China pushes for energy efficiency

China’s new rules for energy conservation are likely to benefit the market outlook for solar, lighting and a materials companies.

The rules were outlined by Beijing-based State Council in its “Civil Construction Energy Saving Regulation” report. The regulations cover commercial buildings, residences, education, government buildings and those used for sanitation purposes, according to government reports.

The objective of these new regulations are to encourage businesses and departments to adopt renewable products in new construction, including solar energy and geothermal technologies (see How green is your drywall?). The use and development of new construction materials is just starting to take shape (see What's next in driving green building).

Those government mandates will likely drive the rapid adoption of new types of construction material and technology to help meet those ambitious goals. That bodes well for new companies building those technologies because the government said imports of energy-intensive technology, material and equipment would be restricted or banned (see U.K. puts up £10M for new materials technologies).

Government oversight of these regulations will involve monitoring energy-saving practices across the country. Two years ago, the Chinese government outlined the reduction in energy usage in China’s 11th Five-Year Plan.

China has pledged to cut energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent, or 4 percent each year. To date, however, Chinese reports indicate that only 53 percent of projects under construction are actually keeping up with energy-savings objectives.

China’s government has also laid out penalties for companies not complying with energy efficient practices. For example, construction enterprises that buy or use what the government defines as energy-intensive products could face penalties of 200,000 yuan ($30,000 USD) to 500,000 yuan.

The Chinese government's statistics show that, in 2005, 27.5 percent of China's energy consumption was in the construction sector, with transportation accounting for 16.3 percent and government buildings, 6.7 percent. Thirty percent of the energy reductions must come from the construction sector, the government says.

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