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The paper focuses on public perception of sustainable homes in a developing economy, namely Saudi Arabia, known for its high energy consumption and CO 2 emission rates. The research explores (i) public perception and knowledge of sustainable and/or low energy homes, (ii) domestic stock typology (including architectural style), (iii) energy consumption patterns, (iv) levels of satisfaction with energy (i.e. HVAC) systems, (v) cultural barriers that prevent the delivery of low energy homes, and (vi) people's acceptance of energy retrofitting and/or sustainable homes. For this purpose, a comprehensive survey ( n = 622) was conducted across the country. The findings reveal limited public awareness as well as important socio-cultural barriers to the delivery of sustainable homes, and large scale energy retrofitting of the existing domestic stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Chinese government has promulgated a wide variety of low-carbon initiatives to control the rapid growth of energy consumption and carbon emissions in the cities. Past records, however, show that the central government's policies are often poorly implemented or distorted by local officials. Using a case study from the city of Changchun, this paper examines how and why the issue of poor implementation persists despite the establishment of the Energy Conservation Target Responsibility System (ECTRS). As a key institutional mechanism providing local officials with political incentives to implement low-carbon policies, the ECTRS has been constrained by a number of problems, including a poorly designed scoring system, weak targets, the use of energy intensity instead of absolute energy consumption as a policy objective, and the lack of reliable local energy statistics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]