Queena K. Qian

Government measures needed to promote building energy efficiency (BEE) in China

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the major differences between the governments role in building energy efficiency (BEE) in China and three developed countries, and to further the understanding of market expectations of the most effective government measures to encourage BEE development in China.Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken was: establish a framework for a critical comparative study; compare and assess the BEE promotion measures available to governments in the USA, Canada, the UK and China; survey the BEE market expectations of building design professionals to better understand the favourable measures the Chinese Government could take to further promote BEE; and triangulate the findings of the comparative study and questionnaire survey to develop recommendations for BEE promotion in mainland China.Findings – Economic incentives are important for BEE promotion at the current stage, but they are lacking in China. Active government interventions, such as adjusting energy ...

Regulatory incentives for green buildings: gross floor area concessions

Incentive schemes formed by regulatory or administrative instruments are measures to promote green building (GB) and increase the motivation of developers to meet higher standards. The hidden costs to different stakeholders during the GB transaction are often ignored. Understanding these hidden transaction costs (TCs) helps appraise the costs and benefits of GB and policy effectiveness. The example of a gross floor area (GFA) concession scheme is used systematically to explore and understand the fundamental issues of TCs’ typology and chronology in the GB development process. The GFA concession scheme is a popular incentive due to its indirect compensation to developers by allowing additional floor area without expenditure by government to implement GBs. A TCs’ framework is used critically to review and evaluate the costs and benefits of the GFA concession scheme. Its particular implementation in both Hong Kong and Singapore is explored. Hong Kong is used as a case study, complemented with in-depth expert interviews on GFA concession in Hong Kong. The key contribution is to establish the parameters for estimating the optimum GFA bonus that could both motivate various stakeholders and minimize the negative impacts on the built environment in future.

Key performance indicators (KPI) for the sustainability of building energy efficiency retrofit (BEER) in hotel buildings in China

Purpose – Building energy efficiency retrofit (BEER) not only provides excellent opportunities to reduce overall energy consumption of buildings in a city but also encourages environmental protection, the rational use of resources, and occupants healthcare, which all contribute towards the sustainability of existing buildings. However, there is a lack of effective performance indicators to measure the sustainability of BEER projects. The aim of this paper is to formulate a list of key performance indicators (KPI) for the sustainability assessment of BEER in hotel buildings.Design/methodology/approach – First, a literature review and in‐depth interviews with industry experts and academic researchers were conducted, which filtered the performance indicators for assessing sustainability. Second, a questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from various groups of experts to analyze the significance of the selected performance indicators. Finally, a model based on fuzzy set theory was designed to iden...

Government's roles and measures needed in China for promoting Building Energy Efficiency (BEE)

Abstract This paper develops a framework to study the Chinese government’s roles in promoting Building Energy Efficiency (BEE). These roles are categorised into five aspects: strategic planner (SP), law & policy maker (PM), economic motivator (EM), fiscal hub (FH) and advocator (A). In terms of these five roles, an international comparative study on specific government BEE measures is performed between China and her developed counterparts; including the UK, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the US. The comparative results are buttressed with statistical analysis from a questionnaire survey undertaken with active building designers in China. To develop overall recommendations, triangulating strategy is used so that the questionnaire’s quantitative method adds to the primarily qualitative comparative study. The overall result shows economic incentives are important but currently lacking for BEE promotion in China. It also highlights that government active interventions, such as setting BEE as legal requirements, are necessary to create an economically viable and efficient situation for BEE promotion in China

Market expectations and policy deficiencies in the promotion of building energy efficiency in China

Purpose – Future energy consumption in Chinas building sector will have a considerable influence on both China and the worlds energy markets. Although the Chinese government has set out a series of policies to promote building energy efficiency (BEE), the BEE market share remains small. The paper aims to identify the key policy deficiencies that affect such promotion.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the defined roles played by the government, this paper traces the path that Chinas BEE policies have taken since the 1980s and highlights the key problems. To understand how the Chinese governments BEE policies meet the expectations of market stakeholders, the paper employs data from a questionnaire of building design professionals in the countrys major cities to identify the most favourable factors for and existing hurdles to the promotion of the BEE market.Findings – The Chinese government needs to exert greater effort towards overcoming the deficiencies in its roles as policy maker, fiscal hub an...

Framework for Low Carbon Precinct Design from a Zero Waste Approach

The consumption-driven society today produces an enormous amount of waste, which puts pressures on land, pollutes the environment and creates economic burden. ‘Zero waste’ concept, a whole system approach aiming to achieve no waste along the materials flow through society, hasbecome one of the most visionary concepts for tackling growing waste problems. System Dynamics (SD) approach is applied in the proposed framework for designing the waste management in a zero waste residential precinct. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is incorporated to supplement the SD framework to evaluate the total cost and benefit of waste and resources throughout the material flow chain. The authors proposed a list of parameters under the categories of process, technology and infrastructure, socio-economic and institutional, social- environment, to be tested in future case study of Bowden village, SA, Australia. The framework provides an inventory of leverage points that helps policy-makers design waste policies and allocate resources effectively, with minimum environmental impact and optimum social benefits. It also helps planning professionals and business stakeholders better understand the costs and benefits of different scenarios for achieving a zero waste residential precinct.

How Economic Situation Affect the Decisions on the Building Energy Efficiency(BEE) Development in Malaysia

This paper analyzes how the economic uncertainty affects the stakeholders’ decision-makings on Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) investment in Malaysia. It studies the underlying barriers that hinder the BEE market penetration. Interviews with 30 architects who have BEE working experience with developers in Malaysia were conducted to understand the uncertainties affecting the current situation and future prospects for BEE adoption from the aspects of economic uncertainty. The result shows that the government incentives are trustworthy and welcomed by the stakeholders. The good opportunity to improve the BEE market is during the economic transition stage. Malaysian has high confidence that government incentives will not be changed easily. The study also suggests possible policy solutions for overcoming the uncertainties to attain the large-scale energy-efficient building investment.

Transaction Costs (Tcs) Framework to Understand the Concerns of Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) Investment in Hong Kong

Factors, such as split incentive, information asymmetry, opportunistic behavior, ill-informed users, and institutional transitions, etc., incur different levels of Transaction costs (TCs) and affect the stakeholders’ willingness to take part in building energy efficiency (BEE). A better understanding of the nature and structure of TCs is essential to improve the market mechanisms for BEE investment. It covers three dimensions of TCs: specific investment, frequency and uncertainty. The paper provides a framework to understand BEE barriers in general and the TCs concerns of stakeholders in particular. In-depth interviews questions are designed to be conducted with the real estate representatives and architects, using a case of Hong Kong, where real estate developers are chosen to be the study object as they are the initiative and dominate force. The study focuses on how to smooth BEE transactions and lessen TCs involved. It indicates that TCs are the key factors impeding BEE market penetration, and will provide references to design a governance structure as well as to design policy packages to promote BEE.