Energy Performance Contracting—Business opportunities would be infinite if the “two obstacles” were cracked

Energy Performance Contracting was introduced into China in the mid 1990s. Since western energy service companies came to China, their management pattern has undergone major changes. Why did such changes occur? Mainly because these companies encountered two difficulties in China: tax and financing.

RISK FRAMEWORK FOR ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING BUILDING RETROFITS

Energy performance contracting(EPC)has emerged as a useful project financ-ing and delivery tool for building retrofits,particularly among building owner-ships which have experienced reduced funding for capital projects.Through EPC,a contractor(called the EPC contractor or the energy service company)guaran-tees minimum energy savings performance and enables the building owner to finance the project using utility savings over the length of the project(which is typically 12-15 years,or longer).Despite its growing use,there is a dearth of lit-erature regarding a contractor’s risks related to the delivery and execution of EPC building retrofits.This is particularly important as the performance guarantee effec-tively transfers project performance risk from the owner to the EPC contractor.This research proposes a project factors-based risk framework for EPC building retrofits,initially developed through a comprehensive review of relevant literature and project documents and refined through the elicited expertise of 19 highly expe-rienced EPC contracting professionals.A Delphi technique-based expertise elici-tation strategy was used to confirm the findings of the a priori(literature-based)framework and provide additional analysis related to risk causes and control mea-sures as well as relative risk importance.This information was used to construct a refined risk framework which provides insight into the lengthy project performance period during the earliest phases of the project’s life cycle.This has the advantage of providing rapid screening of the project factors that can potentially lead to the greatest project performance risks.

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE BUILDING ENERGY EFFICENCY RETROFIT USING THE ENERGY PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING(EPC)IN CHINA

Sustainable building has become a future development trend in the building sector.Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit(BEER)provides excellent opportunities to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings,and to promote environmental protection,the rational use of resources,occupants’health,all of which helps to improve the sustainability of existing buildings.Energy Performance Contracting(EPC)provided by Energy Service Companies(ESCOs)is a market mechanism to provide financial and technological support for energy efficiency projects.This paper aims to develop a sustainability promotion framework for BEER projects under the EPC mechanism to link the sustainable performance of BEER with the success factors of this EPC mechanism.Different types of building have different energy consumption characteristics.This research focuses on hotel buildings in China.The paper develops a framework for sustainable BEER through an EPC mechanism in hotel buildings based on the EFQM Excellence Model for business quality management.Interviews were conducted with experts from the hotel industry,from energy service companies and with academics.Based on the developed framework,the study has identified 11 performance indicators for sustainable BEER and 28 success factors of an EPC mechanism.This provides significant groundwork for future study in developing an assessment model to evaluate the sustainability of BEER projects.

Global trends and development of energy services industry in China

Energy service is an effective way to promote energy conservation by market mechanisms,including energy saving services,energy procurement,supply of many varieties of energy,supply of renewable energy technologies,energy-related consulting services,risk management,etc.China is a major energy consumer but energy is in short supply,and the efficiency of energy use is low.China's energy service industry has expanded rapidly,in terms of both the number of new Energy Service Companies entering the market and amount of capital invested in Energy Performance Contracting projects,but the energy service sector in China is still at an early stage of development.Developed countries began early in developing the energy service sector and their energy service market is mature,and the experience of developed countries shows that energy services play a significant role in advancing energy saving and emission reduction.Under the new situation,China needs combine energy services experience of developed countries,and take following measures to accelerate China's energy services rapid and healthy development,including the long-term aspects of policy planning,energy-saving core technology,finance and capital investment,public sector reductions,personnel training,and so on.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN IN PROJECT DELIVERY:A DISCUSSION ON CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS

Sustainability principles have become an integral part of the design and construc-tion process for many new construction projects. The selection of the project delivery method (PDM) is extremely important in the effective execution of the project, and plays a critical role in establishing communication and coordination between the key entities: owner, architect, and contractor. The goal of this paper is to hopefully serve as a starting point for further discussion to improve on the AEC industry’s current integration of sustainability principles in PDMs. The first step consists of an assessment of current project delivery systems from a sustainable design perspective. This is followed by a determination of the current limitations, and examination of the various disrup-tions in the industry. Various literature sources are analyzed to form a framework to discuss improvements and optimization strategies beyond the current system. Thereafter, proposed solutions are introduced at both stakeholders, as well as PDM scales. In this paper, the focus for the conducted analysis and proposed method-ologies is predicated on new construction projects instead of retrofits due to the resources available. However, the principles can similarly be applied to retro-fit scenarios as well, depending on the specific requirements of the individual project at play.

Achieving energy efficiency in government buildings through mandatory policy and program enforcement

Government buildings are responsible for a significant proportion of energy consumption worldwide,for example, in Australia, up to 41.5 PJ energy was consumed by government buildings in 2011–2012. While the newly constructed buildings may be energy efficient,the existing buildings, which account for more than 85% of the total building stock, were built prior to the time when energy rating systems was put in practice and are consequently energy inefficient to a large degree. Reducing the energy consumption in existing government buildings is essential, as it will not only reduce the costs and environmental impacts, but also show governments' strong commitment towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emission. Furthermore, successful building energy retrofit projects are the showcases to the general public, encouraging other sectors(e.g. commercial) to conduct building retrofits for energy savings. Recognising these benefits,several state governments in Australia have introduced building energy efficiency policies and programs. This paper reviewed the energy efficiency policies/programs in five States in Australia: Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and Queensland in terms of respective policies and targets, implementation methods and current progress. The lessons learned from these programs were also discussed. This research revealed that the key factors for a successful government buildingenergy retrofitting program are 1) having a properly enforced energy efficiency mandate with clear energy saving targets, 2) establishing an expert facilitation team and 3) implementing suitable financing and procurement methods.