Study On Existing Buildings Energy Saving Reconstruction In Germany-from The Perspective Of Economics

With sustainable development are increasingly becoming the economic development goal ofcountries all over the world, low-carbon economy, circular economy has become an importantissue of the world’s major economics. Environmental protection gradually becomes the mostimportant factor to be considered in socioeconomic development instead of economic growth. Inthe process of transformation from the mode of extensional high GDP growth to the connotativesustainable and environmental friendly development mode, China’s economic development willinevitably face many challenges. How to break the bottle neck of energy and resourcedevelopment is a major challenge, and energy conservation is one of the key coping strategies.Building energy conservation, industrial energy conservation and transport energy conservationjointly constitute the three major field of energy efficiency. Among them, building conservation isa key part of China’s building of lower-carbon economy, completion of energy saving andemission reduction objective and maintaining sustainable economic development.The EU building energy efficiency has been the leader in global context whether in terms ofscience and technology, management mode or market training and operation. Germany is theleader and major rule and criteria constitutor of EU’s building energy conservation. Through thestudy of existing Germany energy-saving renovation, this paper has made comprehensive andin-depth analysis of its building energy efficiency from the perspective of economics. It analyzedthe management structure, market composition and financing mechanism of German buildingenergy conservation and drew the conclusions that German building energy conservation hadinspiring significance on China’s establishment of building energy efficiency service model andthe corresponding market development via Sino-German collaboration demonstration projects.This paper consists of nine chapters, with the main contents are as follows: The first chapter is the introduction. It describes the theoretical and practical significance ofthe topics, content, chapter structure, introduces the paper’s research ideas and methods, andcombs the existing building energy saving reconstruction and contract energy management.According to the characteristics of the current research results, it identified the research prioritiesof this paper. Finally, it concludes the innovation of the paper and points out the inadequacies mayexist in the study.Chapter two is the overview of the German existing building energy saving reconstruction.This chapter is a general analysis of the related content of existing building energy savingreconstruction. Building energy efficiency refers to that in the process of building design,construction, installation and use, thermal insulation measures are taken for the building enclosure,energy-efficient energy system, renewable energy system and maintenance selected in accordanceto the building energy-saving national, industry and local standards. The existing building energysaving reconstruction refers to the activities of implementing energy-saving transformation ofexisting building envelope, heating system, heating and cooling system, lighting equipment andwater supply facilities in consistent with mandatory energy of civil building energy efficiency.However, the main mode of existing building energy saving reconstruction is contract energymanagement mode, and its nature is to compensate the funding invested in the early reconstructionby economic benefits brought by energy conservation. The reconstruction involves manystakeholders and is needed to be considered from a global perspective. Because benefit-sharingmode is the most common mode in contract energy management, the economic analysis can bemade from the perspective of total social welfare.Chapter three is the related theoretical analysis of building energy efficiency. Building energyefficiency service work is the implementation of existing building energy saving reconstructionproject, which is featured by significant positive externalities, and has certain attributes andcharacteristics of public goods. It determines that in the condition of completely free competitionmarket conditions, the providing of such service will have effective supply shortage. However, forbuilding energy efficiency work of developed countries such as Germany, in addition to thesupport of advanced science and technology as well as modern management system, highlymature and complete building energy efficiency service market is an important factor to thesuccess. Thus, the in-depth analysis of building energy efficiency needs to use the external theories such as building entire life-cycle management theory, institutional economics, classicmicroeconomics theory of asymmetric information, for in-depth discussion and analysis of theeconomic behavior.Chapter four is the development course of German existing building energy savingreconstruction. Combined with Germany’s historical reasons and background, and evolvingGerman building energy conservation regulations, the existing building energy savingreconstruction has roughly gone through three stages: exploration phase (1973-1982), promotionand development phase (1982-2006), steady implementation phase (2006till present). A seriousbuilding energy conservation insulation regulations and building energy efficiency regulationsfrom energy conservation to building energy conservation; building energy-consumption indexescontinue to reduce, from single indicator control, overall energy consumption restriction to thecontrol of primary energy amount indicator; from passive house development to zero energyconsumption, capacity house; vigorously develop renewable energy sources. The implementationof each step is inseparable from government support. At the same time of continuous improvementof people’s awareness of energy conservation, the development of German existing buildingenergy saving reconstruction has been promoted by economic incentives via tax incentives,subsidies, loan interest and building energy efficiency fund.Chapter five is the institutional framework of German existing building energy efficiencyreconstruction. The German institutional framework concerning the existing building energyefficiency transformation is mainly the related laws and regulations, including the “BuildingEnergy Efficiency Law”,“Building Insulation Regulations”,“Building Energy EfficiencyRegulations”,“EU Building Energy Efficiency Standards” and so on. Other institution is theincentive policies such as fiscal policies, monetary policies and Technical support policies.Chapter six is the financing mode of German existing building energy-saving reconstruction.In the financing structure of energy efficiency reconstruction, the demand side (energyconsumption unit or energy saving unit) and the supply side (energy saving service company orconstruction side) jointly constitute the most important subjects of financing. Meanwhile, in theimplementation and reconstruction process of specific projects, the parties involved mainlyinclude government organizations, energy consumption units, policy banks and consulting firms.To ensure the smooth implementation of residential building energy conservation, Germany has established a set of strict organization and financing structure. In terms of specific financing mode,there are simply financing mode by the use of bank loans and the financing mode of contractenergy management project. In addition, it also includes the source of funding such as the specialsupport fund of contract management. DGNB is another important building energy conservationinstitution.Chapter seven is the risk management of German energy saving reconstruction of existingbuildings. The main destine of risk management is to plan and identify the possible risks relativeto the program. By reviewing and analyzing the possibility of the risk and the influence degree if itreally happens and monitoring the process of risk management， the potential risk could beminimized. The German government used the Energy Performance Contracting（EPC） to realizeenergy saving reconstruction of existing buildings， and the process is devided into five parts：Risk planning, risk identification, risk evaluation, risk control, risk monitoring.Chapter eight is the performance reviews and experience conclusion of Germany’s existingbuilding energy-saving reconstruction. The experience is mainly reflected in the following aspects:first, the residential environment has been improved; second, energy conservation has beenachieved; third, environmental protection has been realized in the economic development; fourth,through the demonstration plan of energy efficiency reconstruction, the socioeconomic benefitscan be diffused and produce sound demonstration effect and expand its positive economicexternalities.Chapter nine is the enlightenment brought by Germany’s existing building energy-savingreconstruction. By reviewing the development course of China’s existing building energy-savingreconstruction, this chapter sums up what we have achieved, pointed out the problems we face andproposes the recommendations for China’s practice in this regard, such as to improve buildingenergy efficiency law and regulation system, develop medium and long-term building energyefficiency objective, construct the building energy efficiency demonstration project suitable fordifferent climatic characteristics and promotion system, issue system operability incentives, playthe role of market regulation mechanism, promote government-leading, corporate-domination,resident participation and develop agency to build energy efficiency service industry, raise riskawareness, establish risk control system, develop rules and break the financing obstacles of energyefficiency companies, establish national building energy consumption assessment system and building energy-saving assessment and certification system, establish and improve managementinstitutions and strengthen energy regulation and other measures.