At a cabinet meeting on the 22nd, the government decided to amend the law to promote energy conservation in housing.
From 2025 onwards, it is included that all new buildings, including houses, will be required to meet energy-saving standards such as heat insulation performance.
In the revised bill of the Act on Improvement of Energy Consumption Performance of Buildings, which was decided by the government, the energy saving standard that had been set for some buildings such as office buildings has been set for all new construction including housing since 2025. It requires the building to meet the standards.
Specifically, new homes and small office buildings are also required to meet standards such as insulation thickness and window structure in order to improve energy-saving performance.
In addition, we will establish a new low interest rate loan system by the Japan Housing Finance Agency, which can be used when constructing energy-saving measures in existing houses.
The government says that in 2030, energy consumption related to buildings will be reduced by about 8.89 million kiloliters in terms of crude oil, in order to achieve the goal of virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. By amending the law, we would like to further save energy such as electricity that uses heating and cooling in buildings.
The revised bill decided by the Cabinet on the 22nd will be submitted to the current ordinary session of the Diet.