China 175
increasing land demands and increasing living costs associated with increasing
green buildings to cater for the growing urban population. Even though buildings are becoming greener, increasing urbanisation may trigger an influx of
energy consumption in the building sector (Kim and Jeong, 2018). Furthermore,
the construction cost of green buildings can drive up the price of real estate,
which forces urban residents to suffer from increasing living costs and may result
in social inequality or climate poverty such as ‘green gentrification’ in the
process of urban renewal. Furthermore, the cost of retrofitting of around US$30
per square metre would be subsided by the central and local governmental
funding in northern areas. Without abundant policy support, residents in
southern areas may need to pay for part of this cost due to lack of subsidies and
support from local governments, which may also increase their living costs.
However, regarding the risks related to social justice and climate poverty,
some stakeholders and experts have suggested that proper institutional arrangements and social welfare policies, such as public rental housing for urban
poverty, could offset the negative impacts of the low- carbon transition pathway.
Energy efficiency efforts generally help to improve thermal insulation
through the transformation of the external envelope, reducing power consumption by air conditioning use in summer and electric heat in winter. However,
residents in southern areas have entrenched behaviours that reduce the impact
of energy efficiency behaviour. For instance, in Shanghai and other southern
areas with a humid climate, residents often keep their window open in all
seasons. In this case, retrofits of thermal insulation have very limited impact.
The main uncertainties raised by the stakeholders derived from the environmental cluster. For instance, intermittency of renewable energy supply for
heating and cooling can lower resilience to heat waves or cold spells. Stakeholders also raised climate exposure for green building technologies and renewable energy installations, and increasing climate vulnerability (e.g. cutting off
heating/cooling systems to reduce energy consumption). In addition, some
stakeholders from the construction markets mentioned there was an uncertain
shift for employment in the building sector due to shrinking profits in the construction industries, resulting from the higher costs of innovation, prefabricated
technologies, and applying Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems.
Both implementation and consequential risks in the green building transition
pathways highlight some of the challenges linked to the application of energy
efficiency measures and new green technologies that could have adverse socialeconomic as well as environmental impacts. The next section synthesises our
findings.
Conclusions
The proposed low- carbon transition pathway in China’s green building sector
emphasises the present policy ambition to scale up green buildings through
increasing energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy in buildings. The
pathway considers the existing energy policies and urbanisation strategies in
increasing land demands and increasing living costs associated with increasing
green buildings to cater for the growing urban population. Even though buildings are becoming greener, increasing urbanisation may trigger an influx of
energy consumption in the building sector (Kim and Jeong, 2018). Furthermore,
the construction cost of green buildings can drive up the price of real estate,
which forces urban residents to suffer from increasing living costs and may result
in social inequality or climate poverty such as ‘green gentrification’ in the
process of urban renewal. Furthermore, the cost of retrofitting of around US$30
per square metre would be subsided by the central and local governmental
funding in northern areas. Without abundant policy support, residents in
southern areas may need to pay for part of this cost due to lack of subsidies and
support from local governments, which may also increase their living costs.
However, regarding the risks related to social justice and climate poverty,
some stakeholders and experts have suggested that proper institutional arrangements and social welfare policies, such as public rental housing for urban
poverty, could offset the negative impacts of the low- carbon transition pathway.
Energy efficiency efforts generally help to improve thermal insulation
through the transformation of the external envelope, reducing power consumption by air conditioning use in summer and electric heat in winter. However,
residents in southern areas have entrenched behaviours that reduce the impact
of energy efficiency behaviour. For instance, in Shanghai and other southern
areas with a humid climate, residents often keep their window open in all
seasons. In this case, retrofits of thermal insulation have very limited impact.
The main uncertainties raised by the stakeholders derived from the environmental cluster. For instance, intermittency of renewable energy supply for
heating and cooling can lower resilience to heat waves or cold spells. Stakeholders also raised climate exposure for green building technologies and renewable energy installations, and increasing climate vulnerability (e.g. cutting off
heating/cooling systems to reduce energy consumption). In addition, some
stakeholders from the construction markets mentioned there was an uncertain
shift for employment in the building sector due to shrinking profits in the construction industries, resulting from the higher costs of innovation, prefabricated
technologies, and applying Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems.
Both implementation and consequential risks in the green building transition
pathways highlight some of the challenges linked to the application of energy
efficiency measures and new green technologies that could have adverse socialeconomic as well as environmental impacts. The next section synthesises our
findings.
Conclusions
The proposed low- carbon transition pathway in China’s green building sector
emphasises the present policy ambition to scale up green buildings through
increasing energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy in buildings. The
pathway considers the existing energy policies and urbanisation strategies in