New town planning: Green buildings increased from 2% to 50% in 6 years

According to the National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020), the proportion of green buildings in new construction in urban areas will increase from 2% in 2012 to 50% in 2020.

The construction industry is a major energy consumer in China, and the energy consumption of the industry accounts for about 30% of the energy consumption of the whole society. At present, more than 95% of the existing buildings in China are high energy consuming buildings, and the energy consumption level lags behind the international advanced level. Taking heating as an example, the primary energy consumption of central heating in China is 20 kilograms of standard coal/square meter, which is twice as high as that of European countries at the same latitude or even higher latitude, and the energy consumption of central heating in European countries also covers summer cooling and four seasons domestic hot water supply. Green building is a building that saves resources, protects the environment and reduces pollution to the maximum extent during the whole life of the building, provides people with healthy, applicable and efficient use of space, and harmonious coexistence with nature. "Whether it is the Green Building Action Plan issued last year or the National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020) issued this year, the goal is the same, which is to increase the proportion of green buildings in new urban buildings."

In order to standardize the evaluation of green buildings, China issued and implemented the national standard "Green Building Evaluation Standard" for the first time in 2006. According to national standards, the green building evaluation index system consists of six indexes: land saving and outdoor environment, energy saving and energy utilization, water saving and water resource utilization, material saving and material resource utilization, indoor environmental quality and operation management. Each category includes controls, general items, and preferences. Green buildings are divided into three stars, and the more items met, the higher the rating.

In the past five years, China's green buildings have been developing at an annual rate of doubling. As of December 31, 2013, a total of 1,446 green buildings were evaluated in China, with a total floor area of nearly 163 million square meters, and the number of buildings evaluated in 2013 alone increased by 81% over 2012, and the area increased by 1.12 times. By the end of 2015, 20% of new buildings in cities and towns will meet green building standards. "Green buildings are not the only green buildings. In fact, green buildings are in terms of water, land, energy, material and environmental protection, from design to operation are implemented more stringent energy consumption standards, not only low carbon, but also make people live more comfortable and healthy." Han Aixing said.

According to the current national standard, compared with ordinary residential buildings, the conditions that green residential buildings must meet include: the green land rate of residential areas is not less than 30%, and the per capita public green space is not less than l square meters; The water saving rate is not less than 8%, and the landscape water is not supplied by municipal water supply and self-provided underground Wells; Architectural modeling elements are simple, without a large number of decorative components; Set up closed garbage containers, and have strict cleaning and cleaning measures, domestic garbage bagged storage. Although it may seem like a lot of conditions and demands, green buildings are not expensive buildings. "In some people's understanding, green buildings are high-tech buildings, which is a misunderstanding. Green buildings are not high investment buildings, and the added costs are small or negligible." Han Aixing analyzed the results of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's "green Building Post-evaluation research" project, and the cost per square meter of one-star, two-star, and three-star green buildings of residential projects only increased by 33 yuan, 73 yuan, and 222 yuan respectively.

At the same time, the state has increased incentives for green building. All new buildings are green buildings and within two years to start construction area of no less than 2 million square meters of urban areas, the state finance to give a one-time subsidy of 50 million yuan, and named green building demonstration city. For high-grade green buildings with more than two stars, the central government directly subsidizes them, of which the three-star subsidy is 80 yuan per square meter and the two-star subsidy is 45 yuan per square meter. In addition, many provinces have also formulated corresponding subsidy incentive standards based on local reality.

To achieve the goal, industrialization should become an important breakthrough. Building industrialization is the use of standardized design, industrial production, assembly construction and information management methods to build, use and manage buildings. It is estimated that compared with the traditional way, the construction industrialization can respectively reduce the construction water consumption by more than 60%, wood nearly 80%, material waste by more than 20%, construction waste by about 80%, construction comprehensive energy consumption by more than 70%, and the construction period can be shortened by 30% to 70%.

The development of green buildings ultimately depends on internal driving forces to stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of market players. At present, the biggest resistance to the promotion of green buildings is the problem of enterprise awareness and ability. Some developers, especially construction companies in second - and third-tier cities, are unwilling to invest more and do not have the corresponding technical capabilities. In fact, green buildings and economic benefits are not necessarily contradictory. According to research, the average green building can recover the cost increase in 5 to 10 years, and if you add state subsidies, the recovery cycle is shorter. "Companies should recognize that green building is a profound revolution in the construction industry. With the rationalization of resource and energy prices, the economic benefits of green buildings will be more prominent, and they will be buildings that increase value and maintain value in the true sense."