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)