Managing Energy Efficiency of Buildings in China

The paper "Managing energy efficiency of buildings in China" presents the results of a nationwide field survey under Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) in Chinese building sector. The survey collected information on profile, major features and risk perception of EPC. The key findings are that the development of EPC projects have mainly been driven by policies and have been focused on public and commercial buildings. The contract specification is worryingly insufficient, for example, in terms of renewal and change of the planned solutions, dispute resolution and compensation for personal and property damage. High risk is a major cause of contract failure and disputing, which is attributed to insufficient feasibility study, delay in completion, operational risks, delay in payment and uninsured loss. Building operation after the implementation of most EPC projects is not satisfying, given that most building owners have not established their energy team, provided no further investment, and implemented no effective maintenance. The Chinese emission trading scheme (ETS) offers a vital opportunity for scaling up EPC in the building sector. However, proper policy framework is required  to effectively link EPC projects and ETS.

The complete ScienceDirect article by Mingshun Zhang (Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture), Mujie Wang (Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture), Wei Jin (Hebei University of Environmental Engineering), and Chun Xia-Bauer (Wuppertal Institute) can be read under the following link.