“Everyone is trying to get on the green ‘fast train’. Everything is ‘green’, but in reality it’s not always green.” The cautionary words of German urban planner Prof. Albert Speer, speaking recently in Shanghai, addressed the ongoing clean cities debate. “The results of ecological architecture must be about reduction of cost and energy. Nothing else.”

China’s energy efficiency challenges – as the world’s largest net importer of oil, and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases – are well documented. The search for solutions, however, is shadowed by a critical factor: rapid urbanisation.  At present, nearly half of the world’s new building construction is in China, and will be for at least the next ten years. Moreover, the majority of these new buildings are large, high energy-usage commercial developments and residential towers.

This ticking sustainability time clock is placed in a comparative, non-judgemental context, by a new report, entitled Building Energy Efficiency: Why Green Buildings are Key to Asia’s Future. Produced by the Asia Business Council, it’s a comprehensive study of 11 Asian economies that clarifies the energy-saving imperatives facing governments, businesses and individuals. Buildings, after all, account for nearly one-third of global energy use, and a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions.

The report presents both hard facts, projected statistics and analysis, as well as case studies of eco-friendly architecture across Asia. In China, these projects include the Agenda 21 Energy-Efficient Demonstration Office in Beijing, a joint development between the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and U.S. Department of Energy; the TaiGe Serviced Apartments in Shenzhen, the first LEED-certified commercial development in China; and the 303m-high Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, which uses solar and wind power to generate energy throughout its 69 floors.

But beyond these few successes, the economics of sustainability are overpowering – because the demand for energy is rising inexorably. “Governments are furiously building energy plants to meet surging demand from new buildings, and their often inefficient air-conditioning, windows and lighting,” the report notes. “China alone is building one or two new coal-fired plants every week to try to keep up with electricity needs.”

In this context, the report questions why “Surprisingly little attention has been paid to ensuring energy efficiency in buildings.” It is far more cost-effective to build energy efficiency into the design of a new building than to retrofit an existing one – and the required technologies are already proven “The impulse for building efficiency isn’t just about turning down the air-conditioning,” the report says. A recent World Bank study estimates that China and India could cut energy consumption in the building sector by 25 per cent, with cost-effective retrofitting of high-efficiency lighting, air conditioners, boilers and waste heat recovery systems.

The search for the ultimate green building continues, however. China has issued three new building standards since 2000, and has increased its energy-saving target for new buildings from 30 to 50 per cent (65 per cent in Beijing and Shanghai), compared to 1980s levels. Retrofitting targets are also in place to improve 25 per cent of the building stock.

The most widely used global standard for minimum impact buildings is also being applied in China. The Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) standard, devised by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council, benchmarks green buildings based on site sustainability, energy efficiency, materials and resource conservation and indoor environmental quality. As of 1 July, 884 projects in 24 countries were certified under the LEED Commercial Rating System, and 222 under the Homes Rating System – with thousands more in both categories awaiting approval. Shanghai’s first LEED-certified building was the InterfaceFLOR showroom at Raffles Plaza, which achieved the top-rated Gold Standard in December 2006.

The report candidly concludes that building green buildings and making old ones greener alone is not sufficient to solve the world’s environmental problems. Nor is it going to lead to energy independence or plummeting utility bills. “But it is one of the most important single areas on which we will see increased focus as the world struggles to adapt to climate change.” The green fast train is, it seems, gathering speed. But no-one is quite yet sure of its destination