National Government Offices AdministrationNational Development and Reform Commission

June 28, 2016

13th Five-Year Plan for Energy and Resource Conservation in Public Institutions

Formulated in accordance with the Energy Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China, the Outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on Practicing Frugality and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs, the Regulations on Energy Conservation in Public Institutions and relevant policies and regulations, this Plan is developed to further advance energy and resource conservation in public institutions and boost ecological civilization development during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It is hereby issued for earnest implementation in light of local and departmental realities.

I. Work Review and Situational Analysis

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, all regions and departments conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. Guided by ecological civilization development, centered on building conservation-oriented public institutions, and targeted at reducing energy and resource consumption and improving utilization efficiency, solid progress was made in promoting the economical and intensive utilization of energy and resources in public institutions, fully accomplishing the goals and tasks set for the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

(I) Major Achievements

Slower growth in total energy and resource consumption. In 2015, there were approximately 1.7552 million public institutions nationwide, with a total energy consumption of 183 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 4.26% of the country’s total energy consumption, and a total water consumption of 12.531 billion cubic meters, making up 16% of the national urban water consumption. Compared with the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the average annual growth rates of total energy and water consumption during the 12th Five-Year Plan period dropped by 1.43 and 1.58 percentage points respectively.

Optimized energy consumption structure. In 2015, the energy consumption structure of public institutions consisted of 45.37% electricity, 30.86% raw coal and 23.77% other energy sources. Compared with 2010, the proportion of electricity rose by 11.07 percentage points, while that of raw coal fell by 17.16 percentage points.

Constantly improved energy and resource utilization efficiency. In 2015, the per capita comprehensive energy consumption of national public institutions stood at 370.73 kilograms of standard coal per person, the energy consumption per unit building area reached 20.55 kilograms of standard coal per square meter, and the per capita water consumption was 25.35 cubic meters per person. Compared with 2010, the per capita comprehensive energy consumption, energy consumption per unit building area and per capita water consumption decreased by 17.14%, 13.88% and 17.84% respectively.

(II) Work Progress

Improved organizational management. The functions of provincial-level public institution energy conservation authorities were strengthened. Energy conservation management institutions for public institutions were established in most prefecture-level cities and some county-level districts. Communication and coordination between public institution energy conservation authorities and competent departments of development and reform, finance, housing and urban-rural development, ecological environment and water resources became increasingly smooth, with closer collaboration with industry competent departments covering education, science, culture, health and sports. A sound working mechanism featuring vertical linkage and horizontal coordination was basically formed for energy conservation advancement.

Refined institutional standards. At the national level, systems covering energy and resource consumption statistics, energy audit, supervision and assessment were formulated and revised, together with evaluation standards for measuring instrument configuration, energy-saving renovation of office buildings, demonstration unit assessment, and the development of conservation-oriented government organs, schools and hospitals. All localities formulated tailored energy conservation management systems and evaluation standards for energy consumption quota and water-saving unit development based on local conditions, enhancing the legalization and standardization of energy conservation work.

Standardized measurement and statistics. Continuous efforts were made to advance energy and resource consumption statistics. A directory database covering 850,000 public institutions was established, and the number of institutions participating in energy and resource consumption statistics increased from 486,000 in 2010 to nearly 750,000 in 2015. Remarkable progress was achieved in energy consumption statistics for universities directly under central ministries and hospitals affiliated with the National Health Commission. All regions actively promoted the informatization of statistical work and the construction of energy consumption monitoring systems, steadily improving the quality of statistical data, statistical analysis capacity and the informatization level of statistical work year by year.

Strengthened supervision and assessment. People’s governments at all levels incorporated public institution energy conservation into the energy conservation target responsibility assessment for lower-level governments. Local assessment work was further intensified, and regulatory tools including energy conservation law enforcement and supervision were strengthened. Some regions included public institution energy conservation in the government performance appraisal system, commending and rewarding prefecture-level, county-level and institutional entities with outstanding performance.

