Current builders’ capacities to deliver zero energy buildings in China

© 2021 Hui MaoTo strengthen the global fight against climate change, China pledges to reach carbon neutrality by 2060. As one of the major energy consumption sectors in China, the building industry’s role in CO2 emission reductions is critical to the successful pursuit of the carbon neutrality goal. The concept of zero energy buildings (ZEBs) has gained increasing attention in China due to its effective efforts on energy saving and emission reduction. The objectives of this research are to understand the status quo of ZEB design and construction features in China, to investigate current builders’ capacities for delivering ZEBs in China, to explore the differences in design and construction capacities of conventional and ZEB builders in China and to assess the potentials of boosting Chinese builders' capacities for delivering ZEBs in the future. The research methods embrace several steps. Firstly, a literature review is provided to understand the status quo of ZEB development in China. Secondly, a checklist was developed based on the literature review to assess builders’ capacities to deliver ZEBs in China. Thirdly, relationships between different checklist questions were analyzed using association rule in software SPSS modeler. Fourthly, builders were clustered using TwoStep Cluster Analysis in software SPSS modeler. The findings of this research suggest that most Chinese builders, even ZEB builders have insufficient ZEB design and construction knowledge. ZEB demonstration projects are mainly developed in cooperation with foreign professional institutions. Moreover, conventional builders are less competitive than ZEB builders in passive design capacity, energy efficient building design capacity, renewable energy generation capacity and research capacity, which are the key skills that conventional builders are supposed to improve. Furthermore, one-third of conventional builders have NZEBs or ULEBs production experience. They have acquired related ZEB delivery capacities and they are the most likely ZEB builders in the future