[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 241 (Wednesday, December 16, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69267-69268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33287]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Opportunity for Leadership Entity: Beijing Energy-Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy Demonstration Building

AGENCY: Office of Policy and International Affairs, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Notice of opportunity.

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SUMMARY: The United States Department of Energy recently entered into 
an agreement with the People's Republic of China Ministry of Science 
and Technology to determine the feasibility of jointly constructing an 
energy efficient, mid-size office building demonstration project in 
downtown Beijing, China. The Department is interested in identifying an 
entity which will volunteer to work directly with the building's 
primary intended occupant, The Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 
21, which reports to the Ministry of Science and Technology and the 
State Development and Planning Commission, in leading and being 
responsible for the execution of this demonstration project. If the 
project proves feasible, this entity would be responsible for bringing 
together the necessary financial, technical, and other components and 
resources for the bidding, constructing and commissioning of the final 
design of the energy efficient and renewable aspects of the building, 
and for monitoring the reductions of energy use and associated 
greenhouse gas emissions. The entity would also develop and provide for 
the operation of a Demonstration Center in the building illustrating 
the potential contribution of U.S. technologies and building design 
practices to reduced energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions 
of similar buildings throughout China. Interested parties are asked to 
provide the Department with their approach to leading this effort, and 
their capability and relevant experience.

DATES: Response to Notice must be postmarked no later than January 15, 
1999.

ADDRESSES: Respond to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 
Efficiency, Alternative Fuels and Oil Analysis, PO-62; Forrestal 
Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    O. Cleveland Laird, Jr., Phone (202) 586-0979, FAX (202) 586-4447, 
E-mail: Cleveland.L[email protected]; or
Mary Beth Zimmerman, Phone (202) 586-7249, FAX (202) 586-4447,
E-mail: MaryBeth.Z[email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    This section is subdivided into: Project Description, Background 
and Status, Role of the Entity, and Funding.
    Documents and other information referenced in this notice (denoted 
italicized & emboldened here, but to be shown in hypertext in the DOE 
website version of this document) may be obtained from the contacts in 
the section above, or can be downloaded from the Department's Office of 
Policy & International Affairs Internet Website: http://www.doe.gov/
policy/featured.html.
    Project Description: The project consists of three phases. Phases 
one and two are covered by the agreement'' the Statement of Work 
described under Background and Status section below. Phase one provides 
for the development of economic energy design criteria, and a project 
plan, including engineering and financial feasibility analyses. Phase 
two, provides for the assessment of this plan by each country. If the 
project proves feasible, phase three provides for the implementation of 
the project plan including the construction and monitoring of the 
building, and the establishment and operation of the Demonstration 
Center.
    The Department is funding phase one, currently being undertaken by 
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the National Renewable 
Energy Laboratory (NREL), in cooperation with an architectural and 
engineering firm working for The Administrative Centre for China's 
Agenda 21. This effort is based on typical or expected construction 
costs and market prices for energy and energy services in Beijing to 
ensure that the resulting plan incorporates design strategies and 
technologies that are likely to be economically attractive in China.
    The identified entity will be responsible for the phase two 
assessment and, if appropriate, phase three construction. Any costs of 
phase two will be borne by the entity (see Funding section below). 
Costs associated with phase three are to be allocated between China and 
the United States so that the identified entity would contribute only 
any additional costs associated with energy efficiency and renewable 
energy improvements, while China would pay the basic land and building 
costs.
    Background and Status: The Department of Energy signed a Statement 
of Work (SOW) with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China on 
July 9, 1998 to develop the energy efficient design criteria and a 
project plan for a mid-size commercial office building at a site in 
downtown Beijing. [July 9, 1998 DOE News press release] The building 
would provide office space (nine stories, approximately 130,000 square 
feet) for China government environmental agencies, including the Centre 
for China's Agenda 21 offices, as well as for non-governmental 
organizations that work in the areas of science and the environment, 
and for a Demonstration Center.
    The project plan will provide for multiple ways to demonstrate and 
promote the contribution of U.S. energy and greenhouse gas savings 
design know-how and technologies to buildings in China: first, the 
building design will incorporate currently available energy efficient 
and renewable energy building technologies appropriate to its location 
and use; second, the energy and carbon savings will be carefully 
monitored and reported to potential users of the technologies; third, 
the building will house a ``hands-on'' Demonstration Center that will 
provide direct exposure to U.S. buildings technologies to the buildings 
industry in China, as well as to policy makers and others who work with 
the Administrative Centre for China's Agenda 21 and related agencies; 
and fourth, Chinese government and buildings industry representatives 
will be directly involved throughout the design, construction, and 
operation of this project to provide a strong capacity-building 
framework for the future use of these design strategies.
    The building is to be outfitted with the energy monitoring 
equipment needed to document energy and greenhouse gas savings 
potentials for both U.S. and Chinese suppliers and users. The project 
plan would include means of measuring the energy and greenhouse gas 
reductions achieved that

