Intensified Efforts for Promoting Energy-Saving in Construction and
Disseminating Green Buildings through
Differentiated Guidance, Better Supervision, Institutional Innovation
Ministry of Construction of the People's Republic of China
(February 2008)
In accordance with the "Circular of the State Council on Circulating
Comprehensive Working Scheme for Energy Saving and Emission Reduction" (No.
15, 2007) and " Circular of the State Council on Approving and Transmitting the
Implementation Program and Measures for Monitoring and Assessment of Energy
Saving and Emission Reduction Statistics" (No. 36, 2007), the Ministry of
Construction initiated a specialized national inspection on building energy efficiency
from December 16 to 29, 2007. The subject of inspection includes 30 provinces,
autonomous regions (except Tibet) and municipalities; 5 separate planning cities; 26
provincial capitals (capitals of autonomous regions) and a sampling of 26 prefecture
capitals where assessments were made on overall achievements made as to building
energy efficiency and key specialized programs. Meanwhile, a total of 610
construction projects were sampled for inspection on the construction map design
documents; and 147 projects under construction were sampled for inspection on the
construction sites. The outcome of this inspection is rather good due to full
preparation before the inspection and careful arrangement during the inspection.
I.
Achievements
It may be concluded from the inspection and assessment outcome that all the
working targets set by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for energy
saving in construction have been rather successfully accomplished through
concentrated efforts, institutional innovations and intensified supervision at different
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localities, as is demonstrated by the following achievements:
A. Marked percentage increase of new buildings conforming to the
energy-saving standards. Statistics collected from different localities show that 97%
of all the urban new-builts across the country in the first ten months of 2007 conform
to energy saving standards for the design stage and 71% for the construction stage, a
respective increase of 1 and 17 percentage points over 2006. It may be inferred that
energy-efficient building could cut down standard coal consumption by 5 million tons
for the first ten months of 2007. Up to now there is a total floor area of 2.12 billion m2
energy-efficient buildings constructed across the country, 11.7 per cent of the total
floor area of all urban constructions.
B. Energy-saving regulatory system for state organ office buildings and
large public buildings. The State Council proposes that "demonstration projects shall
be initiated for energy-efficient operation, management and transformation of large
public buildings, with experiments to be made in 25 demonstration provinces or cities
to put large public buildings under the control of an energy consumption monitoring,
energy auditing, energy efficiency public notification and energy consumption quota
system". To respond to the requirements of the State Council, the Ministry of
Construction and the Ministry of Finance have identified 24 provinces and cities as
the first batch of demonstration localities where action plans have been developed for
establishment of the energy-saving regulatory system for state organ office buildings
and large public buildings and investigations made into the basic conditions and
energy consumption data of such buildings. Energy auditing on state organ office
buildings and large public buildings has been started in some provinces and cities.
Itemized metering devices have been installed at some critical buildings for dynamic
monitoring of energy consumption in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Energy consumption data of some state organ office buildings and large public
buildings have been notified publicly in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangxi,
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Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Nanning, which has aroused enormous social
attention and created a favorable environment of public opinion for assessments to be
made next on energy-saving indicators.
C. Metering and energy efficiency renovations on existing residential
heating systems in North China.
The State Council requires that "metering and
energy efficiency renovation s on existing heating systems shall be started with 150
million square meters of residential buildings transformed in North China". The
Ministry of Construction has broken down the target to 15 provinces and cities in the
north. The Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Construction, has put
forward a fiscal policy of using central budget fund as incentives to such renovations.
A total of RMB 900 million has been earmarked for subsidizing installation of heat
metering devices. Up to now, most provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities
have broken down their targets further for implementation at municipal (district) level
and activated fundamental work such as relevant energy consumption investigation
and development of renovation plans. Some pilot projects have been started on
metering and energy efficiency renovation on existing building heating systems in
Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Yinchuan and Tangshan.
D. Speedier and wider application of renewable energy in construction. It
is proposed by the State Council that "200 demonstration and promotion projects shall
be launched for large-scale application of renewable energy in construction".
