Design,and,implementation,strategy,of,social,responsibility,sharing,mechanism,of,existing,building,energy-saving,renovation,subject

GUO Han-ding , DU Zhuang, CHEN Si-min

1 School of Economics and Management, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, CHINA

2 Ecological Livable City and Sustainable Construction Management Research Center, Tianjin Chengjian University, Tianjin 300384, CHINA

Abstract: It is the key to promote the development of energy-saving renovation market of existing buildings to share the social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings. This paper analyzes the principle and implementation conditions of social responsibility sharing of existing building energy-saving renovation subject, discusses the mode selection and contract design of social responsibility sharing of existing building energy-saving renovation subject, analyzes the implementation mechanism of social responsibility sharing of existing building energy-saving renovation subject from the perspectives of information platform architecture, shared process design and shared system construction. And this paper puts forward the implementation strategy of sharing the social responsibility of the subject of the existing building energy-saving renovation from the aspects of stabilizing the subject’s cooperative relationship, creating a good responsibility environment and improving the responsibility performance laws and regulations.

Key words: existing buildings; energy-saving renovation subject; social responsibility; sharing mechanism; implementation strategy

The purpose of the research on the subject social responsibility sharing mechanism of existing building energy conservation renovation is to guide the subject social responsibility sharing practice. The subject social responsibility sharing mechanism is an important tool to guide the transition from the theoretical research of social responsibility sharing to practice. So far, scholars at home and abroad have conducted extensive research on the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings from multiple dimensions, such as the development problems, influencing factors and incentive measures. Throughout the research results at home and abroad, existing studies have paid attention to the problems and countermeasures in the development process of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings from the practical level, while the research on the sharing mechanism of main social responsibility based on the principle of sharing and win-win is still rare. Therefore, this paper attempts to start with the analysis of the principle and implementation conditions of social responsibility sharing of the subject of existing building energy-saving renovation, and explores the selection of social responsibility sharing mode and contract design ideas of the subject of existing building energysaving renovation. From the structure of social responsibility sharing information platform from the three aspects of responsibility sharing process design and responsibility sharing system construction, this paper explores the implementation mechanism of social responsibility sharing interests of the subject of existing building energysaving renovation, in order to provide reference for the practice of social responsibility sharing of the subject of existing building energy-saving renovation.

2.1 Principle of sharing social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

It is clear that the principle of sharing the social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation is an important basis for the subject to make decisions on sharing the social responsibility. The existing responsibility sharing of general engineering construction projects and the implementation principles of general enterprises to fulfill the social responsibility provide a reference for the principle of sharing the social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation, and consider the social responsibility connotation, project characteristics and main characteristics of the subject of existing building energy-saving renovation, The principles of social responsibility sharing are summarized as follows.

2.1.1 Principle of balance of interests

The purpose of energy-saving renovation is to realize the comprehensive benefits of economy, society and environment. In addition to sharing the main social responsibility, there are many stakeholders with different interest demands. Responsibility sharing must consider the balance of interests of all parties, that is, to achieve reasonable coordination among conflicting interests of all parties (Guo, 2019). In order to achieve the unity of comprehensive economic, environmental and social benefits, the principle of interest balance is the fundamental principle of social responsibility.

2.1.2 Voluntary principle

The content of social responsibility is broad and abstract, there is no specific boundary, and even the benefits of performing social responsibility cannot be clearly defined. Therefore, it is difficult to be distributed in a simple institutional framework, which can only be borne by the social responsibility attitude and willingness of each subject. The subject follows the voluntary principle to implement social responsibility sharing, so that each subject can measure the benefits brought by social responsibility sharing, coordinate with other subject according to their own preferences and actual ability, and reasonably select the strategy of responsibility sharing and the investment amount of resources. Compared with the mandatory principle, the voluntary principle gives the subject more choice, effectively improves the efficiency of resource allocation, and plays a certain role in promoting the subject’s cooperative relationship.

