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| Impediments to Energy Conservation in China's Construction Industry |
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Although China's construction industry has made significant progress in energy conservation and emission control in recent years, the gap behind the industry standards applied to developed countries is also significant.
On the positive side, implementation rate of compulsory energy conservation standards on buildings under planning had increased from 53% in 2005 to 97% in 2007, while the implementation rate on buildings under construction had also improved from 21% to 71% in the same period.
But there is also a set of appalling data. Energy consumption by the construction industry accounts for 30% of total energy consumption in China, and high energy-consumption residential buildings amount to over 40 billion square metres. There are about 2 billion square metre new constructions each year in China, higher than many developed countries' combined annual volume, but 95% of the new buildings in China are high energy-consumption residential buildings. On a per unit basis, the Chinese construction industry consumed three times more energy than its developed country counterparts. |
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The Chinese government has established clear energy conservation targets. There are also plenty of commercial opportunities and viable means to achieve energy conservation. So what is now impeding those developments in the Chinese construction industry?
No strict implementation
China has long established compulsory energy conservation standards on buildings, but the actual implementation hasn't lived up to expectations in many provinces. In a survey on 17 provinces by the former Ministry of Construction in 2005, 90% of the building plans in northern regions contained energy conserving designs, but only 50% of which were implemented in the actual construction process. The actual implementation percentages were even lower in central regions and southern regions, with 19% and 11% respectively. Some experts estimated that the actual numbers in some provinces could be as low as 5%. Failure to effectively observe energy conserving designs is now the biggest bottleneck for the implementation of energy conservation standards in China.
No incentives
People from the construction industry said that the main reasons for China's current low implementation of energy conservation buildings are lack of effective incentives and low awareness of energy conservation. It is reported that some construction companies would prepare two sets of construction drawings, one for energy conservation inspection from relevant authorities, the other for actual construction works that are much cheaper.
And many construction quality supervisors, which are normally hired by the developers, cannot effectively supervise on energy conservation standards due to conflict of interests. The lack of incentives is also affecting construction companies' willingness to adopt energy conservation standards. In the current real estate market of China, consumers care more about the price, so in order to make their own products more price competitive and higher margin, construction companies will certainly want to save as much cost as they can.
Low consumer awareness
The public's ignorance on energy conservation is also indirectly encouraging construction companies to engage in jerry-building activities in terms of energy conservation. Many property developers and consumers are still lacking awareness of energy conservation. Some experts pointed out that energy conservation can't simply rely on people's consciousness, so the government may have to introduce some legally-enforceable measures to promote energy conservation.
In short, energy conservation in China still has a long way to go. But as the Chinese economy continues to develop, especially the accelerating urbanisation and rural development, the market potential for energy conservation businesses will become even bigger. As the Chinese society is gradually paying more attention to the issue of energy conservation, there will be a huge market for energy conservation services for buildings in the next few years.
Produced by www.chinabizintel.com; Source: www.chinairn.com
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