TUV SUD Organizes Green Commercial Property and Hotel Summit in Shanghai

TUV SUD, a leading provider of testing, inspection and certification solutions, organized a green commercial property and hotel summit at Tongji University. Experts from the government, science and research institutions, TUV SUD and Tongji University had an in-depth discussion with hotel owners and real estate investors on energy conservation. The discussion was focused on commercial property in the hotel industry, promoting energy efficiency measures and its potential cost savings. During the summit, TUV SUD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining the cooperation between the Sino-European Energy Building Training Research Center, Tongji University and TUV SUD to improve energy efficiency and talent development in China's construction sector by combining Tongji University's scientific research advantage and TUV SUD's market experience.

Wolfgang Hubl, senior vice president of the Product Service, TUV SUD Greater China said, "We are delighted to cooperate with Tongji University in the promotion of energy conservation and emission reduction of buildings in China. We aim to help building owners reduce TCO (total cost of ownership) while meeting the Chinese government's energy-saving standards with our extensive experience in the global green building industry. We are looking forward to sharing our experience with Chinese real estate investors and hotel owners in the forum."

According to the 2012 data from China's Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, energy wastage from buildings in China account for up to 30 percent of the society's entire terminal energy consumption. By the end of 2011, 23 percent of the total construction space in China was occupied by energy efficient buildings in urban areas. This number has been increasing steadily. Energy wastage in buildings and its proportion to the society's total terminal energy consumption is also expected to grow. To address this, the State Council released the 12th five-year plan on energy conservation and emission reduction in August, 2012. The Plan outlines an increase in the area occupied by Green Buildings to more than one billion square meters and an improvement of the implementation rate of green building standards. Building owners are expected to reduce overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission of buildings.

TUV SUD's green commercial property and hotel summit provided a platform to discuss issues in the buildings' energy efficiency and green hotel field. During the event, experts from Tongji University introduced latest technology and development trend while senior representatives from InterContinental Hotels Group and Starwood Group shared best practices from their experience. TUV SUD's experts also provided practical advice to the participants on implementing environment and energy management system, energy audits of green buildings as well as insights from its experience in the field.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during the event outlines the cooperation between Sino-European Energy Building Training Research Center, Tongji University and TUV SUD. The MOU combines Tongji University's advanced knowledge in building design technology and TUV SUD's expertise and market experience from the implementation of green building assessment system, such as DGNB, LEED and BREEAM, in developed countries. The two organizations plan to provide Chinese building owners with one-stop third-party technical solutions, as well as promote talent development among construction professionals and the University's students from related courses.

Dr. Yang Zhenghong, head of the Sino-European Energy Building Training Research Center, Tongji University commented, "With the rapid development of China's economy and the increase in energy consumption, sustainability is key to China's future development. As an international center for promoting green building and energy saving technologies, the research center will continue to cooperate with world-leading companies such as TUV SUD to drive sustainable development in China's construction field."

TUV SUD is committed to globally supporting companies with a holistic service portfolio in support of their sustainability objectives and has extensive experience in China's green building industry. TUV SUD's experts inspected the Embassy of Portugal, which became the first embassy building with zero carbon emission in China. TUV SUD also conducted energy audits on the government office building of the government of Zhabei District.