This chapter surveys the role of the IEA as a key component of the international energy security system. First, it gives an overview of the nature of the energy security challenges and the key governance regimes that have been set up historically to manage these challenges, including the IEA. Then, it elaborates on the specific roles taken up by the IEA in global energy governance, particularly in light of the dramatic changes that characterize the global energy security system. Finally, it gives a comparative overview of the three oil market interventions that the IEA has so far coordinated, before presenting the conclusions.

The international energy agency

Review of 50 years of EU energy efficiency policies for buildings

Using digital design models has been a common practice in the manufacturing industry for decades. Project teams at companies such as Boeing and Toyota have placed digital models at the core of their collaborative, concurrent engineering processes. The same approach, called building information modeling (BIM), is increasingly being adopted by architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) service providers for building and infrastructure projects. Unlike CAD, which uses software tools to generate digital 2D and/or 3D drawings, BIM facilitates a new way of working: creating designs with intelligent objects that enables cross-functional project teams in the building and infrastructure industries to collaborate in a way that gives all stakeholders a clearer vision of the project. Models created using software for BIM are intelligent because of the relationships and information that are automatically built into the model. Components within the model know how to act and interact with one another. BIM not only enables engineers architects and construction firms to work more efficiently, but creates a foundation for sustainable design, enabling designers to optimize the environmental footprint of a structure during the design phase. Convergence is breaking down the barriers between technical disciplines. The integration of BIM, geospatial, physical modeling and 3D visualization provides a framework of interoperability that enables an intelligent synthetic model of entire urban environments.

Building information modeling

Environment, power, and society

In 1988 when one thinks of "epidemic diseases," the first to come to mind is the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is therefore instructive to recall that, Cholera was the classic epidemic disease of the nineteenth century, as plague had been in the fourteenth. When cholera first appeared in the United States in 1832, yellow fever and smallpox, the great epidemic diseases of the previous two centuries, were no longer truly national problems. Yellow fever had disappeared from the North, and vaccination had deprived smallpox of much of its menace. Cholera, on the other hand, appeared in almost every part of the country. It flourished in the great cities, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago; it crossed the continent with the forty-niners; its victims included Iowa dirt farmers and New York longshoremen, Wisconsin lead miners and Negro field hands. Rosenberg has chosen New York City as the focus of his work and

The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849 and 1866

The role of built and social environmental factors in Covid-19 transmission: A look at America’s capital city

Energy performance gap refers to the discrepancy between the predicted and the realized energy savings after buildings adopt energy-efficient technologies. This study identifies and analyzes the organizational, behavioral and engineering factors related to the energy performance gap. 117 completed surveys from facility managers in the United States were obtained in 2017. We find that the primary reasons for the energy performance gap are (1) occupants using more energy than designed, (2) more occupants than originally designed, and (3) energy-efficient technology failures. An analysis is conducted using probit models. The results show that LEED and Energy Star buildings are more likely to have tenant lease agreements to eliminate asymmetric information for new tenants. Energy Star buildings are more likely to have sub-metering for air conditioning. However, LEED buildings are associated with factors causing the energy performance gap, such as lack of sub-metering for AC and longer operating hours. Building characteristics such as occupancy rate, building type, ownership and building location influence the impacts of the identified socio-technical factors. Finally, several suggestions to mitigate the energy performance gap are proposed, such as incentives to facility managers, commissioning, energy performance contracting, and occupants’ behavioral change.

Mind the energy performance gap: Evidence from green commercial buildings

Does zero energy building cost more? – An empirical comparison of the construction costs for zero energy education building in United States

In recent years, numerous countries and organizations have presented a large number of initiatives and policies to promote the net-zero energy building movement. Although several research efforts have been conducted to set up a consistent and holistic framework of net-zero building standards, the differences in policies and codes related to net-zero buildings and their impacts are not yet fully understood. The aim of this study is to investigate how rapidly the building stock can be transformed into net-zero energy buildings (NZEs). The focus is not technical or based on economic constraints but instead on the potential impact of energy efficiency policies. In response, this paper first presents an overview of the current status of codes and policies related to net-zero building development worldwide. Second, this paper compares and explains the major differences in building energy codes among regions; three countries are used as examples to demonstrate the different approaches. The three countries, which are located on three different continents, are the USA, Germany, and China. Lastly, three prototype buildings are modeled—with similar climate zone classifications as the above-mentioned three countries—based on each country’s respective building energy codes. The prototypes are analyzed against a baseline, with and without the impact of building codes and policies. The preliminary results indicate that, currently, China has few stringent building code requirements; however, due to the wider acceptable indoor thermal environmental range, China has higher potential than the USA to achieve the net-zero goal. Additionally, policies in the building sector have had a substantial positive impact on the reduction of energy and carbon emissions in China. In comparison, Germany has slightly higher potential to achieve the net-zero goal than the other two countries, whereas the USA, without a positive energy policy, will underperform in the near future, compared to most countries worldwide.

A comparison of building energy codes and policies in the USA, Germany, and China: progress toward the net-zero building goal in three countries

In recent years, net zero energy building has becoming a trend in the building industry, with the aim to reach a carbon-neutral goal by 2050. Building codes, regulations, directives, and design guidelines have primarily focused on a building’s performance—particularly on energy performance. Meanwhile, there is increasing interest in the co-benefits of a building’s energy efficiency, such as human health and water conservation, which are less addressed in building performance assessments. To respond to these critics and the research gap in the current energy-centric building performance assessment framework, this paper presents a methodological framework to assess a building’s impact on energy, environment (smog, global warming, ozone depletion), water (acidification, eutrophication) and human health. This integrated assessment framework is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The aim of this proposed framework is to: (1) shift the mindset from performance to impact when assessing building design solutions; (2) provide a broader building assessment framework that integrates energy, water, the environment, and health; and (3) demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed integrated assessment framework. This paper first outlines the two missing components of the current net zero energy building assessment method, followed by a description of other building impacts that should be included in building. More precisely, three additional impact categories were identified: the environment, water, and human health. Within each impact category, multiple impact criteria were included. Then, a multi-criteria analysis was applied to rank the design alternatives. Lastly, a case study was used to demonstrate the validity of this proposed framework, the original building and three alternatives were evaluated. The results show current single criteria (energy-centric) approach is not adequate since 3 different alternatives performed differently in variety impact categories. In general, design alternatives with low-impact materials generate less human health impact, while not always correlate with life cycle energy saving. The findings approved that the proposed assessment framework can be applied to the whole building as well as to individual building components or assemblies.

Ming Hu

Papers

The role of built and social environmental factors in Covid-19 transmission: A look at America’s capital city

Mind the energy performance gap: Evidence from green commercial buildings

Does zero energy building cost more? – An empirical comparison of the construction costs for zero energy education building in United States

A comparison of building energy codes and policies in the USA, Germany, and China: progress toward the net-zero building goal in three countries

Building impact assessment—A combined life cycle assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis framework