2.1.3 Principle of reciprocity of responsibility and income

Equivalence of responsibility and income originally means that the more responsibilities the subject undertakes, the greater the income it obtains. Because social responsibility is difficult to be measured, the “principle of equivalence of responsibility and income” under social responsibility sharing has its particularity. Specifically, it refers to the more energy-saving benefits brought by responsibility sharing under the condition that the subject of energy-saving renovation chooses to share social responsibility, the more personal benefits shared by the subject of responsibility sharing. Under this principle, the existing building energysaving renovation subject choose to share the social responsibility and pay a certain amount of energy and cost for participating in the responsibility sharing, such as improving their own service quality, standardizing their own behavior or exchanging information, so that part of the increase in energy-saving benefits is brought by the responsibility sharing. In this case, the responsibility sharing subject can obtain the increased energy-saving benefits, the principle of equal responsibility and income can eff ectively improve the enthusiasm of energy-saving renovation subject to participate in social responsibility sharing.

2.1.4 Principle of matching ability and responsibility

The subject must bear social responsibility within its ability. If it exceeds its ability, it will not significantly improve the benefits of energy conservation, but also increase the cost of responsibility performance and frustrate the enthusiasm of the subject. The “three concentric circles” theory divides corporate social responsibility into three levels: basic economic and legal responsibility, moral and ethical responsibility in line with social expectations, and responsibility to enhance the contribution of comprehensive social welfare. These three levels must match the comprehensive strength of the enterprise’s own economic ability, management ability, technical level and social influence. The responsibility performance ability of the subject of energy-saving renovation is also limited by the external environment and the subject’s own conditions. Therefore, the subject’s shared social responsibility should also comply with the principle of equal ability and responsibility, so as to control the decision-making of shared responsibility within a scientific and reasonable range.

2.2 Implementation conditions for the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings to share social responsibility

2.2.1 The subject should establish the consciousness of social responsibility

The consciousness of social responsibility and the depth of understanding of social responsibility of the participants in energy-saving renovation are the ideological foundation to guide the choice of social responsibility sharing behavior strategy. From the perspective of enterprises, energy-saving service enterprises have the basic characteristics of general enterprises, and the corporate social responsibility theory is also applicable to energysaving service enterprises. The corporate social responsibility theory holds that the corporate social responsibility attitude and social commitment can eff ectively promote enterprises to fulfill their social responsibility. For the employer, although the owner belongs to the stakeholders of the enterprise from a theoretical point of view, the owner’s social responsibility attitude plays a vital role in the establishment of cooperative relationship with energy-saving service enterprises and the smooth development of the project. The owner’s active participation in sharing social responsibility can eff ectively promote inter subject cooperation and improve the efficiency of energy-saving renovation.

2.2.2 Capability matching and resource investment

The subject of energy-saving renovation cannot share social responsibility without the support of corresponding material conditions. According to the social responsibility theory, the comprehensive strength of an enterprise and its social responsibility level complement each other. Like an enterprise, the subject of energy-saving renovation also need to have basic ability and quality and stable material support, such as technology and equipment of energy-saving renovation, comprehensive quality of personnel involved in renovation, implementation funds of energy-saving renovation, information exchange platform among renovation subjects (Guo, 2017), the organization and coordination ability of the subject and the later operation ability of the owner. When the participants must have the ability to bear social responsibility and ensure a stable supply of resources in the process of energysaving renovation and responsibility sharing, it is possible to establish a stable cooperative relationship of social responsibility sharing among the participants.

2.2.3 Internal and external environment boost

A good internal and external environment can eff ectively boost the sharing of social responsibility among the subjects of energy-saving renovation. On the one hand, because neither the enterprise nor the owner can exist independently from the society, the energy-saving renovation activity itself also interacts with the society and the environment. The subject of energy-saving renovation must share the social responsibility and need a good external environment, specifically referring to the institutional environment, market environment, public opinion pressure and social culture; Secondly, the structural performance, service life and aging degree of the existing buildings will affect the implementation difficulty, project implementation period and expected income of the renovation, so as to aff ect the strategic choice of the subject’s shared social responsibility. The coordination of the internal environment is also an important factor for the subject to carry out eff ective cooperation. If the internal and external environment of the project runs well and can achieve eff ective and reasonable coordination, it will certainly promote the healthy and orderly sharing of social responsibility of energy-saving renovation subject.