Implemented key projects. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, focusing on buildings and their energy-using systems, auxiliary facilities, application of new and renewable energy, water conservation and comprehensive resource utilization, all regions invested over 8 billion yuan in fiscal funds, promoted advanced energy-saving technologies and products, and carried out key projects including green lighting, green data center development, heating metering and energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, zero standby energy consumption initiative, energy-saving and new energy official vehicles, and gas stove renovation, providing strong support for achieving energy conservation targets.

Carried out pilot demonstration initiatives. A total of 2,050 conservation-oriented public institution demonstration units were established. Multiple provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities launched provincial and prefecture-level demonstration unit development programs, playing a strong exemplary and leading role for public institutions at all levels and setting an example for national energy conservation and emission reduction. Water-saving unit development was vigorously promoted, with 30 provincial-level regions issuing relevant construction standards. A total of 1,380 provincial-level public institutions were certified as water-saving units, and all central state organs at the central level achieved water-saving certification. Pilot programs for waste commodity recycling system construction were launched in central state organs and 8 provincial-level regions.

Conducted publicity and training. The Energy Conservation Publicity Week, National Low-Carbon Day and China Water Week campaigns were regularly held. Extensive publicity and education on energy conservation laws, regulations and basic knowledge were carried out via television, newspapers, online platforms and WeChat, gradually enhancing the awareness of energy conservation, emission reduction and ecological and environmental protection among public institution staff. Through offline and distance training programs, all regions trained more than 1.9 million person-times of energy conservation administrators, effectively improving professional energy conservation management capabilities.

(III) Current Challenges

Notable achievements were made in energy and resource conservation in public institutions during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. However, due to disparities in regional economic and social development, climatic and environmental conditions, as well as the wide distribution, large quantity and varying basic conditions of public institutions, the development of energy and resource conservation work remains unbalanced and inconsistent across regions and institutional types. Problems such as inadequate alignment with economic and social development and environmental resource requirements, insufficient energy conservation management and supervision, and low energy and resource utilization efficiency persist to varying degrees. First, the energy conservation management system and mechanism need improvement. Some regions have imperfect energy conservation management systems and unsmooth coordination mechanisms between functional departments, with weak management capacity at municipal and county levels. Certain regions have not yet established fiscal support guarantee mechanisms. Second, market mechanisms are underutilized, with insufficient application of market-oriented models such as energy performance contracting (EPC) and public-private partnerships (PPP) in public institution energy conservation. Third, incentive and restraint mechanisms are incomplete. Public institutions lack internal motivation for energy conservation, management capacity needs further improvement, and staff initiative and enthusiasm for participation require enhancement.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, energy and resource constraints on economic and social development remain tight, the trend of ecological environment deterioration has not been fundamentally reversed, and resource and environmental bottlenecks remain prominent. The Opinions on Accelerating Ecological Civilization Development issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council has clarified the direction for public institution energy and resource conservation. The national 13th Five-Year Plan’s deployment of comprehensive energy conservation, water-saving society development, circular economy promotion, climate change response and thrifty lifestyle advocacy has put forward new requirements for public institution energy conservation. The expansion of public services in education, medical care, science and technology, and culture has led to rigid growth in energy and resource consumption, bringing new challenges to energy conservation work in public institutions.

II. Overall Requirements and Major Targets for Energy Conservation Work During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

(I) Overall Requirements

Guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development, we will fully implement the spirits of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Third, Fourth and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important speeches. We will firmly establish and apply the new development philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development. Taking ecological civilization development as the overarching guideline and the development of resource-conserving public institutions as the main thread, we will take reform and innovation as the driving force to raise the efficiency of energy and resource utilization, advance the economical and circular use of energy and resources, foster a work and lifestyle featuring diligence, energy conservation, environmental protection, low carbon and civility, and give full play to the exemplary and leading role of public institutions.

