The assessment of building energy efficiency in China rural society: Developing a new theoretical construct

Since the reform and opening up policy was initiated in 1978, the rural economic level and residential living standard have been greatly improved. Chinaʹs rural building energy consumption has also rapidly increased. This research was designed to provide the overall context of energy efficiency in rural China and through evaluation demonstrates that current theory has significant gaps when compared to practice. Therefore, this paper presents a new theoretical framework to assist decision-makers. First, we analyzed the situation and the characteristics of building energy consumption in the countryside. During this situational analysis, we identified the challenges in rural building energy efficiency (RBEE) work. To promote the development of RBEE, the central and local governments have launched related policies, and some achievements have been made in RBEE. However, there are still some drawbacks in rural buildings, so based on the above analysis coupled with the low carbon framework, we re-assessed the development of RBEE. This allowed us to develop a new theoretical framework incorporating critical factors, such as development principles, building planning and design, construction, operation and the utilization of renewable energy. This new model could play an important practical role in directing policy-making and promoting the development of RBEE.