More and more Chinese consumers are beginning to think about their energy-saving needs when buying apartments. The energy-saving estate market is huge, which provides great opportunities for companies in the business, especially foreign investors.
　　But just how big is this market and how is it developing? Which fields in this industry are suitable for foreign businesses? With these questions in mind, Beijing Review spoke with Li Shuren, Vice Secretary General of the China Real Estate and Housing Research Association-Council of Human Settlements.
　　
　　Beijing Review: As a new industry, how do you estimate the capacity of China’s energy-saving estate market?
　　Li Shuren: China first started to promote energy-saving buildings in cold northern areas. In the last two years, the concept was spread to southern areas with hot summers and cold winters. I cannot give you the exact number of the present acreage and proportion of China’s energy-saving buildings, however, by the end of 2003, the area of such buildings in north China was 160 million square meters. Calculated at the minimal cost of 300 yuan ($37.5) per square meter for energy saving, the total investment amounted to 48 billion yuan ($6 billion). At the same time, the total areas of completed buildings across the country were 40 billion square meters. If we renovate all the buildings into energy-saving ones gradually, the market would be worth 12 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion).
　　Some people are not very optimistic about the popularization of energy-saving buildings. What do you think of the development trend of China’s energy-saving estate market?
　　Energy saving has been part of the national strategy for economic development, making the popularization of energy-saving buildings inevitable in China.
　　Though their energy-saving awareness is still weak, consumers are “awakened” quickly. Let me give you an example that I experienced myself. Several years ago, in Changzhou, a developed city in Jiangsu Province, a group of property owners collectively sued the construction department of the local government for its administration nonfeasance. Their accusation was that the houses they purchased didn’t adopt any energy-saving measures and wasted too much energy. In the end, the owners won and received some reparation from related parties. After that, energy-saving buildings became popular in local areas, which created a boon in related energy-saving products.
　　So I think this year is the real start for the energy-saving estate market to boom in China, and only until around the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will a remarkable expansion in the market be seen.
　　What is the situation of foreign investors wanting to enter China’s energy-saving estate market? What suggestions can you offer them?
　　In the past two or three years, most of the famous foreign companies in the energy-saving building industry have entered China. Their short-term benefits may not be good enough, as a lot of companies are only in the initial stages of promoting their products. But they attach great importance to the huge market potential of the whole country.
　　Now foreign capital is mainly channeled toward areas of air-conditioning systems, refrigeration and heating systems, ventilation systems and windowing systems (including manufacturing of glass, window frames and outdoor sunshine protection facilities). The peripheral equipment for the outer wall, like heat preservation, is mainly dominated by domestic products and technologies now, some of which have already reached world standards.
　　I think foreign companies aiming to enter the Chinese market can consider three fields for investment: planning of architectural environment (ecology), integrated optimization of energy-saving technologies, as well as trial application of new energy-saving technologies and products. Among them, the reason for investing in the first two fields is that those are weak points of domestic companies, while the reason for investing in the third one is that it is still a rising market, which means more opportunities for foreign companies.
　　You often call for the need to avoid building sub-standard buildings in the new upsurge of China’s energy-saving construction. Why is this a worry for you?
　　Tempted by profits, any market is likely to lose orders without strict criteria, leading to another extreme. The energy-saving estate market is no exception.
　　I have learnt that in order to occupy market share, a lot of immature technologies and products are thrown into the market, without having had necessary trials. In addition, because the current standards for energy-saving designs are still not very workable, some developers will resort to irregular means to have their constructions, using low-quality materials and ineffective technologies, pass government assessments. It is very harmful to the quality of energy-saving buildings, and directly results in sub-standard buildings.
　　What do you think the government should do in popularizing energy-saving buildings?
　　Besides formulating special laws and incentive policies as soon as possible, I think the government should intensify market regulation. Current disorders in the energy-saving estate market are closely related to some companies’ weak awareness of patent protection. So the government can build up a good environment of patent protection by supporting companies that have independent research and development capability. This is good for the development of the energy-saving building industry. As a nongovernmental organization, our council is trying to form a company alliance in the energy-saving building industry, through which we can bring together companies with independent research and development capability. This will block any infringements of the regulations and thus ensure a sound development of the market.

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