Comparing energy conservation standards in Japan, Germany, and Switzerland③

The standards that the government sets as mandatory are "minimum standards."
In reality, there are "private standards" that are the ideal level.

By the way, in most Western countries, the standards that the government sets as obligations are generally "minimum standards." What the government can "mandate" is a "minimum" similar to the minimum wage, and it seems difficult for any country to mandate an "ideal standard" that is higher than that.
Therefore, every country has national standards as "minimum standards" and "private standards" as the ideal standard. In Japan, I think that because of the bad naming of "next-generation energy conservation standards," fewer people are aware that these are "minimum standards." It is clear when looking at the field of structure, but earthquake resistance grade 1 is the limit of the standard law, and the ideal level of grade 3 requires earthquake resistance 1.5 times that level. I think it is exactly the same diagram. Incidentally, I compared the standards in all regions of Japan in addition to the six regions (see figure below).
In this calculation, the Japanese standards are based on the recommended specifications for each region. In other words, the standard values are based on the assumption that the colder the region, the higher the insulation specifications. In Germany and Switzerland, both primary energy and heating load are set at a uniform standard, regardless of the temperature of the location. As a result, relatively thin insulation is acceptable in warmer southern regions, while extremely thick insulation is required in colder northern regions.
In Japan, you probably know that the more north you go, the stricter the specifications become. However, even if you meet the specifications for each region, the standards in the north mean that you will consume more energy to maintain the same indoor environment.
There is another puzzling aspect of the Japanese standards. The standard values are more lenient for partial intermittent heating and cooling, but the standards are more lenient for whole-house heating and cooling. To use an example of cars, this can only be interpreted as saying, "People who drive minicars must get 20km/L or more, but people who drive Crowns can get 10km/L or more because their cars are larger." In fact, there were many businesses that exploited this system to obtain subsidies for zero-energy vehicles by deliberately using whole-house heating and cooling under looser standards.

next time···Considering the "heating load" required by Japanese standards