The Building Energy Research Center (BERC) of Tsinghua University was founded in 2005. The mission of BERC is to be devoted to the development of energy-efficient, low-carbon and environmentally responsible buildings in China in accordance with national and international energy and environmental targets, including buildings research and innovation. The principal research activities within BERC include: Assessment of the current buildings status in China and the provision of strategic; outlooks on buildings energy consumption and efficiency; Occupant behavior and building simulation research; Research and development (R&D) of innovative high-efficiency buildings technology and systems; Energy efficiency application research on subsectors, including: space heating in Northern China; rural residential buildings; urban residential buildings; and public and commercial buildings.
Since 2007, BERC has published annual report on China Building Energy Efficiency (in Chinese) to provide data references, technical and policy suggestions for policy makers and engineers in the field of building energy conservation and low-carbon transition.