Strengthening energy conservation and carbon reduction management throughout the entire building process to promote green and low-carbon development in the construction industry

The construction industry is one of the main areas of energy consumption and carbon emissions in China. With the increasing demand of the people for building and living environments, building energy consumption and carbon emissions will continue to grow rapidly. Accelerating the promotion of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the construction industry is of great significance. Recently, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the "Work Plan for Accelerating Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in the Construction Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Work Plan") from the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, focusing on improving the energy conservation and carbon reduction level of new buildings, promoting the renovation and upgrading of existing buildings, and strengthening the energy-saving management of building operations. It has put forward 12 key tasks, providing important guidance for promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in the construction industry, and is of great significance for accelerating the improvement of the quality of green and low-carbon development in the construction industry and meeting the needs of the people for a better life.

Improve the energy-saving and carbon reduction level of new buildings

Improving the energy efficiency and carbon reduction level of newly-built buildings is an important guarantee for promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in the construction industry from the source. Compared with developed countries, there is still significant room for improvement in China's urbanization rate, and the scale of buildings and per capita building area will continue to grow rigidly. The gradual improvement of people's living standards has put forward higher requirements for building functions and indoor environments, which will inevitably put pressure on the control of building energy consumption and carbon emission intensity. To this end, the Work Plan proposes to optimize the energy-saving and carbon reduction design of new buildings, vigorously promote ultra-low energy consumption buildings, advance the construction of green and low-carbon rural houses, strictly implement mandatory standards for building energy-saving and carbon reduction, and provide direction and clear requirements for promoting the improvement of energy-saving and carbon reduction levels in new buildings.

Improving building energy efficiency standards is a key lever for enhancing the energy efficiency and carbon reduction level of newly-built buildings. The Work Plan also clearly proposes to distinguish different stages, building types, and climate zones, and to systematically formulate and revise a batch of building energy-saving standards, gradually raising the energy-saving standards for new urban civil buildings to ultra-low energy consumption levels. In practical work, economically developed and technologically mature regions should take the lead in improving the energy efficiency and carbon reduction level of new buildings, accelerating the promotion of ultra-low energy consumption, near zero energy consumption, low-carbon and zero carbon buildings, actively cultivating leading enterprises, forming a competitive industrial chain, continuously reducing the incremental cost of energy efficiency improvement in new buildings, and laying the foundation for large-scale promotion; Public buildings invested by the government should actively be constructed according to ultra-low energy consumption, near zero energy consumption, low-carbon, and zero carbon building standards, fully leveraging their demonstration and driving role.

Promote the renovation and upgrading of existing buildings

China has a large total number of existing buildings with high energy consumption and carbon emission intensity, making it difficult to carry out energy-saving and carbon reduction renovations. Over the years, China has continuously promoted the energy-saving and carbon reduction renovation of existing buildings, with a total renovation area of over 2.4 billion square meters completed and positive progress made. However, in reality, due to limitations in technology, funding, and other conditions, the overall energy efficiency of existing buildings is still not high. A large number of residential buildings built before 2000 in northern China have an energy efficiency level of less than 50%. Residential buildings built before 2010 in areas with hot summers and cold winters and hot summers and warm winters generally lack energy-saving measures. These buildings will continue to operate for a long time, and there is an urgent need to coordinate efforts in technology, industry, and funding to accelerate energy-saving and carbon reduction renovations, effectively improving the level of building energy conservation and carbon reduction.

The Work Plan specifies that the energy efficiency of the energy-saving renovation of residential buildings shall meet the current standards, and the overall energy efficiency of public buildings without energy-saving measures shall be improved by more than 20% after renovation. For existing buildings in urban areas, each region should conduct a comprehensive survey of existing buildings in urban areas, formulate annual renovation plans for existing buildings on a city by city basis, clarify key energy consuming equipment, external wall insulation, door and window renovation and other key contents, and coordinate the promotion of public environment improvement in residential areas, renovation of old small areas, and winter clean heating in northern regions; For existing buildings in rural areas, we should adhere to the principles of voluntary participation by farmers, adapting measures to local conditions, and implementing individualized policies for each household. We should carry out small-scale renovations on the walls, doors, windows, roofs, and floors of the houses, and promote the renovation work in an orderly manner.