(III) Development Philosophies

Adhere to Innovative Development

Innovation constitutes the fundamental driving force for advancing energy and resource conservation in public institutions. We will integrate innovation into all aspects and the entire process of relevant work, promote institutional, mechanism, methodological and technological innovation in energy conservation management, and continuously enhance the scientific and intelligent development of energy conservation work.

Adhere to Coordinated Development

Coordinated development is an inherent requirement for advancing energy and resource conservation in public institutions. We will properly coordinate the relations between energy conservation authorities and competent functional departments, balance energy and resource conservation with operational guarantee, and integrate exemplary guidance with comprehensive advancement. We will improve the coordination and collaboration mechanism to promote balanced energy conservation development among public institutions of different regions, types and administrative levels.

Adhere to Green Development

Green development represents the goal and vision of energy and resource conservation in public institutions. Energy and resource conservation is both an integral component of green development and a critical measure to boost its progress. Relevant initiatives will drive green production and green consumption in public institutions, so as to play a positive role in promoting green development across society.

Adhere to Open Development

Open development serves as an important approach to advancing energy and resource conservation in public institutions. The core of such work is to strengthen the internal impetus of public institutions and improve the efficiency of economical and intensive utilization of energy and resources. We will attach equal importance to self-improvement and external cooperation, introduce capital, technologies and talents in a coordinated manner, advance the disclosure of energy conservation information, and raise the socialized and professional level of energy and resource conservation in public institutions.

Adhere to Shared Development

Shared development embodies the value pursuit of energy and resource conservation in public institutions. Public institutions will give full play to their exemplary and leading role in energy conservation and emission reduction, foster a new social trend featuring universal responsibility, participation, contribution and shared benefits, and enable the public to share the fruits of energy conservation and emission reduction in the delivery of public services.

(IV) Basic Ideas

Advancing law-based management. We will strengthen the development of supporting systems for the Regulations on Practicing Frugality and Opposing Waste in Party and Government Organs and the Regulations on Energy Conservation in Public Institutions, and gradually form a scientific, standardized, strictly managed, fully covered and highly operable institutional system for energy and resource conservation. We will conduct energy conservation guidance, advancement, coordination, supervision, statistics, auditing, assessment and accountability in accordance with laws and regulations to ensure the full implementation of energy conservation laws and rules.

Optimizing market mechanisms. We will stimulate market demand for energy conservation services in public institutions, accelerate the promotion of models such as energy performance contracting (EPC) and government-social capital cooperation, and encourage and guide public institutions to introduce social capital for energy-saving renovation and energy management. In response to the socialization reform of logistics services in government institutions and public institutions, we will give full play to the role of property service enterprises in energy management and raise the professionalism of energy conservation management.

Implementing categorized management. We will set targeted and reasonable energy conservation targets in light of varying economic development levels, climatic conditions, and characteristics of different types and levels of public institutions across regions. We will strengthen research on energy and resource consumption baselines, gradually establish a hierarchical and categorized evaluation system for energy conservation targets, and promote the implementation of energy consumption quota management.

Highlighting key management. We will implement a dedicated management system for major energy-consuming entities, formulate hierarchical and categorized energy consumption standards, and establish a roster of major energy-consuming units. We will strengthen guidance and supervision over these entities, urge them to take the lead in implementing national energy conservation and emission reduction policies, and give full play to their exemplary and leading role.

III. Launching Green Initiatives

(I) Green Building Initiative

We will strictly implement energy conservation assessment and review for new buildings to improve the energy efficiency of newly constructed buildings. Energy conservation supervision will be strengthened throughout the construction process to ensure that new buildings of Party and government offices, schools, hospitals, museums, science and technology museums, gymnasiums and other public facilities fully comply with mandatory energy-saving building codes and green building standards. The construction of ultra-low energy consumption buildings will be encouraged. We will advance the green renovation of existing buildings, focusing on thermal insulation renovation of building envelopes, and carry out comprehensive upgrading covering energy conservation, environmental improvement and seismic reinforcement. Green building materials such as safe and efficient thermal insulation wall materials and energy-saving doors and windows will be promoted, with a total renovation area of 160 million square meters. We will conduct energy-saving renovation of key energy-consuming equipment including heating, air conditioning, power distribution, lighting and elevators, implement metering and energy-saving renovation of heating systems for public institutions in northern heating areas, and upgrade air conditioning and ventilation systems, completing 10 million square meters of energy-saving renovation. Demonstration projects for green renovation of existing office buildings will be carried out, and all large and medium-scale renovations of office buildings of central state organs will meet green building standards.

