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At present, China is in a period of rapid urbanization, and the concept of green structure is getting more and more attention. Green structures can solve asset utilization and ecological problems brought about by rapid urbanization. Therefore, green structure has become the only way for the development of China's construction industry. This paper aims to study the feasibility analysis of new green building technology measures. The related concepts of green building, the analytic hierarchy process, and the meaning of life cycle cost are proposed. The main assessment bottom lines include engineering, environmental, social, and economic bottom lines. From the application examples of green building technology in the starting area of Guangzhou International Financial City, it can be seen that, based on the green building technology proposed in this paper, it is necessary to sort out specific technologies and practices suitable for the actual application of the project in a specific project. Then, the applicability and incremental cost of each technology can be analyzed, and finally, a green building technology system suitable for specific project applications is formed. The experimental results show that compared with residential buildings, the increase of public buildings is 338 million yuan, and the increase of nonassigned parts is about 9.84 million yuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, China has rapidly increased its influence throughout the South Asian region, using both its hard and soft power tactics. China has succeeded in eclipsing India's influence and emerged as an important player in the region. China is making inroads in South Asia by making huge investments and constructing roads, highways, railways, sea ports, bridges, power grids, dams, and public buildings. China is pursuing a foreign policy that aims to advance its strategic and economic interests while trying to imbalance India's predominant position and contain India within the boundaries of South Asia. This is to prevent the rise of a peer competitor that can challenge or hinder the rise of China as a sole Asian power. This paper argues that the geostrategic situation of South Asian countries is such that they pose threats to India's security by aligning with the extra-regional powers. Hence, China's expanding strategic and security ties with South Asian countries have wider implications for India's security due to the complex and sensitive nature of its relationship with China. The theoretical approach of Power Transition Theory has been utilized to analyze the Sino-India power rivalry and China's growing threat to India's security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the application of building information modeling (BIM) in building energy efficiency design programs has been emphasized in research. In China, faced with requirements in building energy efficiency design standards and specifications, researchers have been using BIM as a platform for breaking up bottlenecks in energy simulation and design software, and BIM is considered the key to improve the efficiency of building energy efficiency design. Firstly, based on the trade-off energy consumption judgment method proposed in the 'Public Building Energy Efficiency Design Standard (GB50189-2015)', this study combines the BIM platform with an orthogonal simulation design adopting an experimental building construction project in a cold region of China, to thereby study the influences of different envelope structural parameters on cooling and heating loads. Then, this study analyzes the continuity and consistency of data exchange between different BIM-related software, through the modeling software Revit and the sustainable analysis software Ecotect. Finally, through the experiment, the critical factors of the optimized design of the building envelope are investigated and applied for the optimized design of the building thermal system. In addition, this study uses BIM to complete an energy efficiency design for a laboratory heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. According to the experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn: this study proposes a BIM-based optimized design method of building thermal system, which complies with various Chinese building energy efficiency standards and polices and can be used as a reference for Chinese designers. Also, the issues and challenges in building consumption simulation based on BIM technology and the application of BIM technology in the design of building thermal HVAC systems are discussed, and the development trends of BIM technology in China are analyzed. Building thermal system and HVAC system design are the key points of building efficiency design. The optimized design method proposed in this paper is of great significance to this system design. The optimized design method can improve the design efficiency of designers while complying with China's standards and policies. Therefore, it can save costs, improve the economic benefits of the projects and, at the same time, obtain an ideal building efficiency design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of public buildings has greatly increased the country's energy consumption and carbon emissions. Excessive carbon emissions contribute to global warming. This paper aims to measure the carbon emissions in the operation of public buildings, and to identify the multiple influencing factors of carbon emissions in operational public buildings. First, the spatial and temporal variation characteristics of carbon emissions from public buildings in 30 provinces of China from 2008–2019 are analyzed. Second, a green building index is constructed, and the STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) model is utilized to explore the relationship between each influencing factor and carbon emissions, using spatial and temporal geographically weighted regression analysis. The results show that the effects of population, urbanization rate, GDP per capita, green building index, and industrial structure on carbon emissions from public buildings all show spatial correlation and differences. There