Wu Jingshan, China Building Energy Conservation Association: China's building industry energy conservation and carbon reduction has entered the stage of "equal emphasis on stock and increment"

Recently, China Building Energy Efficiency Association and Chongqing University jointly released the 2023 China Building and Urban Infrastructure Carbon Emissions Research Report, accounting and analysis of national building carbon emissions and urban infrastructure carbon emissions data. In this regard, Wu Jingshan, secretary general of the China Building Energy Efficiency Association, accepted an exclusive interview with the People's Daily Financial Network, and looked into the new direction of green development of China's construction industry in the future through data.

Wu Jingshan said that from the perspective of the growth rate of carbon emissions in the whole process of construction, the growth rate of carbon emissions in the whole process of construction in China during the "14th Five-Year Plan" has slowed down significantly, indicating that the energy saving and carbon reduction work in the construction industry has begun to enter the development stage of stock optimization and incremental control.

Report: The carbon emission structure of all types of buildings in 2021 is generally stable

According to the report, in 2021, the total energy consumption of the whole process of construction (including the use of building materials for construction and infrastructure, building construction, and building operation) in China will be 2.35 billion tons of standard coal, and the total carbon dioxide emissions will be 5.01 billion tons, accounting for 47.1% of the total carbon emissions in the country.

From the data point of view, the carbon emissions of the construction operation stage in 2021 will be 2.30 billion tons, accounting for 21.6% of the total carbon emissions in the country, down 0.1% year-on-year.

Among them, public buildings accounted for 21% of the floor area (15 billion square meters), contributing about 41% of the carbon emissions (950 million tons of carbon dioxide), is the most important source of energy consumption and carbon emissions in building operation.

Urban residential floor area (33.4 billion square meters) accounted for the highest proportion (47%), and its carbon emissions (910 million tons of CO2) accounted for 40%. Rural residential buildings account for 32% of the floor area (23 billion square meters), and their carbon emissions (440 million tons of CO2) account for a relatively low proportion of 19%.

The report shows that, affected by the epidemic, the proportion of public buildings' emissions has fluctuated in the past two years, resulting in different types of buildings' total carbon emissions growth rate is not the same, but the overall proportion is relatively fixed, and the proportion of carbon emissions of public buildings, urban residential buildings and rural residential buildings has remained at 4:4:2.

In addition, through the calculation and analysis of building carbon emissions in different regions, the study found that there were differences in population size, regional gross domestic product, climate zone, energy use structure and average carbon emission factors of regional power grids among provinces and cities in China, resulting in great differences in total carbon emissions from building operations among different provinces and cities. At the same time, with the gradual southward shift of China's population center, the proportion of carbon emissions from building operation in northern heating areas has shown a downward trend year by year since 2015.

Positive results have been achieved in green development in urban and rural development

As an important industry in energy consumption and carbon emissions, the green development of the construction industry will have a direct impact on the relevant industries to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction. In the context of the "double carbon" goal, accelerating the transformation of construction methods and realizing the low-carbon development of the whole life cycle has become an important direction for the green upgrading of the construction industry.

Wu Jingshan introduced that at present, more than 20 provinces and cities in the country have successively studied and introduced the implementation plan of carbon peaking in urban and rural construction, and all localities have accelerated the transformation of urban and rural construction methods with the lead of green and low-carbon development, and the quality of urban and rural green and low-carbon development has been significantly improved.

Data show that at present, the country has built a total of more than 30.3 billion square meters of energy-saving building area, energy-saving buildings accounted for more than 64% of urban civil building area; China has built more than 10 billion square meters of green building area, of which urban green building construction significantly accelerated in 2022, when urban green buildings accounted for about 90% of new buildings.

In terms of actively promoting the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, 2.1 billion square meters of existing residential buildings and 370 million square meters of public buildings have been renovated, and the floor space of ultra-low and near-zero energy consumption buildings has reached 37 million square meters.

