In the mountains of Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guilin City, Guangxi, night has already fallen, yet the villagers of Jinzhu Zhuang Village in Jinjiang Village, Longji Town, are unhurriedly sweeping the village roads, while children chase and play on the song-and-dance square. Villager Liao Shufang said: "The energy-saving lamps installed by the government for us are both energy-saving and environmentally friendly, as well as safe and money-saving. Now we don't have to worry about children visiting and playing at night." This is a microcosm of Guangxi's green energy-saving renovation project.

Guangxi began establishing a special fund for energy conservation and emission reduction (building energy efficiency) in 2008, mainly used to reward building energy-efficiency projects within the region that improve building energy performance through the adoption of advanced technologies and management measures, including both new building and existing building energy-efficiency projects.

As of 2023, Guangxi has supported the construction of 136 green lighting projects, installed 12,737 solar street lamps, supported a total of 46 energy-saving and green renovation projects for schools and hospitals, 8 demonstration counties (districts) for energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, and 7 demonstration counties (districts) for renewable energy building applications.

In Caila Tun, Yongquan Village, Luoyang Town, Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, Hechi City, Guangxi, village courtyards, vegetable gardens, and orchards are laid out in an orderly manner, and the roads are clean and tidy. The rural construction here, which renovates the village's appearance, is one of the demonstration projects for the promotion and application of new wall materials. Local villagers actively participated, and as a result a group of new-type rural craftsmen has also been cultivated.

"Fired porous bricks save more building materials, and they have relatively strong water absorption and permeability. With these bricks paving the courtyard, the courtyard never accumulates water on rainy days. When used to build houses, the houses stay warm in winter and cool in summer." Villager Chen Langtu, whose family uses fired porous bricks, said: "In recent years, villagers have truly seen that fired porous bricks, as a new wall material, are superior to traditional standard bricks. Many villagers choose to use fired porous bricks, the new wall material, when building houses or renovating the village's appearance."

Wei Jiangxue, head of the Building Energy Efficiency and Wall Material Reform Station of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, said: "In recent years, fired porous bricks as a new wall material have gained the understanding and recognition of ordinary people in rural areas, and their scope of use has continued to expand. Especially in rural house construction, the use of this new wall material can give rural houses better thermal insulation performance and better energy-saving effects, making a positive contribution to the promotion and application of new wall materials in rural Huanjiang, and further advancing rural wall material reform and rural building energy efficiency work."

At Luoyang Town Junior High School in Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, a solar plus air-source heat pump hot water system is used to meet the daily hot water needs of the student dormitory buildings.

"The lights are brighter than before now, and reading is more comfortable." The students of Luoyang Town Junior High School said happily. Today, the lights in the classrooms no longer "flicker." After the lighting renovation, all classrooms in the school use 3C-certified LED classroom luminaires.

Luoyang Town Junior High School received 600,000 yuan in 2023 from the autonomous region's special subsidy funds for energy conservation and emission reduction (building energy efficiency) fiscal funds for the demonstration project of energy-saving and green renovation of township primary and secondary schools, used for green lighting system renovation, solar hot water system renovation, solar photovoltaic power generation system construction, and energy consumption monitoring system installation and other energy-saving and green renovations.

In addition, the school added 50 solar collectors totaling 100 square meters, adopting a solar plus air-source heat pump hot water system capable of meeting the daily hot water needs of the student dormitory building with a floor area of 1,925 square meters; it installed 44 solar photovoltaic panels totaling 95.64 square meters, effectively utilizing renewable energy and reducing purchases of grid electricity.

Luo Henggao, principal of Luoyang Middle School, said: "The project has been completed and passed completion acceptance and was put into use at the end of November 2023. Preliminary estimates show that compared with the fourth quarter of 2022, electricity consumption was saved by 10,000 kWh, carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 9.97 tons, and electricity costs were saved by about 24,000 yuan. It can be said that the project provides teachers and students with a more energy-saving, brighter, and more comfortable campus environment."

The development of green energy can also drive local economic benefits. "Before 2022, Longji Village had no street lamps, and we often received many suggestions for improvement from tourists. Tourists come to see the terraced fields and want to take a walk outside in the evening, which is very inconvenient, so few tourists choose to stay overnight in local inns, and the economic benefits of homestays are not very good." Liao Zhiteng, deputy secretary of Longji Village in Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, told reporters: "Now in the evenings in Longji Village, the roads are brighter, there are more and more positive reviews from tourists, and the homestay economy is getting better and better."

Shu Zuoyan, director of the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau of Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, said: "The green lighting demonstration project is very popular among the masses, and the enthusiasm of the people is high. Villagers contributed labor and actively participated in project construction. Through everyone's efforts, with construction funds unchanged, a total of 125 solar street lamps were ultimately installed, 35 more than planned."