Showcasing Energy-Efficient Solutions for Buildings through New Sino-Danish Project

5 March 2014

China’s Ministry for Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Danish Energy Agency as the implementing government body of the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building have launched discussions with the goal of establishing a Sino-Danish retrofit demonstration project in China to showcase state of the art solutions within energy efficiency. The demonstration project will reflect the 'Nordic Built' principles of sustainable building developed under the auspices of the Nordic governments in the Nordic Minister Council.

Project background

This project is a key part of the cooperation agreement between China’s Ministry for Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building, which was signed in June 2012 and implemented through specific annual working programs. The aim is to be able to sign a project agreement in mid-2014 and initiate the first phase of the project later in 2014.The project finds inspiration in the 10 'Nordic Built' sustainability principles. These principles are a vision for how to enhance and accelerate the development of sustainable building concepts.

Buildings – a key to sustainable and energy-efficient urbanisation

Buildings consume approximately 20 % of the total energy in China and up to 40% of total final energy consumption in OECD countries. For this reason, buildings are a key element in low carbon urban development. Since buildings also have long lifespans, typically more than 20 years, they have the potential to lock-in a high energy use for decades to come if constructed for high energy use today. High energy use in buildings is therefore a major stumbling block for achieving low carbon urbanization. The existing building stock represents a particular challenge as it has already locked-in a potentially high energy use. This calls for new solutions, technically and financially.

- Find Danish solutions in Energy Efficiency

Against this backdrop, the starting point for the Sino-Danish retrofit demonstration project will be the 10 “Nordic Built” sustainability principles. Nordic Built is a recent pan-Nordic initiative, including countries such as Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Denmark, initiated by the Nordic Minister Council for Trade and Industry designed to accelerate the development of sustainable building concepts.

10 Nordic Built Principles

Nordic Built comprises the following 10 principles to guide the achievement of sustainable and livable buildings in the best Nordic design tradition:

Made for people and promotes quality of life
Pushes the limits of sustainable performance, as a result of our innovative mind-set and high level of knowledge.
Merges urban living with the qualities of nature
Achieves zero emissions over its lifecycle (at least a 50 % reduction in energy use in retrofitting projects)
Is functional, smart and aesthetically appealing building on the best of the Nordic design tradition
Is robust, durable, flexible and timeless - built to last (reducing environmental impact through a total lifecycle approach)
Utilizes local resources and is adapted to local conditions (reusing materials when retrofitting, strives to achieve zero waste)
Is produced and maintained through partnerships founded on transparent collaboration across borders and disciplines
Employs in concepts that are scalable and used globally
Profits people, business and the environment

In sum, Nordic Built seeks to combine key Nordic strengths with the aim of implementing concrete projects that demonstrate world-class scalable solutions in the Nordic design tradition made for people and promotes quality of life. There are ongoing discussions to further develop the concept to a holistic approach to urban development under the name of Nordic Built City.

- Read the charter (in Chinese)

- Learn more about Nordic Built

Source: The Danish Energy Agency

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