Responding to the requirements of the State Council, the Ministry of Construction and
the Ministry of Finance have worked out the concept of "demonstration, policy
support, technical guidance plus industrial matching", which was warmly received
throughout the country, with a total of 212 such demonstration projects launched in
2007 and the target of the State Council satisfactorily accomplished. In some
provinces and cities, investigations and researches have been made on local renewable
energy resource conditions and potentials; "11th Five-Year Plan" developed for
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renewable energy; standards and norms set for extension and application; research
and development and integration made of some technological products; economic
incentive policies established. These responses have become an effective drive to the
application of renewable energy in construction. Data collected from different
localities indicate that by the end of 2007 solar light and heat have been used in a total
floor area of 700 million square meters and geothermal energy, nearly 80 million
square meters.
E. New progress in the promotion of green building. Answering to the call
of the State Council "to launch 30 demonstration projects of green buildings with low
energy consumption ", all localities take green building promotion as an important
starting point for transition into energy-efficient building. The Ministry of
Construction has received positive responses to its "100 low-energy-consumption
buildings and 100 green buildings initiative". Different localities have been
contributing enormously to the promotion of green buildings by taking part in the
initiative on the basis of local conditions, developing green building assessment
criteria, launching green building demonstration projects and organizing promotional
meetings for green building.
II.
Assessment Results
From the assessment results, it is rather obvious that Beijing, Tianjin,
Shanghai, Chongqing, Shanxi, Qinghai, Liaoning, Hubei, Jiangsu, Sichuan,
Guangxi, Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Hefei and
Fuzhou have definite goals, break-down responsibilities, supportive policies, concrete
measures, marked success and a good momentum for energy saving in construction. I
would like to commend them on their achievements.
When it comes to conformity of new buildings to energy-saving standards,
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Jiangxi, Guizhou and Jinan still have some problems to work on in terms of
energy-saving construction design, construction plan examination, construction and
supervision.
I would also like to commend Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangxi, Nanning,
Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen on efforts made to set up the energy-saving
regulatory system for state organ office buildings and large public buildings: they
have conducted the basic building data survey, energy consumption statistical analysis
and energy audit as required, made public the first batch of energy consumption data
and achieved initial results. Guangdong, Hebei, Henan, Zhejiang, Dalian, Guiyang,
Ningbo, Xiamen have developed action plans, but need to work further on
institutional building, demonstrate greater devotion, and conduct the basic building
data survey, energy consumption statistical analysis and energy audit as required.
In the metering and energy efficiency renovations on existing heating systems
of residential buildings in North China, most provinces have broken down their
targets for implementation at the municipal (district) level; Tianjin, even to the project
level. Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Qingdao, Dalian and Yinchuan take the lead, with a
number of demonstration pilot projects launched. Experiments have been made in
provinces and cities in the in-between and southern part of China on building energy
efficiency renovation. Shanghai integrates the building energy efficiency renovation
of a total floor area of nearly 15 million square meters into the overall urban renewal
scheme. Nanjing incorporates the renovations into the “Benefiting the Citizens”
initiative and takes out RMB 10 million from the urban construction fund every year
to subsidize energy efficiency renovations on old metal windows of all residential
buildings in the city. Up to now, renovation of more than 20000 square meters has
been planned. Inner Mongolia and Shandong needs to step up as they have not
responded to the assignment break-down requirement yet.
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In the promotion of green building and large-scale applications of renewable
energy in construction, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Liaoning, Shandong and
Henan stand out with marked progress in energy efficiency as a result of
implementation of the criterion of cutting down energy consumption by 65 percent.
When it comes to large-scale applications of renewable energy in construction, most
provinces and cities have responded enthusiastically to the requirement of the
Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Finance for application and implementation
of renewable energy application demonstration projects, with very good results.
Among them, Hainan is the first to come up with a plan of building an eco-friendly
province and take the application of renewable energy in construction as an important
starting point. Jiangsu and Shenzhen have introduced the policy for mandatory use
of solar water heating system in all new buildings with less than 12 stories. Liaoning
and Shenyang vigorously push for the application and demonstration projects of
ground, sewage, marine water-source and soil-source heat pump technologies. Hebei
and Inner Mongolia take full advantage of local resources advantages and increased
state support for application of renewable energy in construction for intensified
development of solar energy, geothermal energy and other renewable energy sources.
III. Working Measures to be Taken Next
A. To continue to strengthen building energy efficiency systems and
mechanisms. To adhere to the fundamental legal regime built on the “Energy
Conservation Law” and “Rules on Energy Conservation in Civil Construction”; to add
to the building energy efficiency standards; to research on and develop the building
energy efficiency economic policies; to actively foster a supportive system for
building energy efficiency; to strengthen capacity building of the energy-efficient
building organizations.
