efficient technologies in new and old buildings, providing a communication platform for exchanging best practices and finally implementing demo projects that showcase best practices in energy-efficient buildings.

The components for encouraging energy-efficient buildings in the city are highlighted below:

Develop standards, codes, and policies to encourage energy efficiency in buildings

• Work with key urban decision-makers and other stakeholders to develop standards, codes, and policies to encourage energy efficiency in buildings. These codes should take into consideration the stock of current building energy usage and potential increases in the future and must aim to minimize such energy usage.

• Retrofit old buildings for energy efficiency

Encourage the use of captive and renewable energy in buildings

Buildings must strive to get a net-zero energy status. On-site generation has many advantages such as lower transmission losses and better control and thus must be encouraged. Further, a certain percentage of energy must be mandated to come from renewable energy sources such as building integrated solar panels, windmills, geothermal, etc.

Integrate natural and local materials into building codes

Standards, codes, and policies encourage the use of natural and locally sourced materials for construction. Demonstration projects that use such material must be set up.

Reduce water consumption in buildings

Design new buildings and retrofit old buildings to reduce the consumption of water. Mandate use of high-efficiency fixtures, eliminate leaks, dual flush technology for solid and liquid waste, and water-efficient cooling systems for buildings. This can help in reducing the water consumption of a city as a whole.

Launch energy awareness campaigns and training programs

It is important to create awareness about efficient buildings among consumers and other stakeholders. To do so, the city must draft a campaign and training plan and should include best practices.