(II) Green Office Initiative

We will strictly enforce the mandatory procurement system for energy-saving and eco-friendly products and give priority to purchasing energy-efficient, water-saving and material-saving products. We will optimize the allocation of office furniture and equipment, revitalize existing assets and reduce idle waste. We will promote the disclosure of energy conservation information to facilitate green office development. Paperless and electronic office operations will be popularized to reduce the printing of paper documents and materials. Video and telephone conferences will be advocated to cut the use of disposable office supplies such as signature pens, paper cups, tableware and plastic bags, and eco-friendly recycled paper and recycled toner cartridges will be widely applied. The mandatory temperature standard for air conditioners will be strictly enforced, namely no lower than 26℃ in summer and no higher than 20℃ in winter. Active efforts will be made in the prevention and control of atmospheric, water and land pollution to build a green office environment.

(III) Green Travel Initiative

We will vigorously advocate the green and low-carbon travel model of “walking within 1 kilometer, cycling within 3 kilometers, and taking public transport for around 5 kilometers”, and promote the construction of public bicycle service stations in public institutions to facilitate staff’s adoption of the “1-3-5” green travel mode. We will lead the consumption and application of new energy vehicles. New and existing parking lots shall be equipped with charging facilities or reserved with installation conditions at a proportion of no less than 10%, while the proportion for central state organs and their affiliated public institutions in Beijing shall be no less than 30%. In large and medium-sized cities, self-service time-sharing rental and other business models will be encouraged, and social capital will be introduced to participate in charging pile construction and new energy vehicle service provision. The proportion of new energy vehicles in newly updated official vehicles will be gradually increased.

(IV) Green Canteen Initiative

We will promote the application of energy-saving and water-saving catering equipment and install high-efficiency energy-saving fume purification facilities to ensure up-to-standard fume emission. The resource utilization of kitchen waste will be advanced, and on-site kitchen waste resource disposal equipment will be installed in eligible public institutions. We will guide green food procurement, formulate evaluation standards for green canteens, strengthen refined canteen management, and carry out green canteen development activities. Special campaigns against food waste will be further implemented to help staff develop good habits of treasuring and saving grain.

(V) Green Information Initiative

We will strengthen energy conservation management of computer rooms and build a monitoring system for energy consumption and environmental measurement to monitor the operating status, power usage effectiveness (PUE) and environmental parameters of data center rooms, so as to improve the energy-saving management level of data centers. We will carry out pilot construction of green data centers and implement energy-saving renovation, achieving an average energy consumption reduction of over 8% and an average PUE below 1.5 after renovation. A 5,000-square-meter green data center renovation project will be implemented for central state organs. Public institutions will increase the procurement of cloud computing services and promote the application of cloud computing technology to renovate and integrate existing e-government information systems, realizing interconnection and resource sharing of data and information networks and reducing resource waste.

(VI) Green Culture Initiative

We will strengthen publicity and guidance on energy and resource conservation and ecological civilization development, and carry out thematic activities including the Energy Conservation Publicity Week, National Low-Carbon Day and China Water Week. We will popularize laws, regulations and scientific knowledge on ecological civilization, foster ecological civilization awareness and ethics. Public institutions are encouraged to calculate personal carbon footprints in work and daily life, reduce the environmental impact of personal activities, and practice low-carbon and eco-friendly lifestyles.     