are east-west differences in the operational carbon emissions of public buildings in China's provinces. Cluster evolution shows a spatially increasing trend from west to east. To some extent, policymakers can develop appropriate policies for different provinces through the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public buildings consume the largest proportion of total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions in the building sector of China. Enhancing building energy efficiency becomes a necessary way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy waste. In this study, 10-year real data from 2000 buildings covering five different types of public buildings in a hot summer and cold winter zone in eastern coastal China were investigated to analyze energy-saving potential (ESP) and the impacts of various influencing factors on building energy performance. The concept of energy consumption limit (ECL) was proposed and used for identifying high energy-consuming buildings and the calculation of ESP. Hotels, shopping malls, and office buildings were the top three types of buildings with high ESP. ESP for the high energy-consuming buildings based on the benchmark limits was more than 18%, and that for three-star hotels and shopping malls was 51%. In addition, a correlation analysis between energy consumption and influencing factors was carried out, which laid the foundation for the development of building energy performance assessment and diagnosis tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effects of green roofs and practical green façades within courtyard area on public buildings investigated for "Hot Summer, cold Winter" region of China. • Internal surface temperatures for areas with and without external greening monitored and compared. • Heating and cooling energy consumption before and after greening compared from computer simulation as well as from smart meter readings. • Actual heating and cooling energy consumption before and after greening compared using statistical analyses. T -statistics and p -values show significant reductions were achieved. The "Hot Summer Cold Winter" climate region of China is one of the most challenging regions for providing occupant comfort in buildings, with high demands for heating as well as cooling, together with high humidity levels. Although the performance of buildings has improved with the implementation of the new Chinese National Building Standards for the Zhejiang Province, it is believed that adding passive strategies could help to alleviate the problem even further. This paper aims to investigate the effects of adding horizontal greening (green roof) and vertical greening in the courtyard area to existing public buildings in the "Hot Summer Cold Winter" climate region of China. Using computer simulation and measurements from a monitored case in the city of Ningbo, the effects of green retrofitting on human comfort and energy consumption are analysed. Simulation results suggest that with partial horizontal and vertical greening, the cooling load could be reduced by 8.8% and heating load by 1.85%. Comparisons between actual energy use before and after greening on the case building showed significant reductions in both winter and summer, confirming the positive effects of vertical and horizontal greening of public buildings in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper takes a close look at the China national standard GB50189-2005, Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings, which was enforced on July 1, 2005. The paper first reviews the standard, then compares the standard with ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004 to identify discrepancies in code coverage and stringency, and recommends some energy conservation measures that can be evaluated in the design of public buildings to achieve energy savings beyond the standard. The paper also highlights several important features of 90.1-2004 that may be considered as additions to the GB50189-2005 standard during the next revision. At the end the paper summarizes the latest developments in building energy standards and rating systems in China and the US. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban public buildings carbon emissions exhibit an upward trend and have a large potential in carbon emission reduction. The analysis of spatiotemporal characteristics and driving factors for urban public buildings carbon emissions is essential in formulating effective policies for carbon reduction, meeting commitments to peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. This study takes China's urban public buildings carbon emissions as the research object, employing methods such as spatial autocorrelation analyses, kernel density estimation analyses, and the LMDI decomposition methods to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics and regional disparities in carbon emissions from 2006 to 2019. Furthermore, it quantifies the contributions of driving factors to the spatiotemporal changes in urban public buildings carbon emissions. The results show the following: (1) Urban public buildings carbon emissions among provinces are consistently increasing, indicating an overall upward trend. The spatial distribution highlights significant regional disparities. (2) The spatial characteristics of urban public buildings carbon emissions were basically stable. The eastern coastal regions demonstrate a high-high cluster, while the western regions exhibit a low-low cluster. The overall cluster evolution showed a decreasing trend from east to west. (3) Per capita urban public building area, economic density, urbanization rate, and population size serve as driving factors for carbon emissions from urban public buildings, while energy efficiency and energy consumption intensity act as inhibitory factors. The findings of this research can assist policymakers in getting a deeper comprehension of urban public buildings carbon emissions and providing a scientific basis to formulate appropriate carbon emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the status of energy consumptions of the large public buildings in Jinan city, some large