2020 Building Sector Coal Consumption Should Be Capped Below 25% of Total Energy Consumption

2017-08-02

 

At the beginning of 2017, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development published the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for Energy-saving Buildings and Green Building Development", which sets forth concrete and clear goals for green and energy-saving building developments to accelerate the upgrading of building energy efficiency standards, advance the development of green buildings, bring about energy-saving improvements in China's construction industry, and continue to decrease the share of coal in the total energy consumption of the building industry. On August 2, 2017, Beijing Jiaotong University's China Coal Cap research group released its newest research report, "Coal Cap Targets and Implementation Plan for the Building Sector in the 13th Five-Year Plan Period." The report recommends that by 2020, residential building energy consumption in China should be capped at 950 million tons of standard coal equivalent (commercial energy use + off-grid energy use), with coal consumption in the building sector capped at 230 million tons of standard coal equivalent, bringing the share of coal down to 25% of total energy consumption in the building sector. Central heating access should expand to 70% in heavily polluted regions. Total residential building space should be capped at 74 billion square meters. The report gives specific policy recommendations to achieve these coal cap targets. 

×