IV. Implementation of Energy Conservation Projects

(I) Comprehensive Energy Conservation and Environmental Improvement Project for Coal-fired Boilers

We will accelerate the rectification of small coal-fired boilers. Public institutions in built-up areas of prefecture-level and above cities will basically phase out coal-fired boilers with a capacity below 10 tons per hour, and the construction of new coal-fired boilers below 20 tons per hour will be prohibited. Decentralized small coal-fired boilers will be phased out, and public institutions covered by urban heating pipe networks will be incorporated into urban central heating systems. In eligible regions, distributed gas-fired units will be promoted to replace coal-fired boilers in public institutions. For coal-fired boilers not included in rectification plans, pilot energy-saving technological renovations will be carried out, including combustion optimization, automatic control, low-temperature flue gas waste heat recovery, solar preheating and condensate recycling, covering a total of 5,000 tons-per-hour boiler capacity. We will advance standardized management of the safety, energy conservation and environmental protection of boiler systems, establish boiler energy management systems, and strengthen online energy-saving and environmental protection monitoring and diagnosis. Central state organs will complete comprehensive energy-saving and environmental upgrading of coal-fired boilers with a total capacity of 1,000 tons per hour.

(II) Renewable Energy Application Project

We will expand the application of renewable energy such as solar photovoltaic and solar thermal power, and advance the construction of Internet-plus distributed energy stations. Heat pump technologies will be popularized, and demonstration projects of ground-source, water-source and air-source heat pumps will be launched in qualified public institutions to increase the proportion of renewable energy in total energy consumption and optimize the energy consumption structure. A long-term mechanism for resource recycling will be established to promote the comprehensive recycling of waste electronic products and office supplies. We will strengthen the classified collection of waste commodities and domestic garbage, and promote the application of intelligent automatic recycling machines, achieving a resource recycling rate of over 80%.

(III) Land and Water Conservation Project

We will strictly implement laws, regulations and policies on land planning and utilization, promote economical and intensive land use, and rationally develop and utilize above-ground and underground space resources. The strictest water resource management system will be fully enforced. Water resource utilization demonstration will be conducted strictly for construction projects, adhering to the principle of simultaneous design, construction and commissioning of water-saving facilities and main projects. We will scale up the development of water-saving institutions and benchmark water-saving institutions, ensuring all provincial-level government organs, more than 50% of provincial public institutions, and all Beijing-based public institutions affiliated with central state organs achieve water-saving certification. New water-saving technologies, processes and products will be promoted, and water-saving renovations via water-saving performance contracting will be encouraged to raise the penetration rate of water-saving appliances. We will improve water metering equipment to realize household and itemized water metering on a full scale, and promote metered water charging in institutions of higher education and public hospitals. Efforts will be made to advance water resource recycling, install reclaimed water utilization facilities and develop rainwater collection and utilization systems.

(IV) Basic Project for Energy-Saving Metering and Statistical Monitoring

In accordance with the principles of measurable, monitorable and assessable energy and resource consumption, we will standardize the deployment of metering equipment in public institutions, achieving a 100% deployment rate of zonal metering devices for administrative, business, logistics and other functional areas, and a 100% deployment rate of itemized metering devices for key energy-consuming systems and sites including central air conditioning, independent canteens, public bathrooms and natatoriums. We will accelerate the construction of energy conservation supervision systems for major energy-consuming units to improve the intelligent level of energy management. We will conduct joint reviews and special inspections of statistical data to continuously improve data quality, promote data sharing and in-depth statistical analysis, advance the informatization of energy and resource consumption statistics in public institutions, and enhance overall statistical efficiency.

(V) Pilot and Demonstration Project

We will carry out the development of conservation-oriented public institution demonstration units, building 3,000 national-level demonstration units. Provincial and prefecture-level demonstration unit development will be promoted to realize the goal of “demonstration coverage in every county”. We will build an information management system for demonstration units to support dynamic management, energy-saving effect review and experience exchange. A public institution energy efficiency leader system will be implemented with a standardized evaluation framework, and 200 energy efficiency leader institutions will be selected. We will scale up energy performance contracting and water-saving performance contracting, completing 600 demonstration projects. Efforts will be made to build conservation-oriented office zones, with all office zones of central state organs achieving conservation-oriented standards.

