Issues and opinions The assessment of building energy efficiency in China rural society: Developing a new theoretical construct Bao-jie He a, * , Li Yang b , Charla Griffy-Brown c , Ben Mou d , Ya-Nan Zhou e , Miao Ye a a School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai 200093, PR China b College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University, Key Laboratory of Ecology and Energy Saving Study of Dense Habitat (Tongji University), Ministry of Education, 1239 SiPing Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China c Pepperdine University, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Graziadio Schoolof Business and Management, 6100 Center Drive, LA 90045, United States d Department of Architecture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan e Graduate School, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, Tianjin 300204, PR China article info Article history: Received 14 January 2014 Received in revised form 4 April 2014 Accepted 10 April 2014 Keywords: Rural building energy efficiency Energy consumption Low carbon rural framework diagram abstract Since the reform and opening up policy was initiated in 1978, the rural economic level and residential living standard have been greatly improved. China’s rural building energy consumption has also rapidly increased. This research was designed to provide the overall context of energy efficiency in rural China and through evaluation demonstrates that current theory has significant gaps when compared to practice. Therefore, this paper presents a new theoretical framework to assist decision-makers. First, we analyzed the situation and the characteristics of building energy consumption in the countryside. During this situational analysis, we identified the challenges in rural building energy ef- ficiency (RBEE) work. To promote the development of RBEE, the central and local gov- ernments have launched related policies, and some achievements have been made in RBEE. However, there are still some drawbacks in rural buildings, so based on the above analysis coupled with the low carbon framework, we re-assessed the development of RBEE. This allowed us to develop a new theoretical framework incorporating critical fac- tors, such as development principles, building planning and design, construction, opera- tion and the utilization of renewable energy. This new model could play an important practical role in directing policy-making and promoting the development of RBEE. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At present, China is in a new construction era where the rural economic level and resident living standard have greatly improved. Meanwhile, the improvement of quality of living requirements has also led to a sharp increase in building energy consumption [1–3]. Statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2010 show that building area is 23.8 billion m 2 in China rural society, which accounts for about 51% of integral building area in China [4]. However, the building energy * Corresponding author. 711 Room, 9 Apartment, South Campus, 516 Jungong Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, PR China. Tel.: þ86 18818261969; fax: þ86 021 33636013. E-mail addresses: qtechhebaojie@163.com, qtechhebaojie@yahoo. com, qtechhebaojie@st.usst.edu.cn (B.-j. He), yangli.arch@gmail.com (L. Yang), Charla.Brown@pepperdine.edu (C. Griffy-Brown), mouben98@ gmail.com (B. Mou), zhouyanan9009@126.com (Y.-N. Zhou), yemiao0927@gmail.com (M. Ye). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Technology in Society journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/techsoc http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.04.002 0160-791X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Technology in Society 38 (2014) 130–138