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MARKET AND INDUSTRY TRENDS
BUILDINGS AND APPLIANCES
Buildings accounted for 33% of global total final energy
consumption (TFEC) in 2013 (the most recent data available),
with the largest portion of the building sector’s TFEC (30%)
coming from electricity, followed by traditional biomass (25%)
for heating and cooking, and natural gas (21%). 12 In 2013, global
TFEC of buildings had increased by 34% in relation to 1990. 13
Most of the TFEC used in buildings is for space heating, water
heating and cooking. 14 Residential buildings account for almost
three-quarters of global building energy use, and non-residential
(service sector) buildings account for the remaining share. 15
Total energy demand in buildings is determined by a variety of
factors, including structural design (building envelope); heating,
ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); and electricity load
for lighting and appliances. Various options are available for
retrofitting existing buildings to improve their energy efficiency
and reduce energy demand, thereby lowering operational costs
and helping to attract new occupants. 16 Around the world,
existing buildings are being retrofitted with improved insulation
and windows, more-efficient lighting, and HVAC systems and
controls, among others.
Improving the energy efficiency of EU buildings (35% of which
are over 50 years old) could reduce the region’s total energy
consumption by an estimated 5–6%. 17 In OECD countries, the
efficiency of energy use in the residential sub-sector improved by
15% between 2002 and 2012. 18
Increasingly, energy efficiency principles – such as better building
design and orientation to take advantage of natural lighting, heat
gain or shading, and prevailing breezes – are being integrated
along with more-efficient systems and building materials in new
buildings. In the EU, for example, new buildings in 2015 consumed
about half as much energy as new buildings did in the 1980s. 19
by 61% and 78%, respectively; decrease the primary energy
demand for heating commercial buildings by 77%; and virtually
eliminate external sources of heating for residential buildings
with the contribution of waste heat from appliances and human
occupants. 24
Among environment-friendly technologies used in buildings,
heat pumps offer the opportunity for efficient use of energy for
space heating, cooling, and hot water supply, as well as utilisation
of distributed renewable electricity (e.g., solar PV) for their
operation. 25 The installed capacity of ground-source (geothermal)
heat pumps worldwide increased from an estimated 1.9 GW th in
1995 to 15 GW th in 2005 and to 50 GW th in 2015 (18% average
annual growth between 1995 and 2015). The United States, China,
Sweden, Germany and France were the five leading countries in
installed capacity. 26 The European heat pump market is growing
at about 3% annually, averaged across all energy sources (air,
water, ground and waste heat). However, the ground-source
component of the European heat pump market has begun to
contract, with sales dropping almost 13% in 2015. 27
The number of net zero energy buildings (NZEBs) also continued
to rise in 2015, although on a limited scale, exemplifying the
synergies between energy efficiency and renewable energy.
The global NZEB market reached USD 629 million in 2014, and
it continued to grow rapidly throughout 2015, particularly in
developed regions. 28 In the United States, the number of NZE
projects nearly doubled between end-2014 (213 projects) and
early 2016, when there were at least 425 projects in at least 42
states. 29
“Passive house” standards can serve as good guidelines for
NZEBs and nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) by greatly
reducing energy demand for heating and cooling. 30 In 2015,
the two leading regions on passive buildings – Europe (12,000
projects) and North America (230 projects) – updated their
standards to require more on-site renewable energy generation. 31
The market for energy-efficient building technologies as of 2014
was USD 307 billion, representing a wide range of technologies
and services, with USD 68 billion coming from energy efficiency
retrofits. 20 The largest energy-efficient building market segment
is building envelope technologies, including building materials,
while mechanical and electrical systems (i.e., HVAC, lighting and
controls) also represent major segments. 21 The largest market for
energy-efficient buildings is Western Europe, where it is driven
by high energy prices and stringent building energy codes.
North America and the Asia-Pacific region are major markets as
well, and energy efficiency is increasingly important for building
projects. 22
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Markets for more-efficient building materials are growing
worldwide, both for retrofits and for new construction. For
example, China’s insulation market has experienced rapid growth
since 2000, with average annual growth rates exceeding 15%
between 2006 and 2010; during the same period, the market share
for low-emissivity glass increased from 1.3% to 7%. 23 Integrating
energy-efficient technologies and equipment in buildings can
further reduce the sector’s energy use. For example, in the United
States, the combined use of the most-efficient wall, window and
HVAC equipment available on the market in 2015 could reduce the
primary energy demand for residential and commercial cooling
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