Thermal design optimization and analysis on heating load of rural buildings in northern China

Wang, Weishu; Ge, Xuewen; Xiong, Hanlin

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/201913603018

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Few studies investigate rural building envelope energy efficiency. A few case studies calculate the energy-saving potential, costs, and benefits of building energy retrofits in China − (see Table S2 for a relevant literature review). For example, Cui et al found that retrofitting a typical rural house in Shandong to meet the current design standard can lead to a ∼70% efficiency improvement, yet they did not estimate the cost of such a retrofit nor did they evaluate the resulting change in GHG emissions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Improving Building Envelope Efficiency Lowers Costs and Emissions from Rural Residential Heating in China

Liu

Mauzerall

2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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In 2017, the Chinese government launched a clean heating campaign that replaced millions of rural coal stoves with various clean heaters. The clean heating program contributed to remarkable improvements in air quality. However, the benefits of reducing heating demand by improving building envelope efficiency were not sufficiently considered. This study provides a needed quantitative assessment of potential energy-savings, costs, greenhouse gas emission reductions, and adoption strategies for improving building envelope efficiency in Chinese rural residential buildings. We find that different strategies must be employed in existing and new buildings to achieve desired outcomes. For existing buildings, to encourage easy and beneficial building retrofits (e.g., air sealing, efficient windows), current fuel subsidies should be replaced with retrofit subsidies. Building retrofits can reduce the size and hence capital costs of new clean heaters. They can also reduce operating costs, hence reducing the likelihood of backsliding to coal. For new construction, whole-home insulation and heat pumps would best avoid carbon lock-in. These efficient technologies have high upfront costs but decrease heating costs and significantly reduce carbon emissions relative to current policies. Hence, subsidies and policies that encourage improvements in building envelopes as well as the uptake of clean and efficient heaters are critical.

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