Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02728-7 ORIGINAL PAPER An innovative executive and fnancial mechanism for energy conservation in new and existing buildings in Iran F. Abbasizade 1  · M. Abbaspour 2  · M. Soltanieh 3  · A. Kani 1 Received: 13 December 2019 / Revised: 24 March 2020 / Accepted: 27 March 2020 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2020 Abstract One of the most efective measures for building energy conservation is the implementation of energy codes. The building energy codes introduction in Iran started two decades after the frst oil crisis in the early 1970s by establishing the building energy conservation regulation called Issue 19. Nowadays, due to some fnancial and executive barriers, the implementa- tion of Issue 19 is faced with some difculties. The most critical obstacle is the low price of energy carriers, which lead to high subsidies of energy and the reluctance of the building owners to implement the regulation. The main goal of this paper is the introduction of an innovative fnancial and executive mechanism for implementation of Issue 19 in both new and existing buildings to achieve sustainability and resiliency. The cost–beneft analysis approach, along with SWOT technique and a comprehensive review of global experiences, was applied to introduce proper fnancial and executive mechanisms to determine the economic and social aspects of energy conservation programs for implementation of energy saving in build- ings. The presented mechanism indicates the role of all diferent related parties, such as the government, banking system, energy-saving companies, building owners, and municipality, to achieve this goal. The results indicated that with a cost of $10 million, the benefts of implementation of the introduced mechanism are over 5.78 billion dollars. Keywords Building energy code · Energy-saving benefts · Sustainable development · Resiliency · Health · Safety and environment Introduction Energy is one of the most critical factors for both daily life and economic development. Energy demand is increasing fast, especially in developing countries such as China, India, and the Middle East, because of rapid population increase and signifcant economic growth. As a consequence, it is expected to increase greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, which can raise governments’ concerns about air pollution, global warming, and diverse impacts of climate change on energy systems. Almost 30% of global fnal energy consumption belonged to buildings in 2017. Energy use in this sector rose by 21% between 2000 and 2017 because of population growth, increase in foor area, changing lifestyle, access to ser- vices, and climate change impacts (IEA 2018). Moreover, the building sector was responsible for 39% of global CO 2 emissions (IEA 2017). According to a report released by International Energy Outlook (IEO), buildings’ energy con- sumption will rise by 42% by 2040 (EIA 2016). This growth rate can cause threats to the global economy, health, safety, and environment. Energy use intensity improvement is one of the cost- effective approaches to build communities resilient by strengthening energy systems for vulnerability reduction to hazards, such as climate change, and increase communities’ capacity to cope with unanticipated problems by providing social and economic benefts (Ribeiro et al. 2015). Some policy instruments at the national level, like laws, regula- tions, standards, market mechanisms, and energy codes, are Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour. * M. Abbaspour abbpor@sharif.edu 1 Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology (SUT), Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran