Deploying energy-efficiency and renewable-energy technologies in residential and commercial buildings
This paper highlights the challenges involved in accurately identifying and classifying for tradestatistics purposes many of the energy-ef?cient goods used in the buildings sector. It also underscores the importance of policy interventions, regulations and incentives as a major driver of technology deployment, and in some cases, as a major determinant of international trade ?ows in these goods. Consequently, enhanced trade and market creation for these goods require, in addition to low tariffs at the border, the existence of these regulations and incentives. Incentives are particularly important as the high cost for a number of renewable energy and energy-ef?ciency technologies associated with the buildings sector constrain market diffusion. The paper shows the main exporting and importing countries for equipment associated with key categories of building technologies as well as the prevailing tariff-levels for these.