International Energy Agency EBC Annex 80 | Resilient Cooling of Buildings – Policy Recommendations

The world is facing a rapid increase of cooling of buildings. This is driven by multiple factors,  such as urbanization and densification, climate change, power shortage, and elevated comfort expectations as well as economic growth, especially in hot and densely populated regions of  the world. The trend towards cooling seems inexorable. It is mandatory to guide this  development towards sustainable solutions.  
Against this background, it is the motivation of EBC Annex 80 “Resilient Cooling of Buildings”  to develop, assess and communicate solutions of resilient cooling and overheating protection.  Resilient Cooling is used to denote low energy and low carbon cooling solutions that strengthen the ability of individuals and our communities to withstand, and prevent, adverse thermal and  other impacts due to changes in global and local climates.   
The Annex 80’s main objective is to support a rapid transition to an environment where resilient low energy and low carbon cooling systems are the mainstream and preferred solutions for  cooling and overheating issues in buildings. This can be done by the development of resiliency  indicators, categorization of cooling technologies (both passive and active) and reviewing of  potential and market availability and future prospects of various technologies.  
This report is a main deliverable of Annex 80 and addresses policy-related endeavors that  promote energy efficiency and resilience in cooling. It analyzes product-labelling programs; air  conditioning (AC) minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and voluntary measures;  and building regulations, standards, and compliance requirements, to identify international best practice examples as well as potential barriers. It seeks to develop recommendations for future national and international regulatory policies to support the implementation and mainstreaming  of resilient cooling systems, engaging with international programs.