We have just finished a study in that issue with Vincent Rious for the French case. It is on my page with the title Habitat.

I will soon add a powerpoint presentation of our key findings... Thanks for raising the question. But If you can read french, you have all the details in that publication.

Basically the idea is : for the new building, norms and standards are effective if all the industry knows that today and tomorrow the rules will be more and more stringent.

But for the existing stock... It is a nightmare because a lot of economic and governance issues arise...

1- what to do?

2- what are the real good techniques for my specific house-building?

3- how much it cost / gain? => how to finance it?

4- are the works properly done? and if not?

5- what could be the role of public intervention? Local, national, EU...

We propose a strategy for France, I don't if it will help, but you can have a look...

Thank you for your answer and congratulations on your work. I have found it very interesting. I think you raise very important questions in the document, like the fiscal and taxes issues . Aditionally I have found really promising your proposal of regulation of the sector of energy renovations. Overall, a very important document.

One big issue I frequently see the is over looked is the economics of the policies aimed at sustainability. Economics is the issue that determines the deployment of any technology. We have advocated that to be environmentally sustainable a technology must be economically sustainable. Any new technology must contribute to the economic well being of the community as well as solve the problem it is intended to address. By creating economic benefit to investors, a technology can deliver benefits to the community without needing public funds to do so.