comprehensive office building was chosen as an example for evaluation in the paper. By the on-site survey, field measurements, the consumption indexes of water, gas, heating, electricity power and the primary energy were given out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently recognized as the leading global energy consumer and CO2 emitter. A significant amount of carbon emissions can be attributed to urban public buildings. Establishing an equitable and efficient carbon emission allocation mechanism is a crucial step to meeting the ambitious targets in China's 2030 carbon peak plan. In this study, we estimate the total amount of CO2 emissions from urban public buildings by 2030 and propose a preliminary scheme of carbon quota assignment for each province. By means of applying the zero-sum gains data envelopment analysis (ZSG-DEA) model, the carbon emission quotas allocation of urban public buildings in China's 30 provinces is proposed, and the corresponding pressure to reduce provincial carbon emissions is analyzed. The results indicate that Qinghai has the lowest carbon emission rate (0.01%) for urban public buildings, while Guangdong has the highest (9.06%). Among the provinces, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Tianjin face the least pressure in reducing carbon emissions from urban public buildings. On the other hand, Hebei, Beijing, and Anhui are under great pressure to decrease carbon emissions. Notably, Hebei is predicted to have the highest emission reduction requirement of 95.66 million tons. In terms of pressures on carbon emissions reduction for urban public buildings, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Tianjin exhibit the least pressure. Hebei, Beijing, and Anhui are facing intense pressure to decrease carbon emissions. These findings offer policymakers valuable insights into developing a fair and efficient carbon allowance allocation strategy, while also contributing to China's efforts to mitigate carbon emissions and combat climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emission reduction in buildings is essential to combat climate change. However, current strategies failed to balance development and emissions reduction goals. This paper selects a public building in China and simulates its initial energy consumption and carbon emissions. Then it establishes a multi-objective optimization model to explore cost-effective and emission-reduction strategies, considering photovoltaic and ground-source-heat-pump (GSHP) systems. Finally, NSGA-Ⅱ is used to solve, and sensitivity analysis is carried out. Results show that: (1) Energy consumed by the air conditioning system is the largest in January for heating and in July for cooling, validating the accuracy of the energy simulation model. (2) Economic efficiency and emission reduction effect are better when photovoltaic and GSHP systems are implemented simultaneously. (3) Electricity price, initial investment cost, annual solar peak hours, and the proportion of shallow geothermal energy significantly impact carbon emissions and cost. (4) The photovoltaic and power grid substitution ratio will exceed 8% every five years, and all substitutions will be completed in 2050. After adopting the GSHP system, the complete replacement will be advanced to 2045. Setting subsidies significantly shortens the payback period of investment and ensures firms' economic benefits. In summary, using photovoltaic and shallow geothermal energy is conducive to reducing emissions and saving costs in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the energy performance of public buildings has attracted substantial attention due to the significant energy-saving potential. As a semi-open high-space building, the high-speed railway station is obviously different from other public buildings and even traditional stations in terms of energy consumption and internal environment. This paper investigates the current energy consumption situation and environmental quality of 15 high-speed railway passenger stations in China. Results show that the energy consumption of the high-speed railway station is between 117–470 kWh/(m2·a). The energy consumption of the station is related to the area and the passenger flow. The energy use of the station using district heating is higher than that of the station without district heating in the same region. The higher glazing ratio induces good natural lighting in the station, but the uniformity of the lighting in the station is not good. The acceptable temperature range of passengers in winter is larger than that in summer. The average air change rate of the high-speed railway station is 3.2 h−1 in winter and 1.8 h−1 in summer, which is the main reason of high energy consumption of the HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) system in this kind of building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The retrofitting of existing public buildings to save energy and reduce carbon emissions is a priority for China's building sector. Accordingly, the Chinese government requires all public buildings to be energy retrofitted based on the Design Standard for Energy Efficiency of Public Buildings GB50189-2015. However, few studies have been conducted to assess the energy efficiency of this design standard in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) climate region of China. The aim of this study was therefore to provide sensitivity analysis for the thermal properties of the envelope of a typical public building energy retrofit in China's HSCW climate region. The results show that the thermal performance of the existing envelope of the sample building was very poor, with heating and cooling energy consumption 18.94% higher than the GB90189-2015 baseline model. It was found that better optimized parameters could reduce the heating and cooling energy load by 28.26% compared with the parameters of the sample building. The findings from this study provide valuable references for local governments and practitioners eager to improve the energy efficiency of existing public buildings in China's HSCW region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of green building in China