The building sector has major impacts not only on economic and social life, but also on the natural and built environment. Various building activities, such as the design, construction, use, refurbishment and demolition of buildings, directly and indirectly affect the environmental performance of the sector. In the world and particularly in the APEC economies, the building sector (including households, office and commercial buildings)
accounts for around 25-40% of final energy consumption and represents an important contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions (nearly 30% of global GHG emissions). Also buildings generate close to 40% of total waste.
Moreover, buildings are one of the most fast-growing sectors, increasing its demand of energy, raw materials, services and goods.

The objective of workshop was to provide APEC decision makers with recent advances in the best practices for energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings. Many APEC economies are experiencing a growth in construction and this will have direct implications in their energy consumptions for decades to come. The workshop underlined opportunities to reduce the consumption of energy in residential, commercial, industrial and public buildings. The topics reviewed includes insulation and construction materials, energy efficient design, analysis of positive externalities, financial mechanisms, regulations and construction codes and the application  of energy-efficient and renewable devices and technologies for buildings.

The resulting report put forth the following proposals regarding sustainable building regulations and standards:

• Building codes and standards should be part of all energy related policies.
• To overcome the barriers resulting from applying regulations at the local level and the great diversity of legal instruments that are related to building performance. It is also important to recognize the disparity between different levels of government agencies when different regulations are enforced.
• Harmonizing building standards in the same way product standards at the international level.
• The importance of considering the experiences of those economies where sustainable parameters (both mandatory and voluntary) have been applied in buildings, and how to encourage building standards compliance, particularly at the local level, since most of these regulations are federal. APEC EGNRET-EERE Workshop on best practices in energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings Proceedings, results and proposals
• Create regulatory schemes to increase the quality and amount of saving water systems in great urban centers.
• Develop specific regulations which influence the community’s habits and apply to particular conditions and existing construction rules.

The report also provided suggestions on stakeholder involvement and awareness, integrating sustainable building conceptualization, education for end-users and owners, and integrated definitions.