Wuhan, capital city of central China’s Hubei Province, will use 20 million euros (174 million yuan) of French loans to make its buildings more energy efficient over the next four years, the city government said Wednesday.
This is China’s first energy-saving building renovation project that involves foreign-government loans, the city government said in a press release.
The project is expected to reduce the power and water usage of 37 buildings by 20 to 30 percent, it said.
The majority of the buildings serve as government offices.
The total cost of the renovation is 199 million yuan, which includes the French Development Agency loans and an additional 25 million yuan from local tax revenue, it said.
The buildings’ exteriors, as well as air-conditioning, hot water and lighting systems will be overhauled.
The renovation also features smart power consumption monitoring systems that can send alerts whenever power usage exceeds targets in various units of the buildings.