Approaches to energy efficiency in China’s large-scale public building

Abstract: In recent years, the energy shortage has become a barrier to social development as there is a shortage of resources, especially non-renewable resources. In order to improve the current situation of human settlement for future generations, a series of environmental protection activities and rational utilizations of natural resources have been carried out at a global level on the theme of "Sustainable Development". Along with the quantitative growth of Chinese public buildings, especially the Large-Scale Public Buildings, the levels of energy consumption are rising and this phenomenon has been seen as a key point of energy management from a national view. This paper discusses the realities of energy consumption and the energy-saving policies of public buildings in the world’s major developed countries, and sums up the current condition of Chinese energy consumption in relation to public buildings. With regard to these factors, this paper tries to find approaches for solving the existing problems in each construction section. Less developed construction technology in China leads to a waste of materials and labor force. There is a lack of professional personnel to handle the operational management and a lack of consideration for energy efficiency in the designing process. There is not a suitable framework for compiling statistics and data on energy consumption. There are still many management problems such as inadequate policy standards in operability or implementation, unclear positioning in governmental management, ineffective incentive or punitive mechanisms, and a defective state system which results directly in an undeveloped service system for energy efficiency. Based on all of the problems listed above, this paper suggests solutions in four areas, namely Policy, Energy Statistics, Management and Education, in order to give academic support for the overhaul of Large-Scale Public Buildings towards greater energy efficiency in China.