China cuts energy waste with greener buildings

[photopress:China_housing_to_go_green.jpg,full,alignright]China is launching a multibillion-dollar effort to cut pollution and soaring coal and oil demand by raising energy efficiency in apartments and office buildings.

Qiu Baoxing, a deputy construction minister, said at a news conference that authorities are tightening standards and threatening to revoke developers’ business licenses if they fail to comply.

The government has made enforcing environmental and energy standards a priority to clean up damage from its two-decade-old economic boom, and to reduce reliance on imported fuel. According to Qiu Baoxing, construction accounts for 27% of China’s total energy consumption — a figure that is increasing by about 1% a year as incomes rise and families buy bigger homes,
Source: Shanghai Daily News