Starting August 1 this year, all new civil buildings in Beijing must meet the one-star green building standard. Developers must clearly state in sales offices, purchase contracts, residential quality guarantee certificates, and residential user manuals the building energy-saving design indicators, green building star rating, heating metering and charging methods, etc., of the homes being sold, or face fines of up to 30,000 yuan. Yesterday, the "Beijing Municipal Civil Building Energy Conservation Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") was published, requiring all new residential buildings to adopt heating metering.

 Civil buildings include both public buildings such as shopping malls and supermarkets, as well as residential buildings. The "Measures" stipulate that energy consumption metering devices such as heating metering and temperature control devices shall be installed in accordance with standards and regulations, and large public buildings shall install sub-metering facilities for energy consumption. At the same time, new civil buildings are required to mandatorily implement the one-star green building standard, and some new civil buildings shall be constructed in accordance with the two-star or higher green building standard or the requirements for residential industrialization.

 A relevant person in charge of the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission stated that, according to relevant standards, green buildings are currently rated at three levels: one star, two stars, and the highest, three stars. The one-star standard can be achieved simply by adopting some practical green technologies and products, such as rainwater harvesting and temperature control technology, in addition to implementing the city's existing building energy-saving standards.