Publication
A Systematic Literature Review of Non-Compliance with Low-Carbon Building Regulations
Publisher:
MDPI AG
Date:
07-12-2022
DOI:
10.3390/EN15249266
Abstract: Low-carbon building regulations are acknowledged as critical instruments to facilitate the building industry’s decarbonization transition. However, recent studies have shown that non-compliance with low-carbon requirements is under-researched, leading to a significant ergence between policy intentions and actual performance. In light of this, the paper aims to provide a synthesis of existing research on non-compliance with low-carbon building regulations. It does this using a systematic literature review combined with bibliometric and text mining techniques. Through reviewing 26 scholarly works from the last decade, the paper demonstrates a peak production year around 2015, the year of the Paris Agreement, with the USA and Australia as key countries of concern. Subsequently, the study reveals three focused research areas: the development of building policy during the low-carbon transition the role of building energy performance requirements in achieving low-carbon buildings and building energy code compliance. Findings suggest widespread non-compliance with building energy codes and also indicate influencing factors and associated enhancement strategies. Finally, the paper identifies gaps in the investigation of new forms of building energy codes an inconsistent conception of compliance and a lack of understanding in building practitioners’ compliance behavior. The study contributes to knowledge by providing future research areas in this under-researched topic and by successfully applying both bibliometric and text mining analysis in the construction management domain. This is found to have advantages in terms of time efficiency and objectivity. It also offers practical implications for industry by minimizing the gap between policy intentions and real compliance performance.