162 Lei Song et al.
of distributed roof photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems, solar thermal,
geothermal energy, and industrial waste heat to meet the demand of energy consumption in building sector. By 2020, the installation area of solar water heater
systems will reach 45 million square metres, and the solar thermal utilisation for
heating will reach 800 million square metres, which has been proposed in the
13th Five- year Plan for Renewable Energy Development issued in 2016.
Additionally, there are regional plans that address energy demand in building.
For instance, heating in the northern region of China represents 42.5% of
Chinese final energy use in buildings during 2015 (IEA and Tsinghua University, 2015). Thus, the Clean Winter Heating Plan for Northern China
(2017–2021), issued in 2017, required the northern regions (including Beijing,
Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong) to achieve a ‘coal to gas’ transition to
provide half their power for heating from geothermal, biomass, solar, natural
gas, electric, industrial waste, and centralised clean coal- fired heating by 2019.
By 2021, the clean energy heating rate is expected to reach 70%.
In addition to national policies, in China local governments play substantial
roles in promoting low- carbon development. For instance, the Green Building
Evaluation Standard (GB/T50378–2014) was enacted in 2014 by MOHURD
(the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development) to evaluate the conservation of energy, water, and materials in whole building life cycles. Local
governments also issued their own standards for green building evaluation, such
as Shanghai Standard for Green Building Evaluation (DG/TJ08–2090–2012)
and the Beijing standard (DB11/513–2015). The local building codes may be
based on the local development requirement, but these would be stricter than
nationwide codes. Green building strategies from national and local level may
be divided into five different categories such as: green building codes, retrofitting programmes, rating and labelling in green building, subsidy and preferential
policies, and information campaigns to raise awareness.
Nested in the above strategies, the green building transition pathway consists
broadly of two components: energy efficiency and renewable energy. The technologies, policies, and actions needed to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy are equally important for the transition towards a green building
sector. However, here there will be a stronger emphasis on energy efficiency in
the pathway description.
The green building pathway
Green buildings broadly focus on resource savings – with respect to energy, water,
land, and materials – in the whole life of the building. The adoption of ‘green’
architectural principles such as solar, passive or low- energy design, and ‘lowcarbon’ building technologies and materials generally reduces energy consumption
and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Pachauri et al., 2007; UNEP, 2011). Green
building strategies may include different categories such as: certified green building labels, prefabricated buildings, new buildings with high energy efficiency, retrofitting existing buildings to high energy efficiency standards, renovating existing
of distributed roof photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems, solar thermal,
geothermal energy, and industrial waste heat to meet the demand of energy consumption in building sector. By 2020, the installation area of solar water heater
systems will reach 45 million square metres, and the solar thermal utilisation for
heating will reach 800 million square metres, which has been proposed in the
13th Five- year Plan for Renewable Energy Development issued in 2016.
Additionally, there are regional plans that address energy demand in building.
For instance, heating in the northern region of China represents 42.5% of
Chinese final energy use in buildings during 2015 (IEA and Tsinghua University, 2015). Thus, the Clean Winter Heating Plan for Northern China
(2017–2021), issued in 2017, required the northern regions (including Beijing,
Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong) to achieve a ‘coal to gas’ transition to
provide half their power for heating from geothermal, biomass, solar, natural
gas, electric, industrial waste, and centralised clean coal- fired heating by 2019.
By 2021, the clean energy heating rate is expected to reach 70%.
In addition to national policies, in China local governments play substantial
roles in promoting low- carbon development. For instance, the Green Building
Evaluation Standard (GB/T50378–2014) was enacted in 2014 by MOHURD
(the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development) to evaluate the conservation of energy, water, and materials in whole building life cycles. Local
governments also issued their own standards for green building evaluation, such
as Shanghai Standard for Green Building Evaluation (DG/TJ08–2090–2012)
and the Beijing standard (DB11/513–2015). The local building codes may be
based on the local development requirement, but these would be stricter than
nationwide codes. Green building strategies from national and local level may
be divided into five different categories such as: green building codes, retrofitting programmes, rating and labelling in green building, subsidy and preferential
policies, and information campaigns to raise awareness.
Nested in the above strategies, the green building transition pathway consists
broadly of two components: energy efficiency and renewable energy. The technologies, policies, and actions needed to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy are equally important for the transition towards a green building
sector. However, here there will be a stronger emphasis on energy efficiency in
the pathway description.
The green building pathway
Green buildings broadly focus on resource savings – with respect to energy, water,
land, and materials – in the whole life of the building. The adoption of ‘green’
architectural principles such as solar, passive or low- energy design, and ‘lowcarbon’ building technologies and materials generally reduces energy consumption
and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Pachauri et al., 2007; UNEP, 2011). Green
building strategies may include different categories such as: certified green building labels, prefabricated buildings, new buildings with high energy efficiency, retrofitting existing buildings to high energy efficiency standards, renovating existing