The global energy crisis coupled with the threats of climate change bring into sharp focus both opportunities and challenges for developing countries. Developed and developing countries have to better address the increasing energy demands of growing economies, as well as address energy poverty issues often highlighted by extreme disparities in income. They also need to deal with the real and potential impacts of climate change and energy efficiency improvement. In addition to these challenges is the global imperative to reduce carbon emissions in order to preventclimate change. While developing nations have thus far been sheltered from obligations to reduce carbon emissions, one cannot anticipate that this situation will continue for long. Holistic approach to energy performance in built environment had been a key tool to improve the overall energy performance. Within this context nations need to follow a very different development path from that established by first world countries.This development path is a low energy, low carbon and generally a resource efficient one.