Near-zero Energy Building Project in Hangzhou


Rendering of the future community (People's Government of Hangzhou 2022)

Yunfan Future Community will be the first construction project in Hangzhou to comply with the 'Near Zero Energy' standard. In 2019, the Hangzhou People's Government introduced the concept of "Future Community", and as the first new project under this concept, the construction of Yunfan Future Community started in 2021 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023. The project adopts a series of innovative energy-saving technologies and is expected to achieve a comprehensive energy-saving rate of 76.93% and a renewable energy utilisation rate of 74.3% through both active and passive methods (People's Government of Hangzhou 2022).

The project plays an important role in the sustainable development of Hangzhou and the achievement of the net zero emissions target. Firstly, it has a guiding function. As a new community led by the government, the Yunfan Future Community will provide a model for subsequent urban community construction and provide a basis for comparison and evaluation of future residential and living construction projects for the government and citizens.

Secondly, if the project succeeds, it could hopefully inspire developers to replicate it spontaneously, which could facilitate the widespread application of high-quality, low-energy buildings in the city, and would be pleasing to the government and the community. However, this project has still not escaped the issue that is common in new community developments in China: cost. The application of several technologies and provision of high-quality community services means that developers need to pay higher costs to start with, which they will transfer to consumers because of risk and profitability, yet most residents in the city cannot afford to pay for housing at this level, which could frustrate the Yunfan Future Community and subsequent projects of this kind.

Therefore, the direction of future community projects may be to reduce the cost of development and make such housing affordable to the majority of the population.

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