2.2.4 Eff ective cooperation

The core of sharing social responsibility among energy-saving renovation subject is to reach a long-term, mutually beneficial and stable cooperative relationship. Since social responsibility sharing cooperation is difficult to be constrained and restricted by formal contract, the establishment of partnership is particularly important. It is generally believed that in the process of individual cooperation, the cooperative relationship can be eff ectively maintained for a long time if the consistency of goals and expectations, mutual trust and eff ective exchange of information can be achieved. The particularity of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings determines the diff erence of interest demands and information asymmetry of the subject. Establishing a good cooperative relationship can eff ectively help the subject overcome the interest conflicts and information obstacles caused by the objective environment and individual diff erences, and finally realize the improvement of the comprehensive income of energy-saving renovation.

3.1 Selection of social responsibility sharing mode for the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

3.1.1 Analysis of social responsibility sharing model

Energy performance contract (EPC) is the main operation mode of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings (Carbonara, 2018). The construction of social responsibility sharing cooperation relationship between energy-saving renovation subject (owners and energy-saving service enterprises) is inseparable from the analysis framework of contract energy management mode. Therefore, based on the analysis of different modes of contract energy management, this section explores the possible modes and main characteristics of subject social responsibility sharing.

(1) The first one is that Energy saving should be guaranteed. The energy-saving service enterprise promises to save energy, and then the owner makes financing and payment. When the energysaving does not reach the expected value, the enterprise returns the income difference is the core content of the energy-saving guarantee model. This model assigns the responsibility of renovation and financing to energy-saving service enterprises and owners respectively, which greatly improves the participation of owners in energy-saving renovation. Under this mode, the responsibility of the participants is clearly defined, and both enterprises and owners bear certain risks, which provides convenience for the definition and division of the social responsibility of the participants. However, on the one hand, because the owners bear high risks, the owners’ enthusiasm for renovation will be reduced; On the other hand, the model is applicable to projects with high technical content and highly dependent on the technical level of energy-saving service enterprises. Therefore, it puts forward higher requirements for the initiative, responsibility performance ability and cooperation fit of the subject sharing social responsibility.

(2) The second one is energy saving benefit sharing type. The energy-saving benefit sharing type refers to the mode in which the energysaving benefits obtained from the financing and renovation of energy-saving service enterprises are shared with the owners. Generally, in this mode, the energy-saving service enterprises enjoy a high proportion of energy-saving income in the first 2-3 years after the renovation, and then the proportion gradually decreases to the end of the contract period, and the energy-saving technology and equipment are handed over to the owner for operation. Under this mode, the energy-saving service enterprise is the core subject of financing and construction, and the owner’s impact on the project is mainly reflected in the later operation stage. Therefore, the sharing of social responsibility of the energy-saving renovation subject under this mode has the characteristics of time segmentation and subject separation. In addition, the energy-saving benefit sharing model has the obvious characteristics of unbalanced risk distribution, which makes the determination of the subject’s benefit sharing proportion and benefit period become the key issue aff ecting the subject’s social responsibility sharing cooperation relationship.

(3) The third one is energy fee trusteeship. Energy fee trusteeship means that the proprietor pays the energy fee below the average level in a lump sum to the energy saving service enterprise, which is used for renovation and paying the actual energy fee, and the remaining part is used as the profit of the enterprise. In this model, the participation of existing building owners is very low, and the income is stable. This model has higher requirements on the economic strength of the owners and the comprehensive strength of the energy-saving service enterprises, and is not suitable for the common civil buildings that lack the separation of capital and property rights. The main problem of this model lies in the unclear distribution of responsibilities and rights. As the enterprise is the reformer and manager, and the owner is the energy user, it is difficult to define the responsibility of energy consumption, which may aff ect the establishment of cooperative relationship of social responsibility sharing. In addition, one-time investment makes the credibility of energy-saving service enterprises become the key to affect the implementation of projects, and the behavioral strategy of energysaving service enterprises plays a decisive role in the social responsibility sharing of the subject.

3.1.2 Choice of social responsibility sharing model

According to the above mode analysis, there is no fixed mode for the social responsibility sharing of the subject of the existing building energy-saving renovation, which should be selected according to the actual project characteristics, subject characteristics and interest demands. Therefore, this paper attempts to summarize the key points of the social responsibility sharing mode selection as follows:

(1) The first one is the project properties. The characteristics of the project will affect the form of the contract between the subject, and thus aff ect the choice of the cooperation mode of sharing social responsibility among the subject. For example, for projects with large energy-saving benefits, short return period and owner’s risk aversion, it is more suitable to choose energy-saving benefit sharing contract, which can eff ectively reduce the owner’s risk and enhance the owner’s enthusiasm for energy-saving renovation. For projects with high technical difficulty and easy financing for owners, choosing energy-saving guarantee contract can make full use of the advantages of various subject and improve the efficiency of energysaving renovation. In addition, due to the relatively clear division of responsibilities under the contract, some risks and obstacles to the process of social responsibility sharing and cooperation due to unclear definition of rights and responsibilities can be avoided.

