Wide-scale resource conservation and emissions reduction projects require a system of reward and punishment, but there is no way to implement this kind of system unless energy audits are conducted more fairly and become more effective overall. For example, green architecture is an important opportunity for energy conservation amidst urbanization, yet even when real estate companies try to invest in energy conservation, the companies still look for the greatest profits and do not always meet existing building conservation standards. Thus, strict implementation of energy audits is necessary for industries as they develop towards energy and resources conservation.

Developed countries have always been a proponent of the energy audit, realizing that it can better allow them to understand energy expenditure on both national and local levels, can raise resource efficiency and play a role in reducing corporate consumption. From the 1970s onward, America, Britain, Japan and other developed countries, along with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other international organizations have all been starting to use energy audits. Energy conservation programs often start from energy audits, so companies that are looking to save energy must first conduct energy audits in order to check how effective any energy conservation program would be and allow funds for energy conservation to be used in as efficient a manner as possible. After some initial energy audits, Britain started using energy audits on a large scale to investigate industries' and compa
nies' energy expenditures. Many international companies, in order to save energy for financial reasons or obtain good press, have a very positive attitude towards energy audits. For example, America's Dupont Co. has 35 experts overseeing energy audits in the long term for their company's global subsidiaries.

Developed countries have created effective methods and a reliable system for conducting energy audits. Overall, the governments play a major role in promoting energy audits. For example, Japan entrusted an Energy Conservation Center to take care of energy audits; the government of the Netherlands offered free energy audits for some of its companies; the British government of the 1970's subsidized about 50 million pounds of funding – which was about half of the energy department's total spending – in order to do investigative work with energy audits. At the time, around 50,000 of Britain's 90,000 companies accepted energy audit investigations, with expenses entirely covered by the government.

These Western countries have learned ways to conserve energy through how different kinds of energy is used, lowered corporate production costs for energy, and in turn made the company more competitive. Energy audits became something companies did voluntarily and on their own – even though the government still provided tremendous support – and this gradually became a virtuous cycle. In fact, energy audits played an essential role in reducing energy consumption for the past 20 years in the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

America's system of energy audits seems to be more complete, and can be separated into three kinds: preliminary or simple energy audits, general energy audits and investment-grade energy audits. Preliminary audits are the simplest and quickest, involving an on-site walk-through of the facility and coming up with corrective measures and brief suggestions on the spot. Meanwhile, general energy audits need to collect more detailed information about facility operations and come up with more comprehensive evaluations of conservation measures since the entire energy usage process has many particulars. For example, after evaluating electricity bills over a period of 12 to 36 months, general audits aim to truly understand the electricity needs of equipment and know the composition of energy usage. However, to gather even more information and truly understand energy consumption, we often need to use new systems of measurement and consult personnel familiar with facility operations and equipment trends. Besides simply
bringing up suggestions for energy conservation, energy audits also have to undergo financial analysis for the feasibility of conservation measures; this is what investment-grade audits should do with government support. In order not to allow conservation measures to hinder companies' market competitiveness, the government must invest in energy audits.

It is not too late for China to start implementing energy audits. In the 1980s, the government researched corporate energy audits and even implemented pilot projects in over 40 companies across 11 departments in 14 provinces or provincial cities. The U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other such international organizations have often held energy audit training classes or pilot projects in China, in efforts to encourage China's development of energy audits.

These international cooperative measures have provided valuable experiences and lessons for China while it searches for the best way to implement energy audits in a market economy with Chinese characteristics. The Chinese government has already started pushing for energy conservation, but in the coming years, government control over audits should be lessened. Some local governments, such as that of Hunan Province, have already established and published material on methods for corporate energy audits, allowing energy audits in the province to have a concrete basis to work from for the first time. Yet, save for a few provinces, the rest of the country has not developed a clear process or standards for energy audits. Compared to energy conservation and emissions reductions, right now the government is not paying enough attention to energy audits, which is ironic since energy audits is in itself an important link in ensuring the effectiveness of the former.

This article represents the author's personal viewpoint.