Take history as a mirror to explore the future. In Wu Jingshan's view, the development trend of building energy consumption and carbon emissions in the future can be mined through one macro historical data, which provides an important reference for the next study on the scenario prediction of building carbon peak.

"Through the data analysis of different climate zones and different building types, the main influencing factors of building energy consumption growth can be analyzed, which provides support for dynamically adjusting the center of gravity of building energy conservation and carbon reduction, exploring building types adapted to different climate zones and innovating energy use scenarios." Wu Jingshan said.

Explore new scenarios of green construction according to local conditions

Looking to the future, what should we do to promote the green and low-carbon development of the construction industry?

Wu Jingshan said that in June 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Carbon Peak Implementation Plan for Urban and Rural Construction", and issued a series of policies from the central to local governments to provide systematic guidance for China's urban and rural construction to achieve green and low-carbon transformation. Combined with the trend analysis, the green and low-carbon development of the future construction industry should be started from the following aspects.

First, control increment. We will promote the improvement of the quality of green building development, fully implement green building standards, and promote the construction and renovation of green and low-carbon agricultural houses in rural areas. We will accelerate the large-scale development of ultra-low energy consumption and near-zero energy consumption, and focus on promoting ultra-low energy consumption and near-zero energy consumption buildings in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and other eligible areas. We will guide local governments to formulate policies such as green finance, floor area ratio incentives, and priority awards, and support the large-scale development of ultra-low and near-zero energy consumption buildings.

Second, we will seize the existing stock. For residential buildings with a relative energy saving standard of less than 50% before 2000 and worthy of renovation, we will actively promote the energy saving renovation of existing buildings. Combined with the situation of clean heating in the northern region, the renovation of old residential areas, and the renovation of dilapidated rural houses, we will promote energy-saving renovation of residential buildings by classification, and effectively enhance the sense of gain of the people. We will explore diversified financing support policies and financing models, promote market mechanisms such as contract energy management and demand-side management, and promote energy-saving renovation of existing public buildings.

Third, make structural adjustments. Guide building heating, domestic hot water, cooking, etc. to the development of building electrification. Fully develop a variety of low-grade heat sources of cogeneration and industrial waste heat, replace the current various types of heating boilers, and develop and use biomass, sewage, river water, ground source heat pump and other heating technologies according to local conditions. For example, actively promote the application of air thermal heat pump technology in cold areas, hot summer and cold winter areas, and carry out ultra-low temperature air source heat pump technology and product applications in cold areas. Actively promote solar thermal technology in public buildings with stable hot water demand such as hotels, schools and hospitals in the city. In rural areas, we will actively promote appropriate technologies such as passive solar houses, and rationally develop biomass heating.

Fourth, increase photovoltaic. Promote the promotion and application of building PV integration, adopt differentiated implementation paths according to solar energy resource endowments, and promote the integrated design, construction and installation of solar PV in new buildings. Promote the application of technologies such as smart microgrids, direct and soft light storage, cold and heat storage, flexible load regulation, and virtual power plants, prioritize the consumption of renewable energy power, and actively participate in power demand side response. Promote the integration of solar photovoltaic construction, encourage the integration of "electricity consumption, power generation, power storage, and charging" technology and digital intelligent technology, respond to the dynamic carbon responsibility factor, and achieve low-carbon development in the building operation stage. Promote the integration of building photovoltaic technology in urban industrial parks, industrial plants, public buildings, transportation terminals and stations, and encourage the application of solar photovoltaic in government investment projects.

Fifth, digitalization. Cultivate and build the digital infrastructure and data resource system of the construction industry, break through the information barriers at all stages of the construction cycle, improve the overall digitization level of the construction industry through data statistics, analysis, decision-making, etc., and realize the market value of green construction. Support the construction of green building materials application pilot demonstration, carry out the carbon footprint accounting of building materials, establish and improve the carbon footprint accounting model, and ensure the accuracy and scientific calculation of carbon footprint.