(VI) Management Capacity Improvement Project

We will improve the professional training mechanism for energy conservation management and build a multi-level, integrated training system featuring vertical linkage and horizontal coordination. Cooperation with universities, research institutes and energy-saving service enterprises will be deepened to improve the quality of offline and online training. Full coverage of offline training will be achieved for energy conservation management principals of central state organs, provincial and prefecture-level authorities. Offline training coverage will reach over 80% for conservation-oriented public institution demonstration units and major energy-consuming units. We will complete more than 1 million person-times of offline energy-saving training and over 50,000 person-times of remote training, so as to comprehensively improve the professional competence of energy conservation management personnel at all levels and across all types of public institutions.

V. Improvement of Safeguard Measures

(I) Strengthening Organizational Leadership

All regions and departments shall strengthen overall planning and organizational leadership for energy and resource conservation work, further clarify targeted tasks and supporting measures in light of local conditions, and decompose and implement relevant requirements into annual plans at all levels. Energy conservation management departments at all levels shall fully perform their duties, enhance guidance, coordination, administration and supervision, and improve the collaborative advancement mechanism involving government offices administration, development and reform, education, industry and information technology, finance, ecological environment, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, commerce, health and family planning, energy and other competent departments. A well-structured coordination mechanism featuring vertical linkage, horizontal collaboration, effective implementation and efficient operation shall be established. New situations and problems shall be studied and addressed in a timely manner, advanced experiences shall be popularized, and work responsibilities shall be implemented level by level with solid results delivered at all levels.

(II) Improving Institutional Standards

We will advance the development of energy management systems, improve supporting institutions and standards covering metering and statistics, energy audit, supervision and assessment, and carbon emission reduction, and build a scientific, standardized, strictly managed, fully covered and unified regulatory system. Expenses paid by public institutions to energy-saving service companies under energy performance contracting renovation agreements shall be treated and recorded as energy costs. In accordance with the energy and resource consumption characteristics of public institutions in different regions and of different types, we will optimize categorized evaluation standards for conservation-oriented public institutions and formulate evaluation criteria for public institution energy efficiency leaders. Efforts will be made to establish energy and resource consumption baselines and energy consumption quota standards to strengthen the control of energy consumption intensity.

(III) Enhancing Supervision and Assessment

Energy conservation work of public institutions shall be incorporated into government performance appraisal and energy conservation assessment for lower-level governments. We will establish and improve the target responsibility system for energy and resource conservation, conduct annual assessment, and implement reward and punishment mechanisms. Energy conservation inspection and law enforcement will be strengthened. A sound system for the notification and disclosure of energy and resource consumption information will be established. Energy audits will be carried out for public institutions and centralized office zones with an annual energy consumption of over 500 tons of standard coal, an annual electricity consumption of over 2 million kilowatt-hours, or a building area of over 10,000 square meters.

(IV) Ensuring Fund Support

We will leverage the guiding role of fiscal, taxation and financial policies, strengthen the management of budgetary funds for energy conservation, and further improve the fund guarantee mechanism for energy-saving work. Social capital will be encouraged and guided to participate in energy and resource conservation in public institutions. Market mechanisms will be leveraged to promote government-social capital cooperation and scale up the application of energy performance contracting and water-saving performance contracting models.

(V) Reinforcing Technical Support

We will build a technical support system relying on universities and scientific research institutions to carry out integrated demonstration of key energy-saving technologies. The mechanism for the selection, appraisal, promotion and application of energy-saving and water-saving technologies and products will be optimized. In-depth integration of Internet and Internet of Things technologies with traditional energy conservation and environmental protection technologies will be advanced to improve the informatization, intelligent and scientific level of energy and resource conservation work.