Future developments will play a key role in authority's energy reduction targets

Nothing concentrates the mind of economic planners like political instability in key overseas energy suppliers. China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) therefore not only mandates further reductions in the energy used to generate economic output, but for the first time sets overall consumption goals.

Making buildings more energy efficient will be a key element in achieving these goals. A National Geographic report on Jan 7 claimed the building sector now absorbs 30 percent of China's energy, a threefold increase on 1980.

Beijing recently made notable progress in this area. A 30 percent wholesale subsidy program encourages the purchase of efficient light bulbs, while authorities have aggressively pushed a coal-to-electricity project in hutong neighborhoods. This program both lowers sulfur emissions and energy use, as electric heaters are more efficient and have adjustable thermostats. Some models can even be preprogrammed to use less electricity during peak hours and store it at night. Rooftop solar water heaters are also a common sight.

Moreover, a Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development crackdown has led to a 90-percent compliance rate with a construction code that calls for new buildings in the capital to use 65 percent less energy than 1980s predecessors.

Despite this success, however, Li Bingren, the ministry's chief economist, told China Daily last September that heating energy consumption here still substantially exceeds that in the West.

Fortunately, lots of room exists for further efficiency gains. For example, heat for most residential buildings is still supplied by coal-fired boilers pumping hot water into radiators, so dwellers cannot lower or turn off the heat when it warms up. A paper on energy consumption in Chinese buildings published by University of Nottingham's China policy institute last October stated that 7 percent of the heat here is wasted when people open their windows because they have no way of controlling inside temperatures.

As incomes continue to rise, Beijingers will demand larger flats with more lighting and electrical gadgets. This makes it imperative that new buildings offer residents temperature control. Subsidies could also be given to residents adopting thermal technology products that automatically allocate heat to rooms with varying demands.

Beijing could be much more aggressive in retrofitting not just siheyuan (traditional courtyard homes) but also other residential units. The National Geographic article cited the fact Harbin has spent 1.1 million yuan to improve wall insulation and roofing in 2 million square meters of residential buildings.

Many high-rise commercial buildings also waste energy. The University of Nottingham paper notes that while such structures take up to just 4 percent of the floor space of Chinese construction, they account for 22 percent of the building sector's energy use thanks to poor designs, especially badly insulated windows.

However, the new Parkview Green building on Dongdaqiao Lu, which sports a slanting environmental shield resembling a giant greenhouse, shows that such structures can be green. In 2010, it was the first Chinese building to win the prestigious MIPIM Asia "Green Building" Award. Nearby stands the Prosper Center, the capital's first LEED gold-certified building awarded by the United States Green Building Council.

While both these buildings were expensive to build and are costly to lease, the Ministry of Science and Technology's headquarters, which is Beijing's first US Natural Resources Defense Council-certified green building, demonstrates that green construction can be less expensive in the short and long run. By avoiding the use of expensive materials like marble, this structure cost much less.

Of course, Beijing's construction industry still lacks a green material supply chain, as well as expertise. These things will develop as more buildings are constructed. Since most factories have already been moved out of the capital, Beijing will have to build green to do its part in helping China conserve energy.

The author is a corporate trainer at a State-owned enterprise. To comment, e-mail metrobeijing@chinadaily.com.cn. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of METRO.