[[Page 69268]]

would be consistent with Decision 5/CP.1 of the Conference of the 
Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 
(UNFCCC). The demonstration of commercially available, cost-effective 
building energy savings opportunities is part of the Priority Programme 
for China's Agenda 21 and could potentially be a project of the 
Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) under the Pilot Phase of the 
UNFCCC. Reported energy savings will provide both valuable information 
to the buildings profession in China and on energy savings calculations 
needed for climate change projects. There is a potential market 
opportunity for participants should ``trading'' in greenhouse gas 
emission reductions be allowed in the future under the UNFCCC .
    Role of the Entity. The Department seeks an innovative entity to 
volunteer to lead and be responsible for phases two and three of the 
project. Phase two consists of the assessment of this plan by each 
country, including providing any feedback on the engineering and 
financial feasibility analysis conducted under phase one; and, if the 
project is found feasible, phase three would consist of the 
construction of the building, and establishment and operation of the 
Demonstration Center.
    This entity will enlist interested parties--hereinafter referred to 
as Suppliers--from industry, including electric utilities, academia, 
non-government organizations (NGOs), and government agencies to be 
involved during phases two and three of the project. Further, the 
entity will enlist building community organizations to help ensure that 
potential Suppliers are aware of the opportunity.
    The Supplier role will be filled by those that plan to bid to 
provide products (e.g., windows, controls, lighting) and/or services 
(e.g., design, financing, equipment, installation, construction, 
commissioning, monitoring). Suppliers also may include others expecting 
to contribute to the success of the project; for example utilities 
interested in the AIJ aspects of this project with the potential for 
greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Suppliers would also provide input 
on refining the performance and market price assumptions underlying the 
phase one analysis.
    The entity will contract with the Chinese for the products and 
services that Suppliers will provide for the construction of the energy 
efficiency and renewables portion of the building. Suppliers will 
provide those products and services at zero or discounted cost (e.g., 
controls for no cost if none were planned or double glazed windows for 
the cost in China of single glazed windows if only single glazed were 
planned and the package of improvements increase the building's costs) 
to gain benefits from being associated with the publicity for the 
building & its performance, and any laboratory demonstrations of their 
other products/services. Furthermore, Suppliers will have an 
unparalleled opportunity in an official Chinese venue to demonstrate 
their products and services to the world's largest consumer market. In 
addition to supplying products and services in the building initially, 
the Demonstration Center, modeled on those operating in the United 
States, will allow Suppliers the opportunity to provide ``hands on'' 
demonstrations for builders, architects, and others in the Chinese 
buildings community to learn about the latest in proven, available 
energy-efficient and renewable energy design practices and 
technologies.
    The entity will need to determine and make Suppliers aware of the 
advantages inherent in donating products and services to efforts such 
as this as a part of the incentive for Suppliers to support this 
project. Additionally the entity may locate/create and develop 
financing mechanisms for subsequent Supplier product/services sales in 
China.
    To ensure appropriate information sharing among the interested 
parties, the entity will establish and maintain regular communications 
with the U.S. building community and the public at large as the project 
progresses. This is to include a home page for the project on the 
Internet.
    Funding: The primary Federal role to date has been to make 
arrangements between the countries for the project to be undertaken and 
to fund the phase one technical analysis. Once phase one is complete, 
Federal involvement will be to ensure an open and technically sound 
process through the remaining phases. Upon a decision to construct the 
building, the Department will evaluate the building results to assess 
whether the design objectives were indeed reached. Private sector 
support is needed to fulfill all other responsibilities in the project.
    The U.S. costs associated with the engineering feasibility analysis 
are being funded by the Department. If the building is constructed, the 
Chinese government plans to provide for all expenses associated with 
the base building. The entity is expected to raise its funding through 
whatever sources it can develop that support reduced energy usage and 
associated greenhouse gas emissions. Costs associated with energy-
efficiency and renewables upgrades of the building--whether design, 
products and/or services--over and above the base building are to be 
borne by the successful Suppliers, based on their appreciation for the 
opportunity that opening this market potentially provides for the sale 
of their products and services. The entity will arrange remuneration 
for any amounts included in the base building for replacement energy-
efficient and renewable energy technologies employed by U.S. Suppliers 
(e.g., whatever the windows included in the base building would have 
cost, that amount would be paid by the Chinese to the entity to be 
passed on to the successful U.S. window Supplier).
    The entity will determine if there are normal or any special 
provisions (e.g., for a non-profit and/or research and development 
oriented organization) in the U.S. Tax Code under which it can operate 
that will provide benefits for its functioning in this voluntary 
capacity, and/or for any donors to its effort.

    Issued in Washington, DC on December 8, 1998.
Abraham E. Haspel,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, Environmental and Economic 
Policy Analysis.
[FR Doc. 98-33287 Filed 12-15-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P