A rendering of the Changdong Future Community Exhibition Hall in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/hz66.com]

The Changdong Future Community Exhibition Hall in Huzhou was recently certificated as a Zero-Energy Building (ZEB).

The exhibition hall, which broke ground on June 18, is the first of its kind in East China's Zhejiang province to win such an honor.

A ZEB refers to a building that produces at least as much energy as it uses through renewable resources over a specified time period.

Built by Huzhou City Group, the two-story Changdong Future Community Exhibition Hall will be primarily powered by the photovoltaic panels installed outside.

The PV system’s predicted annual power generation is about 380,000 kilowatt hours, which can fully meet the facility's energy consumption - which is estimated to be about 300,000 kWh of electricity per year. The system is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 220 metric tons, according to an employee at Huzhou City Group.

In addition, the exhibition hall will adopt a smart system to reduce the amount of energy consumed by lighting and air conditioning.

A smart platform will also be launched to collect data related to lighting, air conditioning and elevators in the hall so as to further optimize energy consumption.