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The building sector is a significant source of GHG emissions and has great potential for emission reductions. The effectiveness of building energy codes on energy savings and emission mitigation is of a primary concern to policy makers, but uncertainty in cost and benefit in different regions complicates code selection and implementation. The impacts of a specific building energy standard vary depending on the heating system's thermal efficiency and the heating fuel's carbon intensity. This paper examines the GHG emissions due to space heating for new construction single-detached households in Canada under different building energy codes and enforcement scenarios. The two codes considered are the BC step code and Passive House criteria. Three scenarios are examined reflecting different levels of stringency of standards between 2020 and 2032. The results show both BC step code and passive house criteria can help mitigate the space heating GHG emissions. There is no significant difference between the BC step code and the passive house criteria from the perspective of GHG emission reduction in the province of British Columbia; however, when implemented nationwide, the passive house criteria is 12% more effective in abating space heating GHG emissions than the most stringent level (i.e. Step 5) of BC step code. • Passive House criteria are more effective in reducing the space heating GHG emissions than BC Step Code does in Canada. • BC Step Code and Passive House criteria can save space heating GHG emissions of new single-houses by 77% and 89%, respectively. • Building performance standards are less impactful in regions where fuel carbon intensity is low. • No notable difference is found between BC Step Code and Passive House criteria in GHG emission reduction per unit area in BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In analyses of urban environments, city-level sustainability assessments standards have received a lot of attention. Many countries, particularly in the developed world, have developed the standards to measure the performance of neighborhoods, districts, and cities in achieving sustainable development goals. In this study, four standards from China and the United States were selected and analyzed within the scope of green and sustainable development. China's new Assessment Standard for Green Eco-districts (ASGE) targets to support China's New-type Urbanization Plan from the conceptual stage to the concrete implementation. LEED® rating systems are one of the important references for the development of ASGE. By comparing ASGE with the advanced standards it draws from, this study aimed to evaluate ASGE's work in adapting to China's national conditions; pointing out the strengths and weaknesses and proposing improvements. The study results indicate that the rating systems of ASGE are in line with China's national conditions, and that some non-technical indicators are forward-looking, but that there is still room for improvement in terms of implementation paths, weight assignment, number of indicators, and index system. Based on these explorations, this study provides suggestions for aspects of principles and methods that could be used for the construction of similar standards in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]