In the US, the 2008 National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency (NAPEE) calls for a
sustainable national commitment in all sectors. Such goals are taken back in state
level reports: the 2009 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) and the 2008
California Long-term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan (EESP). Both announce the
ambitious targets of making all new residential constructions “Zero Net
Energy”39 by 2020 (CPUC, 2008; CEC, 2009). The case of California illustrates the
necessity of involvement of all three levels federal, regional and local. The federal
level, important as regard capacity-building, as it provides important funding;
provides the guiding strategies and a toolkit for state and local authorities
reducing state level costs to enact policies. Buildings and appliances standards,
necessary at the federal level, benefit from some flexibility at the state level, as
states have better information and can better target the standards to the
characteristics. Regional associations, such as WGA can add clarity and
harmonize targets. All this plead for simultaneous initiatives at all three levels.
The Californian policies demonstrate several strengths in terms of relevance,
flexibility, clarity, and sustainability. Also, coherence is visible, as some policies
are coupled together and hence, their impact strengthened. The Energy Star
labels are used as criteria for loans and grants attribution. Building regulation
updates go hand in hand with increased usage of energy efficient appliances
(IEA, 2008). Finally, it also shows the necessity of public awareness, an essential
element in the strategy. Future challenges include the need to better gather data
in order to improve future energy demand forecast; assess the quantitative
impacts in post-evaluation studies, while trying to distinguish between the
different factors influencing the outcome (Vine et al., 2006).
Although the Japanese policies show some weaknesses, such as the need to
target more rural households - responsible for 52.5% of the total residential
building sector - and to extend the scope of some measures (Ashina and Nakata,
2008), they reveal an underlying integrative conceptual approach, where policies
are combined and target multiple barriers. Innovative features include, for
instance, the use of regulations as benchmarks for voluntary labels and the
provision of subsidies. The Top Runner standard for instance has been used as a
reference point for voluntary labels. Specific measures such as labels or grants
simultaneously address several barriers at the same time – access to capital or
behavioural barriers-, while targeting a wide range of actors at different levels -
from consumers to manufacturers and local governments - through effective
partnerships