The people of Hebei province are expected to be living in more environmentally friendly housing in the future, to the provincial Housing and Urban-Rural Development Dept has announced and the government is expected to begin renewal work to install more energy-conserving devices.

Meanwhile, buildings under construction will have to be more energy efficient and contractors are being told to use green building materials, while high-rise residential buildings will be expected to use solar energy to heat water.

Department regulations call for new buildings in Hebei to comply with energy-conservation standards in the 2013 to 2015 period and the government will promote the larger use of green buildings, with state office buildings, schools, hospitals, museums, and gymnasiums adhering to green building standards.

Other public buildings, such as airports, railway stations, hotels, and shopping malls will also have to be environmentally friendly.

This year, the province will do renovation work on 13.69 million square meters residential buildings and, in 2014, work on 10 million square meters more, to be completed in 2015, by which time, 75 percent of residential buildings will comply with energy-conservation standards, as will 65 percent of public buildings.

The government will also change its heat metering, with charge to depend on the amount of heat a building uses.

The department is saying that residential buildings of 12 floors or less will have to use solar energy to heat their water, while high-rises are being encouraged to do the same.

By 2015, there should be 155 million square meters of buildings in Hebei using renewable energy sources and 40 percent of new buildings using it.