Review on government action plans to reduce energy consumption in buildings amid COVID-19 pandemic outbreak

The corona virus pandemic outbreak in 2019-2020 has almost touched everyone's life and is affecting every sector. The daily routine life has come to a standstill, many sector including businesses, finance, transport and many more critical industries has come to a halt. Only essential sectors like healthcare have been permitted to operate. Many G20 countries-imposed curfew, mandatory stay-in-home orders and lockdown of cities and countries. Among all these close down scenarios and locked down industries, utility companies and energy distribution sector were operational 24/7 round the clock providing uninterrupted power supply for a comfortable lockdown stay in home. The success of Fighting COVID-19 and shutdowns is highly dependent upon uninterrupted power supply and power consumption by the building residents. This paper reviews the various actions taken by G20 member countries towards electricity consumption while in COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. This research work is an analysis of actions taken by governments under their jurisdictions towards building energy consumers. The outcome of this paper are energy policy recommendations that are based on the different governments responses and actions taken towards energy consumption in buildings. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Materials Research-2019.

Automated summary

The global outbreak of the Corona virus in 2019-2020 has had a significant impact on various sectors, leading to halts in operations except for essential services like healthcare. Utility companies have continued to provide uninterrupted power supply during lockdowns, while governments worldwide have implemented different measures regarding building energy consumption, resulting in various policy recommendations.