Shaping the Energy Efficiency in New Buildings - Building Energy ...

consuming products (as well as doors and windows). The act only applies to products thatare imported or shipped between provinces. The act also authorizes the Government ofCanada to collect statistics on energy use and alternative energy (OEE, 2006, 2009).Currently, Canada has seven national building codes 20 , two of which, MNECB andMNECH, relate to building energy efficiency. The Canadian Commission on Buildingand Fire Codes, funded by code sales and the National Research Council, is responsiblefor developing and updating six of the model national codes.The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes prepared both MNECB andMNECH, and National Research Council first published them in 1997. National ResearchCouncil, Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Electricity Association, and theprovincial and territorial ministries of energy funded the research to develop the modelcode and the supporting software. MNECB and MNECH were heavily influenced byASHRAE 90.1-1989.In April 2008, National Research Council and Natural Resources Canada announced thatthey were joining forces to update MNECB. Natural Resources Canada is providingtechnical expertise and up to $5 million to support this initiative. National ResearchCouncil will publish the new energy code in 2011. The new code will complement thenext version of the model national construction codes, which are scheduled forpublication in 2010 (NRC, 2008).2.3 ChinaBuilding energy efficiency issues in China have drawn increasing attention from thegovernment since the mid-1980s, when China began its large-scale construction in urbanareas (Huang, 2008). China’s first Energy Conservation Law (released in 1997)addressed the importance of building energy codes in one of its 50 Articles. The revisedEnergy Conservation Law, released in 2007, has a separate Section 21 on ConstructionEnergy Conservation, which includes seven articles directly or indirectly related to buildenergy codes.The National Development and Reform Commission, the powerful administrative entityin charge of China’s macroeconomic policies and development, issued the China Mediumand Long-Term Energy Conservation Plan in 2004. The Plan revealed ambitious energyconservation targets for buildings in China: “During the Eleventh Five-year Plan period,new buildings should be strictly subject to the design standard of 50% energyconservation. Several major cities such as Beijing and Tianjin shall take a lead inimplementing the 65% energy-saving standard. Reform of heat supply system shall becarried out in a full scale. In China’s large and medium cities, a charge system based onthermal meter will be widely spread in district heating of residential and public buildings;20 The other building codes are the 1) National Building Code of Canada, 2) National Fire Code of Canada,3) National Plumbing Code of Canada, 4) National Farm Building Code, and 5) National Housing Codeand Illustrated Guide.21 The sections under Chapter III Rational Use of Energy Conservation include: Section 1 GeneralProvisions, Section 2 Industrial Energy Conservation, Section 3 Construction Energy Conservation, Section4 Transport Energy Conservation, Section 5 Energy Conservation by Public Institutions and Section 6Energy Conservation by Key Energy Consuming Entities.25