China’s top advisory body slams buildings that waste energy

China’s top advisory body is calling for laws and regulations to promote energy-efficient buildings to counter soaring building energy consumption.

The energy equivalent of about 350 million tons of coal is consumed by the country’s 40-billion-cubic-meters of buildings each year, accounting for 27 percent of China’s yearly energy consumption, according to the committee, adding that 99 percent of the buildings in the country are not energy-efficient.
The energy consumption of buildings would soar to the equivalent of 1.1 billion tons of coal in 2020 if uncurbed.

Coal-fired heating systems are also causing severe air pollution in some of the country’s northern cities, where indexes for air pollutants are 1 to 4 times higher than world standards recommended by the World Health Organization.

People’s Daily