has reached a new stage, needs to turn to the total energy consumption control from the technology control [1] . We should avoid packing technologies in green building projects and regard achieving good environmental performance as the fundamental goal. In this paper, we use the method of post-occupancy evaluation and regard the building environmental performance as the core of the evaluation system, in order to reduce the influence on the accuracy of results from the measures evaluation. We establish the evaluation index system of green public building environmental performance in severe cold and cold regions, including the index of building life-cycle carbon emissions accounting. And we set up the application plan of index and the scoring method, then we put forward a kind of evaluation grade based on environmental performance level, finally proposed the POE System of Green Public Building Environmental Performance in Severe Cold and Cold Regions (POE-GPBEPC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public buildings, with the increasing level of energy consumption, are a key area of energy conservation and emission reduction in China's construction industry. In order to reduce carbon emissions of public buildings, realize the targets of energy conservation and emission reduction, the LMDI method is used to construct China's public building macrocarbon factor decomposition model, identify the main driving factors affecting the change of carbon emissions from public buildings, and build a system dynamics model based on the decomposition results to predict China's public building carbon emissions peak. The results show that reducing carbon emission coefficient and reducing energy intensity are the main driving factors to restrain the growth of carbon emission from public buildings. Under the base scenario, carbon emissions from public buildings will peak at 1.242 billion tons in 2041. Under the comprehensive regulation of energy structure, economic growth rate, investment level of scientific research and education, and carbon sink capacity, the carbon emissions of public buildings will reach the peak in 2030, and the adjustment of energy structure has a significant impact on the peak and peak time of carbon emissions of public buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Energy-efficient university campuses will play a vital role in the development of future sustainable cities, and will be important for achieving the Chinese carbon-neutrality goals. It is, therefore, necessary to develop new decision-making tools for evaluating the sustainability of campus buildings. Since university campuses typically comprise a broad variety of building types, standardized evaluation methods and tools, such as Green BIM, are needed. Green BIM (Building Information Modeling) emphasizes the importance and role of BIM technology in the design and construction of green buildings, providing a standardized framework for the decision-making process, and methods for improving the green performance of buildings. Methods: This study develops a method based on the Green BIM framework, using BIM architecture to analyse building performance, and the Assessment Standard for Green Building (GB/T 50378-2019) standard to establish benchmark values for evaluation, and project objectives. The method is evaluated on three examples of the most representative university buildings in northern China. The goal is to understand common denominators and differences between different types of campus buildings, in terms of green building indicators, that are important to consider in the early design stages of campus building complexes. Results: In this study, a library is used as a case study to demonstrate the tools for evaluating green performance. The study optimizes green performance from five aspects: surrounding environment, function layout, envelope performance and system transformation, and management measures improvement. The results show that this optimization scheme can achieve reductions of the annual loads of about 47.4%, in line with the national energy efficiency standards for public buildings. In particular, the heating load was reduced by 59.1%, and the cooling load reduced by 21.5%. Conclusion: A comprehensive approach, combining the aspects of planning, building design, system design, energy management, and energy conservation planning, is required to improve the green performance of university buildings to meet the goals. In the future, it will be further necessary to perform data mining of energy consumption patterns, and continue energy retrofitting of existing buildings and energy systems, to achieve the goal of green and low-carbon campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the effects of retrofitting existing public buildings in the “Hot Summer Cold Winter” climate region of China, using simulation and a case study, to see how retrofitted public buildings perform in the face of climate change in the region. This area of China is one of the most challenging regions for providing occupant comfort in buildings, with high demands for heating as well as cooling, together with high humidity levels. The simulation results suggest that energy reduction of up to 40% with improvements to the building enclosure is possible by retrofitting current existing public buildings to the new Chinese National Standard for the Zhejiang Province. Requirements for combating possible increase in energy consumption from heating and cooling demands due to future climate change was also investigated, and it was found that by simply improving U-Values of the building envelope to the new national standards set for the Zhejiang Province, the effects of future climate change can be nullified up to the 2080s. Further improvements to having similar standards as developed countries such as England and Wales will have less significance and cannot nullify the effects of climate change from the newly retrofitted public buildings. However, this can be achieved by involving other energy-saving strategies and installing suitable energy-saving technologies for the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hainan province is the only