Exclusive interview with Shu Jian, General Manager of Shanghai Landsea Human Habitat Architectural Technology Service Co., Ltd.

 

In recent years, green buildings have gained recognition and undeniably become the future development trend, but the current green building market has not shown its due vigorous posture. Shanghai Landsea Human Habitat Architectural Technology Service Co., Ltd. is a service provider for green real estate, and its General Manager Shu Jian has long focused on the green building field. In this interview, he provides us with an in-depth interpretation of the current problems in green building development and future directions.

 

Q: In recent years, to encourage the development of green buildings, the state has issued a series of policies on green buildings. What do you think of these policies?

 

Shu Jian: Personally, I believe that to encourage the development of green buildings, the state does not necessarily need to subsidize developers; it can subsidize homebuyers. If buyers of green buildings could get a mortgage rate reduction of one percentage point, or the state could subsidize 200 yuan per square meter, there would be market demand. As long as end customers are willing to buy, developers will be motivated to build green buildings, and the government can promote the healthy development of green buildings in China.

 

Q: Green buildings are energy-saving and environmentally friendly and are the future development trend, but currently they are not developing fast. What do you think are the main reasons?

 

Shu Jian: Actually, this issue should be considered together with the previous question. Green buildings are the future trend and have a very large market. But the problem now is that the government wants to actively promote the development of green buildings and has given many policies, and many enterprises are doing it as social responsibility, but the market mechanism for green buildings has not been activated. The fundamental reason is that developers do not get greater returns from it, while in fact enterprises can benefit from green buildings.

 

Q: Some developers say that the high cost of green buildings is the main obstacle to green real estate development. Do you agree?

 

Shu Jian: Green building is a broad concept; it does not mean that high price, high cost, and high technology are green. For example, Yan'an cave dwellings are warm in winter and cool in summer; this is a standard Chinese-style green building, and the cost is not high. Qiu Baoxing, Vice Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, published incremental cost data for green buildings based on 213 projects: the incremental cost for one-star residential buildings is 31 yuan/㎡, and for public buildings is 38 yuan/㎡; for two-star, it is 88 yuan/㎡ and 268 yuan/㎡ respectively; for the highest three-star, it is 196 yuan/㎡ and 494 yuan/㎡ respectively.

 

For green buildings, the larger incremental costs are in renewable energy utilization, such as ground source heat pump technology and photovoltaic power generation. However, from 2008 to now, the prices of equipment such as solar photovoltaics and ground source heat pumps have been declining, so the incremental cost of green buildings has also been on a downward trend. Therefore, building cost should refer to the cost of the entire building life cycle, not just construction cost. For end consumers: a green, energy-saving residence not only provides customers with a comfortable and healthy living environment, but the resulting incremental cost can be fully recovered through energy savings during the building's use. Therefore, from the perspective of full life cycle cost accounting, the cost of 'green buildings' is not necessarily higher than that of ordinary buildings, and may even be lower.

 

In addition, cost and benefit are indeed issues that every enterprise considers. But the cost of green buildings is a false proposition. If the cost cannot bring benefits to the enterprise, then it is pure cost, and the lower the better. If the cost can bring benefits to the enterprise, then it is not called cost; in economics, it is called 'investment'. So from the enterprise's perspective, the basis of all investment is ultimately to assess whether it will generate value in the future. If consumers can pay for it in the end, then it is worth doing.

 

Q: Given the current market situation, how do you think green buildings can be better developed?

 

Shu Jian: There is a common misunderstanding in the market now: everyone pays more attention to technology and national policy guidance, and few pay attention to end customers. Consumers care about what benefits living in a green building brings. If it is only from the perspective of national energy conservation and emission reduction, consumers are unwilling to spend thousands of yuan more per square meter. We need to let consumers know that green buildings improve the indoor environment, maintain fresh air, make it like spring all year round, and most importantly, have low usage costs because they use renewable energy.

 

Only with consumer recognition will enterprises develop more and more green buildings, and the commercial returns will grow. Policies cannot replace the market; only when enterprises find a profit model for green buildings can they develop.

 

Q: How to create more energy-efficient buildings is something all enterprises are actively exploring. You could be said to be a pioneer in the green building field. What good experience can you share with everyone in this regard?

 

Shu Jian: Landsea Group has a Grade A design institute, which has a dedicated design team using the best simulation software to conduct energy consumption simulation and micro-environment simulation for green buildings. Then, based on these studies, they guide the design of green buildings. This requires a large investment, but green buildings are the future trend, and enterprises must do everything possible to do it, otherwise they will be eliminated.

 

Q: In the industry, concepts such as green buildings and technology residences have long lacked unified standards and definitions, and certifications from many countries have successively landed in China. How do you view this situation?

 

Shu Jian: As more and more truly green buildings enter the market, the public's acceptance and ability to identify green buildings will become stronger. At present, domestic green building standards and foreign green building standards coexist. I believe that foreign green building certification standards are not necessarily suitable for China in some aspects. The Yangtze River Delta region has very poor climatic conditions: cold winters, hot summers, and humidity, while foreign countries have not done green buildings in such poor environments. Therefore, only by adapting to local conditions and conforming to actual situations can we create better green buildings. Landsea is the external service brand of Landsea Group. As a green real estate developer, Landsea has more than ten years of mature green technology and green residential development experience. Through integrated services, we help customers create healthy, comfortable, and green technology products; solve the core issues of sales and cost profitability, share risks, and achieve win-win cooperation, fully realizing the commercial value of projects. We promote the development of green buildings and bring more green buildings to society.