Strengthen the management of energy conservation and carbon reduction in building operation

The operational phase of a building is an important link in energy consumption and carbon emissions generation. Strengthening energy-saving and carbon reduction management in building operations is a powerful tool to improve building energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions at a lower cost. At present, the energy-saving guidance mechanism for residents in China is not yet sound, and the phenomenon of not turning off the lights and not using electricity when walking is widespread. Some large transportation stations, schools and other public places lack strict energy-saving management regulations, resulting in serious energy waste of cooling, heating, lighting and other equipment. To accelerate the resolution of these long-standing issues, the Work Plan deploys measures to strengthen energy-saving and carbon reduction management in building operations, requiring the accelerated elimination of inefficient and outdated energy consuming equipment, the establishment of a public building energy-saving supervision system, the establishment of a mechanism for implementing temperature control in public buildings, and the commissioning and maintenance of key energy consuming equipment.

All regions and relevant parties should strengthen the management of energy conservation and carbon reduction in the operation of public and residential buildings in accordance with the deployment requirements of the Work Plan. For public buildings, a scientific energy consumption limit benchmark should be established, and inspections should be carried out in accordance with the law on indoor temperature control, energy consuming equipment and system operation in winter and summer. Building management units should be urged to regularly carry out commissioning and maintenance of key energy consuming equipment such as air conditioning, lighting, and elevators. For residential buildings, it is necessary to combine large-scale equipment updates and trade in of consumer goods, increase the promotion of high-efficiency and energy-saving appliances, and encourage residents to accelerate the elimination of inefficient and outdated energy consuming equipment. At the same time, we should make full use of propaganda platforms such as National Ecology Day, National Energy Conservation Promotion Week, and National Low Carbon Day to widely carry out energy-saving and carbon reduction publicity and education, guide the whole society to consciously practice a simple, moderate, green and low-carbon lifestyle, and eliminate energy waste during the operation stage of buildings from the source.

Promote the low-carbon transformation of building energy consumption

Actively developing renewable energy and waste heat utilization in buildings, and improving the level of building electrification, are important ways to achieve low-carbon transformation in building energy use. At present, the proportion of fossil energy consumption in China's building energy structure is still relatively high. For example, in some areas, a large amount of coal is still consumed for winter heating, resulting in significant emissions of carbon dioxide and atmospheric pollutants. To this end, the "Work Plan" deploys efforts to promote the low-carbon transformation of building energy use, requiring an increase in the application of energy resources such as photovoltaics, waste heat, and geothermal energy in the construction field based on actual conditions, and to improve the popularization rate of electrification in heating, domestic hot water, cooking, and other areas.

From the perspective of favorable conditions, China's renewable energy utilization technology and industrial development have laid a solid foundation for the low-carbon transformation of building energy consumption. China is the world's largest producer of solar thermal utilization products, photovoltaic products, heat pumps and other equipment, with leading advantages in market size, product performance and other aspects. In addition, China's building photovoltaic system has developed rapidly and has completed multiple demonstration projects such as the China Pavilion at the World Horticultural Exposition and the Xiong'an High speed Railway Station. Next, we should accelerate pilot projects to promote the integrated construction of photovoltaic systems in new buildings, strengthen the management of installing photovoltaic systems in existing buildings, promote centralized heating through combined heat and power generation according to local conditions, actively support the application of geothermal energy, biomass energy, solar heating in the construction field, and the utilization of residual heat from thermal power, industry, etc., orderly improve the level of building electrification, effectively optimize the energy structure in the construction field, and effectively reduce carbon emissions.