Law to promote energy-saving buildings enacted in Japan

May 10, 2019

Tokyo--Legislation to promote energy-saving for office and other buildings was enacted on Friday.

A bill to revise the Act on Improvement of Energy Consumption Performance of Buildings was approved unanimously in a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of parliament.

The Japanese government aims to put the law into full effect in April 2021.

Currently, large nonresidential buildings that are 2,000 square meters or more are required to meet energy-saving standards. The revised law calls for expanding the application of the standards to nonresidential buildings that are 300 square meters or more.

The amendment is part of initiatives to achieve the government goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

As for small housing and buildings that are less than 300 square meters, the revised law calls for setting up a system to mandate designers to explain to clients whether such buildings meet the energy-saving standards. Jiji Press