At a working conference on energy conservation held recently in
Shanghai, experts on architecture said that residential, commercial
and comprehensive construction projects in the downtown areas of
Shanghai would be designed and built in accordance with
energy-saving standards from now on.
The conference was sponsored by the municipal government
departments that handle urban development, city planning, real
estate and land resource regulations.
Shanghai is a large, energy-gobbling city with a dearth of
natural resources. Rapid growth has meant that the city's building
construction energy consumption accounts for one-fourth of the
total, and the figure has been increasing at an average annual rate
of 1 percent.
Currently, Shanghai's construction area totals 434.3 million
cubic meters, with residential construction accounting for 269.1
million cubic meters. Since the 1990s, new residential construction
has greatly improved living conditions. But building insulation is
not satisfactory: it fails to moderate temperatures, leading to a
poor living environment.
Air conditioners are widely used: citywide, there are 118 air
conditioners for every 100 households. Last summer, power
consumption in the city peaked at 13.6 million kWh, a new record.
The figure is expected to reach 16.7 million kWh this summer.
The widespread construction of energy-efficient buildings will
help reduce the load on the power grid by improving the insulation
functions of exterior walls, roofing, doors, windows and floors,
raising the energy utilization ratio and reducing energy
consumption by as much as 50 percent.
Since October 2001, when the Ministry of Construction issued an
energy-conservation design standard for residential construction in
the areas where it is hot in summer and cold in winter, Shanghai
has built 39 energy-saving projects with a total area of 4.2
million square meters. However, considering the 20 million square
meters of residential buildings completed annually in Shanghai, the
figure is still too low.
To help promote energy conservation, especially public awareness
and developers' participation, the Shanghai municipal government is
currently improving local construction standards, laws and
regulations, and has established related organizations and
management systems. Research and engineering trial bases have been
enabled the city to identify the optimum specifications for
insulation.
(China.org.cn translated by Li Jingrong May 26, 2004)
