## 4 Policy Reviews
### Voluntary Approaches  
This policy type aims to considerably increase the share of RE. Hence, voluntary approaches (VA) encourage countries to execute programs and policies voluntarily to accelerate the deployment of RE on the basis of national circumstances and to promote proactive plans and actions [24]. Voluntary approaches cover negotiated agreements (public-private sector), public voluntary schemes, and unilateral commitments (private sector). Table 7 summarizes a sample of the voluntary approaches applied in the three leading countries: China, the USA, and Brazil.  
The main points of the above table are explained as follows:  
* **China**: 1. The results of the market transformation project established in 2006 were summarized in a group of recommendations [25].
* The 13 th 5-year plan for geothermal energy summarized the achievements and challenges of the geothermal sector in 2015 and stated the plan of the development of the sector between 2016 and 2020. The objectives of the plan were to achieve by 2020 [31]:
* The addition of 1.1 billion m\({}^{2}\) of new geothermal heating (cooling) areas.
* Increasing the geothermal power installed capacity by 500 MW.
* **Brazil**: 1. In 2015, the Alliance program was carried out through voluntary agreements between the National Confederation of Industry and large energy companies (consumption > 20 MW) [25]. 2. In 2010, the Voluntary Governance Development Authority released technical regulations for the energy efficiency of buildings (non-residential) [31].
* **USA**: 1. In 2009, the Department of Energy released a technical assistance program to provide state and local officials with quick RE experts at national laboratories [25].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Country**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Voluntary Approaches (VA)**} & **Negotiated** & **Public Voluntary** & **Unilateral** \\  & & **Agreements** & **Schemes** & **Commitments** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{China} & 13 th geothermal. energy development 5-year plan (2016–2020) & x & x & x \\ \cline{2-5}  & Market transformation program—partnership with the UK & x & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Brazil} & Alliance program & x & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & Technical regulation for energy efficiency of buildings (non-residential) & & x & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{USA} & Technical assistance program & x & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & High performance green building partnership & x & & \\ \cline{2-5}  & Federal electronics challenge & & x & \\ \cline{2-5}  & The global bioenergy partnership & x & x & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Data source: [25].  
\end{table}
Table 7: Examples of the VA for China, Brazil, and the USA.  
2. In 2008, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers formed an association to encourage the development of green buildings [25].
3. The Federal Electronics Challenge partnership program (established in 2007) encouraged federal facilities and agencies to purchase green electronic products [25].
4. The Global Bioenergy Partnership (2006) promoted bioenergy and provided a mechanism for partners to organize, coordinate, and implement targeted international research [31].