tropical and island province in China, with the unique climatic and geographical features. It has a different energy performance in public buildings from those in the inland areas. This paper investigated the current situation of energy consumption of the sampled public buildings, including 26 hotels, 24 office buildings and 7 department stores, through analyzing utility billing data, on-site survey and measurement, and site operational records. The breakdowns of energy consumption found out that the electricity dominated the energy consumption for all the sampled buildings and the air conditioning system played a key role in the energy consumption of major building services. By analyzing the main factors for building energy consumption, the annual average energy use indexes were calculated to be 141.63kWh/m2, 87.70kWh/m2, and 166.95kWh/m2 for hotels, office buildings and department stores, respectively. Besides, the comparison between Hainan province and other areas revealed that the building energy consumption of this tropical province was at a low level. Because indoor environment quality can influence the health and work efficiency of humans in buildings, field tests on the indoor environment quality were also carried out, and the performance of indoor environment quality was rated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

China is committed to peaking its carbon emissions by 2030 and become a carbon-neutral society by 2060. The building sector that accounts for over one-third of the total carbon emissions is expected to face a great challenge in helping China achieve this goal. Shenzhen, as a low-carbon pilot city, whether its low-carbon work of urban buildings reaches the target is crucial. An attempt has been made in this study to assess the intensity of carbon emissions and associated reduction efficiency of urban buildings (operation stage) in Shenzhen by using the life cycle assessment method. The results show that the total carbon emissions generated from the buildings' operation stage have increased from 22 million metric tons (Mt) CO 2 eq in 2005 to 42 (±13%) Mt. CO 2 eq in 2019. Carbon emissions mainly result from the buildings' electricity use (79%), followed by refrigerant release emissions (12%). The energy conservation and carbon emissions reduction intensity in Shenzhen is at the middle level in China, and there is considerable space for improvement. According to scenario-based analysis, the carbon emission of the buildings sector can probably reach its peak by 2025 with the implementation of suitable policies – 5 years earlier than national target by 2030. Overall, this study makes a systemic analysis of the characteristics of urban buildings energy consumption and carbon emissions reduction, which can provide supportings for justifying the effectiveness of low-carbon activities in Shenzhen and beyond. • This paper evaluated the emissions reduction of civil buildings in Shenzhen city. • LCA method is employed to quantify the efficiency of emissions reduction. • Public buildings consume more energy per unit area than residential buildings. • Electricity use is the focus of buildings emission, accounting for 79% of the total. • Current efforts cannot meet the ambitious carbon peak and neutrality target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy Consumption monitoring technology (ECMT) can effectively reduce the energy consumption of public buildings (PB) in the operational phase, but it is not used widely in China. The main reason for this is that the existing policies have a poor effect on diffusing ECMT; thus, studying the impact of different policy instruments on ECMT in PB is of great significance to the widespread use of ECMT and its role in decreasing the energy consumption of PB. This paper systematically reviews the policy related to ECMT in China from 1990 to 2018, and, on this basis, divides the promotion stage of China's ECMT into three stages: the concept stage, the demonstration stage and the gradual promotion stage. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview of 313 stakeholders (ECMT suppliers, government officials, and scholars) was used to study the influence of command-and-control instruments (CAC), economic incentive instruments (EI) and exhortatory instruments (EXI) on the diffusion of ECMT in PB. The empirical results show that CAC and EXI contribute to the diffusion of ECMT in PB, whereas EI do not. In more detail, laws and regulations, energy consumption quotes, education and information programs, and energy audits and disclosure also have a significant impact on diffusing ECMT, whereas technical standards, subsidies for adopting ECMT, energy performance contracting, and carbon trading do not. Finally, relevant policies and suggestions are put forward based on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore Chinese mothers' experiences, emotions and expectations of breast-feeding in public places.Design: Exploratory qualitative study. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants and face-to-face interviews were conducted. Themes were identified by content analysis.Setting: Two different geographical communities in Wuhan, Hubei Province, central China, March-May 2016.Subjects: A total of twenty-seven mothers aged 23-33 years, who had one child under 3 years of age and had experience of breast-feeding in public places.Results: Seven themes emerged from the interviews: struggling to balance infant's needs and personal feelings; embarrassed or natural emotion regarding breast-feeding in public places; effect of cultural and social norms; internalized concerns going beyond actual social reaction; measures to make breast-feeding in public places easier; desire for more public facilities; and expecting emotional support from society members.Conclusions: More positive social support, favourable policies and necessary facilities were desired to enable mothers to breast-feed in an appropriate public location. Women expected increased public acceptance of breast-feeding practices and support from government health officials to ensure women's success in breast-feeding in public settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]