Recruiting in China

Germany's Wacker Chemie AG is participating in an initiative launched by the German Deutsche Energie Agentur GmbH and the Chinese Ministry of Construction to support and promote the construction and renovation of climate-adapted and energy-efficient buildings in China.

A roadshow through six major Chinese cities has started in Beijing and includes a series of seminars on energy-efficient construction for Chinese construction industry professionals. The aim is to support the development and use of energy-efficient products and promote internationally recognized quality standards in China.

Rising fuel costs, global warming and local climatic conditions mean that efficient exterior insulation is becoming increasingly important in China. After all, the better a building's insulation is, the less energy is needed for heating and air conditioning. Wacker research says it has shown that effective exterior insulation can reduce a building's energy consumption by up to 60%. According to Deutsche Energie Agentur, buildings in China require four times as much energy for heating and cooling per square meter of living area than those in industrialized European countries.

As the federal German competence centre for energy efficiency and renewable energies, Deutsche Energie Agentur coordinates and implements projects and campaigns at a national and international level. Now, Deutsche Energie Agentur has joined up with Wacker and other European industrial partners to carry out a strategic and high-profile transfer of German construction-sector energy-efficiency expertise to China.

Six regional seminars are scheduled, involving close collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Town Planning, the Chinese Ministry of Construction and the subsidiary Center for Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Support is also being provided by the German Embassy in Beijing. In these technical seminars, experts will explain energy-efficient construction practices to Chinese participants and emphasize the necessity of quality regarding planning, the choice of materials and during construction itself.

Besides Beijing, seminars will be held over the coming months in Shenyang, Shanghai, Qingdao, Chengdu and Shenzhen. To accompany and complement the presentations, the organizers are publishing a manual featuring the most important energy-efficiency activities in both new construction projects and the renovation of existing buildings.