SO far China has many shades of green, mostly pale. But going really, truly, deeply green takes more than some solar panels - it takes a triangle of government, developers and consumers, reports Nancy Zhang.

As temperatures plummet this winter, 60-year-old Li Yueming can be found in her apartment, fully dressed in anorak, hat and scarf while watching TV. When the sun sets, it is actually colder inside the apartment than outside.

This is typical in old apartments across Shanghai where poor insulation means heat quickly escapes. Built in 1996, Li's apartment where she lives with her son and husband is an example of fast construction with little regard for "green" features such as energy-efficient insulation.

Coming from a thrifty generation, Li chooses to wrap up rather than turn on the heater and pay high energy bills.

But discomfort for residents is only one visible cost of not building green ?? the costs to the environment are much higher.

The construction industry consumes enormous resources.

Globally, buildings account for 50 percent of energy and 42 percent of water usage; building-related activities causes 50 percent of air and water pollution that includes ozone-depleting substances.

As mass urbanization continues, roughly half the world's new building construction will take place in China between now and 2015, according to the World Bank.

Building green in China has huge ramifications across the globe, and for China's national resources and public welfare.

Fortunately, the government has given increased priority to the environment in recent years.

New home buyers are unlikely to find buildings as badly insulated as Li's, as regulations in 2004 stipulated 50 percent reduction in energy use in all buildings by 2010, and 65 percent by 2020.

The year 2004 also marked official acceptance of international standards on green building.

Pioneering works at the time include Beijing's ACCORD21 building, a government-led, demonstration project advised by the New York-based NGO Natural Resources Defense Council.

ACCORD21 offered 70 percent energy and 40 percent water savings compared with a similar-size non-green building.

It earned gold in the coveted US Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification ?? a standard that measures "greenness" of a building based on energy efficiency, water savings, and site sustainability among other criteria.

Today many more LEED projects are progress, and government-led projects include 140 model buildings and 11 green eco-cities, including Dongtan Wetland on Shanghai's Chongming Island.

To have widespread impact, environmental practices must be commercially viable.

Since 2005 China has developed its own green building certification system, and has just launched the China Green Council. Together they provide guidelines for a growing environmentally aware market.

EMSI, a Washington-based green building consultancy, entered China in 2001.

From slow beginnings, business took off in 2007, and during the past year it has been happily swamped with work.

The company is now the largest private, green consultancy in China.

Qian Yingchu, general manager of EMSI's south China division, remembers that at first they needed to educate clients on the commercial benefits of green buildings.

"It was tiring," says Qian. "We had to explain the benefits every time - things like how it reduces energy costs, improves staff performance and contributes to marketing. But in recent years clients come to us, asking for green features - there's a lot more awareness."

The Shanghai branch is the most profitable, he says, but most clients are in the commercial office and retail sector.

Chinese developers looking to go green are still outnumbered by foreign multinationals.

Resistance is partly due to the perception that green buildings cost more.

Not true, says Stephen Protz, founder of Arc8X, and a LEED-certified architect who has worked in Shanghai for seven years.

"Actually, it does not cost more to achieve LEED silver certification, for gold rating it costs just 2-3 percent more. Adopting green practices costs time and effort to think differently and find new ways to do things," says Protz. "It's about thinking long term rather than short term."

Another problem is providing incentive structures, which particularly affects the residential market - a crucial part of the construction industry.

"The business model in residential development is more complex," says Qian. "For example, if a property is for rental, then developers will care about energy efficiency as they reap the benefits, but not if it's for sale as it goes to the tenants."

In this case government incentives can help, as can consumer awareness. An example is the Linked Hybrid development due for completion this year in Beijing. This residential and retail complex has made its green credentials a selling point - it has geothermal heating and indoor clean air ventilation systems.

But while these features are easy to understand for consumers, more important green credentials are often invisible.

"It's not about throwing in some solar panels, or using impressive sounding technology. It's about how to put technology together in the most suitable way for the building, and making it commercially sustainable," says Qian.

Thus despite some high-profile, government-led examples, true green architecture is still scarce in proportion to the commercial market.

"The green building movement in China is at its very beginning. There are some noteworthy smaller projects, but big, true green architecture does not exist here yet," says Protz.

"Ideally the government, consumers and developers should balance each other in a triangle," he says. Recent examples of green buildings Olympic Village The humble Olympic Village compound may not be as flashy as the Bird's Nest, but it's a winner in the environmental stakes.

In August last year, the Olympic Village was awarded LEED gold award for a host of environmentally friendly features including solar panels, efficient windows, green spaces and rooftops, as well as rainwater recycling systems.

The Olympic Village buildings use 50 percent less energy. It is a high-profile example of the government's willingness and ability to build green ?? but importantly it also considers commercial viability.

Originally designed to house 16,000 Olympic athletes, the residential compound will mostly be converted into luxury apartments early this year. Most of these have already been sold.

Shanghai government will follow this example by 2015 with a huge, 1-million-square-meter green development in New Jiangwan Town. This mixed development of residential, retail and office buildings will also aim for LEED certification on whole neighborhood design as well as individual buildings.

According to EMSI, the green consultants on the project, a "green" neighborhood consists of the restoration of compact, walkable, mixed-use towns as opposed spread-out car-friendly planning, plus planning for smart development.

Innovative new technologies used include combined cooling and heating power generation, which recycles by-product heat from electricity generation. Nokia building

Completed earlier last year, the new Nokia China Headquarters Building received LEED gold award last April. So far it is the only new construction commercial building in China to be awarded the LEED gold award.

Located in Beijing, the 74,000-square-meter site comprises of offices and an R&D building. Commercial office spaces built on green principles save energy and water. Studies have also shown that a healthier working environment full of natural daylight significantly raises employees' productivity while reducing sick days.

According to its British architects Arup, the building is encased in a facade or skin made of two layers, allowing internal temperatures to be insulated from external environments. This alone reduces energy consumption by 14 percent. Overall the building reduces 20 percent more energy and 37 percent water usage.

Green materials

If the design for a green building is a recipe for a dish, then green materials are the ingredients. Any chef knows good ingredients are key," says Raefer Wallis, founder of A00 Architecture and giga-china.com, an online database of green materials available in China.

Having worked in Shanghai for the past eight years, Wallis realized choosing green materials is even more important than designing resource-efficient buildings.

"Buildings may be around for 150 years, but the materials you used ?? the paints, varnishes and preservatives ?? will be around for 150,000 years. The wrong choice means harmful materials in the building, then in landfills, leaking into soil and air and eventually making it back into the food chain," explains Wallis.

The name "giga" is an amalgamation of "green ideas" and "green action" - a platform for designers and architects to make better choices in materials.

Launched in April 2008, the Website was intended to be a small project to share information Wallis had personally accumulated on reliable green suppliers. After working on the carbon-neutral hotel URBN in 2007 on Jiaozhou Road, A00 was inundated with calls from other designers for recommendations of environmentally friendly materials.

Such is the lack of information in the market that the project has become "a green monster." Wallis has been asked to expand the Website by designers from across industries - landscape, industrial and fashion design. Even central government has noticed and is supporting its transition to an NGO.

"The problem is that research into green materials progresses at 1 kilometer an hour while construction proceeds at 100 kilometers an hour," says Wallis.