Norway Contributes to Greener Hotels in China

The Norwegian Consulate General in Guangzhou and Innovation Norway in Beijing (IN) as well as two other associations from the Wenzhou hotel industry jointly organized the “10000 Green Hotel Energy Engineers 2nd Public Training Seminar” which took place in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province on the 22nd – 23rd of May 2012. Some 150 top managers and chief engineers from the province attended the event.

The central theme was how innovative technologies, competence and management programs may reduce energy usage by up to 50% in hotels in China, thereby improving profitability for the hotel industry as well as cutting carbon emissions.

Opening remarks were given by central and local officials, as well as Business Development Manager Mr. Thomas Huang from the Norwegian Consulate General in Guangzhou. Several experts from the Norwegian side provided relevant insight from different perspectives. IN’s project manager Dr. Gao Peng gave a presentation of IN’s Energy Management Program (EMP). IN’s Mr. Sven Karlsen shared the Norwegian experience on energy management, including energy auditing and a particular focus on energy monitoring. As an illustrative example, Mr. Karlsen shared insight from a luxury hotel in Beijing where IN’s EMP has contributed with consulting services from Norwegian firm AF Group on energy auditing and implementation of energy saving measures. Dr. Werner Jager from the Norwegian company Hydro Building Systems and its subsidiary Wicona gave a detailed presentation of their green building standard – focused on facade solutions, curtain walls, windows and solar energy. In addition, building experts from Tsinghua University, among others, gave insightful lectures on the current status and challenges concerning energy efficiency in Chinese hotels.


All presentations were well received by the audience as relevant contributions to the Chinese approach on energy efficiency in hotels.

The event represented a good arena for promoting Norwegian technology and competence, which is highly relevant in building local knowledge about the importance and feasibility of energy efficiency in buildings.

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