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China
pushes for more energy-effcient buildings
(2006-05-24) |
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www.chinaview.cn |
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China has launched ambitious plans
to make its residential and office buildings
more energy-efficient. In the first
five months of the year, industrial
standard makers announced three sets
of new national standards: namely, regulations
on energy saving for civil buildings,
standards for residential buildings
and standards for technical evaluations
of residential buildings. |
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Another new guideline regarding the
assessment of green buildings will take
effect on June 1. Though not a compulsory
standard, it asks for even higher standards
in energy consumption and other environment-related
indices. |
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According to Wang Guangtao, the Minister
of Construction, these standards have
formed a basic framework of industrial
standards regarding energy-efficiency
of buildings. |
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Chinese legislators are also actively
involved in the process. Both the Law
on Energy Saving and the Law on Architecture
are being revised to accommodate the
new standards.
A new decree on energy-saving for buildings
is also high on the agenda of the State
Council, Minister Wang said recently.
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China's efforts to improve the energy-efficiency
of its buildings is important for itself,
but it also affects the rest of the
world. China is now the world's fourth
largest economy and the second largest
energy consumer. Over 30 percent of
the world's coal, steel and cement are
now consumed in China. |
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On the other hand, architectural energy
consumption is accounting for 30 percent
of the country's total energy consumption.
The figure will rise to 40 percent if
energy consumption for manufacture and
transportation of construction materials
is considered. |
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According to Jiang Yi, a professor
in architecture with the privileged
Tsinghua University, if nothing is done
to check the situation, architectural
energy consumption in China will double
by 2020. |
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To meet the new demand would require
the building of more than 10 power stations
the size of the Three Gorges power station,
he said. |
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Chinese vice-premier Zeng Peiyan and
other senior government officials have
repeatedly pointed out that reducing
the architectural energy consumption
should be given top priority in the
national drive to turn China into a
resource-saving and environment-friendly
society. |
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The subject is already among the priorities
in both China's 11th Five-Year-Plan
period (2006 - 2010) and its medium
and long-term plan for science and technology
development. |
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The application of new materials and
new energy is a major part of the government
strategy to reduce architectural energy
consumption. A good example is the government
effort to phase out the use of traditional
bricks made of soil that have been used
in China for thousands of years. |
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The manufacture of such bricks is
not only energy-intensive, but also
destroys tens of thousands of hectares
of precious farmland in China every
year. Bricks of this kind also provide
poor insulation which increases energy
consumption. By 2010, these bricks will
have been phased out in all China's
cities. |
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Government has also launched an ambitious
plan to renovate existing buildings
to make them more energy-efficient.
The renovation of buildings housing
the Ministry of Construction and other
central government departments has already
begun. |
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Planners hope to renovate 25 percent
of all residential and public buildings
in major cities by 2010, as well as
15 percent of the buildings in medium-sized
cities and 10 percent of those in small
cities. The whole job will be completed
by 2020. |
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The government is also working on
new policies that will provide tax rebates
and other financial incentives for the
construction and purchase of energy-efficient
buildings. |
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