B. To put into practice measures related to energy efficiency management
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for new-builts. To implement the market access system for new-builts; to intensify
supervision on conformity to the energy-saving standards at the construction stage
and to increase the conformity rate to 80 percent by the end of the year; to run a
system of logo identification for building energy efficiency assessment; to push for
implementation of the criterion of cutting down building energy consumption by 65%
in Shanghai, Chongqing and other regions with favorable conditions; to intensify
development of green building; to make the yearly “International Conference on
Intelligent, Green and Energy-Efficient Building & New Technologies and Products
Expo” (IGEBC) a full success.
C. To push forward reform of the heating system in North China and
metering and energy efficiency renovation on existing residential heating systems.
To push the reform of “implicit” for “explicit” heating subsidization system; to charge
heating consumption according to metering; to promote the heat price-forming
mechanism; to press for accomplishment of the target set by the State Council of
“heating metering and energy efficiency renovation on 150 million square meters of
existing residential buildings in North China”.
D. To reinforce building and operation energy efficiency management of
the state organ office buildings and large public building. For new-builts, the
energy consumption standards shall be taken as mandatory threshold for project
approval, ratification, construction and market access. For existing buildings,
supervision shall be strengthened on operation energy efficiency. The 24
demonstration provinces and cities shall be urged to accomplish the tasks of energy
consumption data collection, energy audit and energy efficiency public notification,
with experiences summed up and duplicated promptly in key cities. Energy
consumption standards, limits, surcharges for exceeding limits and energy-saving
services shall be on the agenda of research and development. The initiative of
building energy-efficient higher education institutions and hotels shall be launched.
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E. To push for large-scale application of renewable energy in construction.
To improve management of the existing 212 demonstration projects to safeguard the
realization of the desired energy conservation and environmental protection benefits;
to extend demonstration projects to a larger scope; to improve the technical
specifications for application of renewable energy in construction; to showcase
production base for building renewable energy application products; to get ready for
comprehensive extension during the 12th FYP period; to tap into solar energy,
methane, straw, other renewable and alternative energy sources for solution to energy
consumption in rural areas.
F. To strengthen supervision and management of building energy
conservation in accordance with the laws. To improve and strictly implement the
existing laws, regulations, and energy-saving standards and norms; to implement the
building energy saving target responsibility system; to strengthen appraisal and
evaluation with incentives and punishments.
IV. A Successful “4th International Conference on Intelligent, Green and
Energy-Efficient Building & New Technologies and Products Expo”
The Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Science and Technology, the State
Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, State Administration of
Environmental Protection has decided to jointly host the “4th International Conference
on Intelligent, Green and Energy-Efficient Building & New Technologies and
Products Expo” at Beijing International Convention Center from March 31 to April 2,
2008. This event has the full support of a number of foreign governments. Britain,
France, Germany and the United States have entrusted participating governmental
officials, experts and enterprise representatives to the care of specialized agencies and
their respective embassy, indicating a rising international influence for the event.
On the basis of the central theme of building energy efficiency and promotion
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of green building, ten sub-themes have been chosen for IGEBC-2008, namely: green
building design theory, method and practice; green and intelligent building; special
eco-technologies for green building; green building materials and green building;
sound development of green building and resident real estate; engineering practice of
existing building energy-saving renovation; engineering practice and use of renewable
energy resources in building; operation and supervision on energy conservation in
large public buildings and energy conservation service market; heat-supply system
reform and building resource conservation; new materials and technologies of
external wall insulation.
The concurring “Intelligent, Green and Energy-Efficient Building & New
Technologies and Products Expo” will showcase planning programs and project cases
of green building design; technologies and products of intelligent building; new
technologies and products of architectural ecology environment protection;
technologies and products of green construction materials; engineering practice of
existing building energy-saving renovation; engineering practice and use of renewable
energy resources in building; operation and supervision on energy conservation in
large public buildings and energy conservation service market; programs and project
cases of heat-supply system reform; new materials and technologies of external wall
insulation etc.
We set up a website for this conference, which may serve as a bridge between
well-known domestic and foreign enterprises; a window for showcasing the products;
a facilitator for introduction of advanced foreign technologies and products and
promotion of domestic products; a service platform catering to different needs of
business people, government officials and technicians for better understanding of new
products, new technologies and new demands and for foundation of in-depth and
extensive business cooperation. Now, preparations for the conference are well
underway.
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