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| China’s first Passive House office building now certified  The Passive House concept has reached yet another milestone in the growing market of China: The countries' first office building designed to this highly energy efficient standard has been certified in the city of Zhuozhou. The building owner and occupant is the company Hebei Xinhua Curtain Wall Co. Ltd., which will produce high-quality Passive House windows under license for the local construction industry. The actual energy consumption of the new company headquarters will be measured through monitoring. Even though the energy concept was closely coordinated with experts from Europe, the building was developed mainly by Chinese stakeholders, and through the use of local materials; this demonstrates how the Chinese industry has already successfully adapted itself to construction based on the Passive House Standard."The project in Zhuozhou is a good example of successful knowledge and expertise transfer. Experienced Passive House designers from Europe are in great demand in China. At the same time, when involved in local projects, they help to develop the necessary prerequisites", says Dr. Wolfgang Feist, Director of the Passive House Institute, who presented the building certificate personally during a visit at the end of June. "With the right expertise on the ground and with regionally available components, further impetus can and will be provided for the progress of Passive House in China." For the latest new build in the city of Zhuozhou near Beijing, constant support and on-site supervision by the Austrian structural physics firm Schöberl & Pöll GmbH was decisive in achieving the Passive House Standard. Together with the Passive House Institute, the company will now be responsible for a monitoring project, which has been commissioned by the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology. Local authorities will eagerly await the measurement results just as much, since the building was chosen by the Chinese government as a national pilot project for office buildings with Passive House certification. The ceremony for the certificate presentation was accordingly attended by high officials; in addition to representatives of Hebei Province and the Mayor of Zhuozhou, officers of the national Ministry for Housing (Mohurd) were also present among the guests. In March, the Passive House building had already been awarded an "Austrian Green Building Star", as Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Austrian Environment Minister Andrä Rupprechter were on a state visit – the award is intended to highlight Austrian quality in construction at the international level. Over a third of the total energy consumed in industrialised countries is used for the operation of buildings. This consumption can be reduced by some 90 percent using Passive House technology. No other country in the world is seeing more new construction currently than China. It is therefore of great relevance for global climate protection that the trend is moving towards greater sustainability and energy efficiency also in the Chinese construction sector. write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Construction News :: home page |