In Shanghai, a Chinese man named Jin Liang who like most people watches his utility bills constantly in order to save money had faced a problem.  Due to the very humid and hot weather, he was forced to turn his air conditioner on to keep cool. However, the major issue was, he wasn’t sure if he should keep his air conditioner off to save energy and money or keep it on in order to stay cool and comfortable.  Later, Jin decided to move into a new apartment where his energy dilemma had disappeared.  His new apartment featured a new material that allowed him to turn off the air conditioner and still keep cool.  The apartment has thermal insulation which can help keep the apartment cool for hours after being turned off.  This way, you wouldn’t have to keep the air conditioner on constantly through out the day.  Jim’s energy bill had been cut by one-third, making him very happy with his new product.  

Just like Jin, there are many other people in China suffering from the same issue. Buildings in China will consume more energy than its largest industries such as iron, cement and steel.  Unfortunately for China, this issue will only get worse.  Two billion square meters of new buildings each year will be added there.  Generally, less than 80 percent of energy is being used by Chinese families which are less than what North Americans use. It’s being reported that Chinese are getting wealthier and are upgrading their homes with electric appliances to save energy.  Unfortunately though, if by 2020, Chinese do not improve there energy efficiency in buildings than the energy consumption will be one-fifth of the worlds total coal consumption.

The scary thing is that not only is this effecting China’s energy future but it affects Mother Nature as well.  The policymakers in China are advising the real estate workers to comply with energy codes.  Currently, they are trying to enforce greener materials in buildings but nobody really knows if things will get better here.  Each year, Beijing is sending delegations to every urban corner for random checks and aiming the corrupted officials and contractors.

In 2010, 95 percent of constructed buildings are energy efficient. This had been reported by Beijing, however they still have concerns as some of China’s energy efficiency regulators tend to ignore a segment that is home to half of the Chinese population.  The good news is that Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin are becoming technically prepared for the future.  The next thing they will work on is to issue a policy that will be tough enough to pressure the building owners to comply with these energy codes in order to save energy.