U.S. fails to make the grade on green building policy

The countries with the best green building markets earned that distinction largely due to strong government policies supporting sustainable construction, according to a new report byLux Research. Nations in the report’s top tier include Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Australia, and the U.K.

这家总部位于波士顿的公司汇编了该报告，确定了六项国家政策（包括建筑法规和能源效率目标），这些政策在鼓舞绿色建筑中更高的活动率方面发挥了关键作用。该报告名为“政策对绿色建筑：全球热点的巨大影响”，对21个国家进行了排名，他们在促进支持绿色建筑的环境方面取得了成功。

Government motives behind these policies include an interest in energy security, and environmental and livability concerns, said Aditya Ranade, a Lux Research analyst and lead author of the report.

Wealthier countries with an ability and willingness to pay for these buildings were more likely to place higher in the rankings, he said. The 21 nations on the list represent more than 80 percent of the world’s total gross domestic product.

“For any emerging technology -- and especially for green buildings -- technology, financing and policy are the three legs of the stool that drive the adoption of these trends,” said Ranade.

The research firm is hosting awebinaron August 28 that will combine both the policy and financing landscape and explain how its analysts use those factors to determine global hot spots for emerging technologies in green building.

The U.S. didn’t make the cut into the top quadrant of countries in the report, despite significant pockets of cutting-edge green building activity across the nation. That’s because the catalysts for much of that construction aren’t attributed to federal policies, explained Ranade.

Green building trends in the U.S. have been driven by state and city-level government policies, corporations, and voluntary certifying organizations, such as LEED certification, he observed.

Lux researchers looked at policy measures over the last five years that support green building and highlighted six categories they believe have an impact on whether emerging technologies in green buildings are pursued. They include:

• 建筑法规和标准。在其国家法规中具有特别强大的能源效率组成部分的国家包括新加坡，马来西亚，印度和德国。

• 信息和意识。Ranade说，将建筑物向房客和房地产买家公开披露建筑物的能源绩效的国家鼓励更多的建筑商将节能措施纳入其项目中。新加坡，德国和日本在这项措施上得分很高。

• Tax benefits and direct financial assistance. For example, cash rebates incentivize property owners to adopt emerging technologies in their construction projects that would otherwise be too expensive or have a longer payback period. “Singapore has a scheme that if you meet their green platinum standard, you can get up to 70 percent of your capital expense reimbursed by the federal government,” said Ranade. “That’s an extreme example of cash rebates that’s not found in many larger countries.”

• Energy efficiency improvement targets at a national level. South Korea and Australia have a price on carbon, which forces commercial building owners and energy-intensive industries to pay a tax if they exceed limits set by the government. The European Union has a tax as well, but Lux analysts consider it too low to have real impact. “We weigh these targets depending on the seriousness of each announcement,” he explained. “If there’s a price like a carbon tax or cap-and-trade economic incentive tied to it, the announcement is more meaningful in our analysis.”

Most countries analyzed in the report don’t incorporate all the policies identified, said Ranade. However, national building codes stood out as a basic requirement among most leaders on the list

Ranade断言：“如果您没有建筑法规和标准，那么其他措施都不会有效。”“如果一个国家想进入建筑能源效率，他们必须将其写入建筑法规。说您应该拥有绝缘的窗户是不够的。需要有一个与之相关的R评级。”

报告中列表底部附近的一些国家是俄罗斯，沙特阿拉伯，巴西和阿根廷在内的生产石油国家。便宜的能源正在阻碍其政府对能源效率采用联邦政策。这些国家对能源效率措施的税收优惠最低，其建筑规范仍在开发中，甚至不在制图委员会中。

Surprisingly, the report’s researchers found a high number of developing and under-developed countries exploring green building technologies. For example, Peru has a government initiative to construct 200,000 eco-homes. Ranade predicts countries including Peru, Thailand, Colombia and Poland could adopt more policy measures in the future for green buildings if they see countries such as India, China and Malaysia succeed in their current efforts.