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.

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.

Energy-Related Services as a Business:Eco-Transformation Logic to Support the Low-Carbon Transition

The transition to low-carbon development has been recognized as one of the most important directions for the transformation of national economies in most countries.Today we can identify two of the most common service-oriented logical models of this transition.These are models of Service-Dominant Logic and Product-Service Systems that are used in this study to create a service-oriented platformfor stimulating business development in the field of energy-related(ER)services.The establishment of such a platform is being considered based on the conceptual provisions of the global business ecosystem.Such a platform has been found to be a powerful tool for systemic coordinated cooperation between actors in the ER-services market and the relevant actors in the energy sector as well as in other industrial markets,unleashing the benefits of synergies,resulting from such cooperation.The logical models of attracting energy services companies to the creation of virtual communities(centers)for large-scale implementation of measures in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources are presented in detail.The advantages of the practical implementation of logicalmodels are confirmed by calculations performed onmathematicalmodel adapted for engineering use in the field of ER-services.

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.