Low Carbon Urban Infrastructure Investment in Asian Cities

ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC INCENTIVE POLICIES... 51

3.3.4 Number of Design- and Operation-Stage Green Buildings

As noted in Sect. 3.1, two types of green building labels are awarded,
one at the design stage and the other at the operation stage. We com-
pare the number of labels awarded to further determine differences
between design- and operation-stage development conditions. By
January 2013, 742 green building labels had been awarded in China,
and the total green building area reached 75.81 million square meters.
The assessment results show that 694 green labels have been awarded
for the building design stage (two- and three-star labels with a total
area of 70.66 million square meters) and that only 48 green labels have
been awarded for the operation stage (two- and three-star labels with
a total area is 5.15 million square meters). Figure 3.5 shows the differ-
ence between the quantities of green labels allocated for the design and
operation stages. Figure 3.6 presents the green building area difference
for the two stages as well.
Clearly, design-stage green buildings are more plentiful and cover a larger
area than operation-stage green buildings. As noted in the introduction
of Sect. 3.1, 80 % of energy use in a building’s life cycle is affected by
the operation stage, and more economic and environmental benefits can

Fig. 3.4 Subsidy and incremental cost for green buildings in Shanghai and
Suzhou cities