(2) The second one is definition of responsibility. A clear definition of responsibility can make the subject more-clear about the field and scope of social responsibility. For example, under the energy-saving guarantee mode, the owner and the enterprise bear the responsibility of financing and renovation respectively. Although the definition and boundary of social responsibility are still unclear, and social responsibility cannot be clearly divided and allocated, clarifying the scope of their own responsibilities is conducive to the subject, helping the subject understand the relationship with stakeholders, understand their scope of responsibilities, and adjust the direction and level of their resource investment, so as to reasonably build a cooperative relationship of sharing social responsibility among subject, Formulate a responsibility sharing contract suitable for subject characteristics and interest demands.

(3) The third is income distribution. The problem of income distribution is the key to aff ect the social responsibility sharing and cooperation of energy-saving renovation subject. The profit orientation of energy-saving renovation subject makes their behavior affected by the expected income. Firstly, due to the diff erent characteristics of energy-saving renovation subject, the interest demands of energy-saving renovation subject are diff erent; Secondly, the benefits of energy-saving renovation include comprehensive benefits of economy, society and environment, and each subject has diff erent understanding of comprehensive benefits; Finally, affected by the awareness of social responsibility, the subject have different expectations of the benefits brought by social responsibility sharing. Therefore, no matter what kind of responsibility sharing mode is selected, eff ective evaluation and calculation of comprehensive income and determination of the proportion and form of income distribution are the key issues for subject to eff ectively share social responsibility.

3.2 Contract design of sharing social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

The design of social responsibility sharing contract aims to rationally define the responsibilities and obligations of energy-saving renovation subject, scientifically and effectively distribute the comprehensive income of energy-saving renovation, establish the cooperative relationship of social responsibility sharing of energy-saving renovation subject, so as to stimulate and restrict the behavior of subject, improve the cooperation efficiency among subject, and finally achieve the purpose of improving the comprehensive income of energy-saving renovation (Wang, 2016).

The connotation of social responsibility and the particularity of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings determine that the contract design of sharing social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation must: form a relatively independent system; realize the complementary advantages among subject; being with certain adjustability. Firstly, social responsibility sharing does not belong to the scope of project management at present. The voluntary principle of performing social responsibility makes responsibility sharing not only rely on formal contracts to limit and regulate, but also need informal systems to promote. Therefore, social responsibility sharing contract needs to be independent from other project management links to form an independent system; Secondly, social responsibility sharing emphasizes the winwin of individual interests and overall interests. Complementary advantages can make up for individual deficiencies, improve the main cooperation enthusiasm, improve the cooperation efficiency of responsibility sharing, and finally achieve the improvement of comprehensive benefits. At last, due to the long period of energy-saving renovation, the responsibility sharing contract should meet the dynamic internal and external environment and subject needs. Therefore, some flexible clauses must be injected into the responsibility sharing contract on the basis of retention principle to deal with the possible changes during project implementation (Chen, 2018). Based on the above analysis, this paper attempts to put forward the design idea of social responsibility sharing contract from three aspects, as follows:

3.2.1 Meet the design independence of social responsibility sharing contract

Social responsibility sharing should not only conclude a formal contract with a full set of contents, including the participants, the scope and specific content of social responsibility, the main social responsibilities and means to be undertaken by each subject, the possible benefits of responsibility sharing and the proportion of income distribution, but also improve the system of independent supervision, mutual supervision and social public opinion supervision.The construction of information exchange platform and responsibility information disclosure mechanism restrict the behavior of energy-saving renovation subject from the perspective of comprehensive social contract, and promote healthy and effective cooperation among subject.

3.2.2 Meet the mutual benefit of social responsibility sharing contract design

The fundamental purpose of sharing social responsibility is to achieve mutual benefit and winwin between individuals and the whole, energysaving renovation subject and society through eff ective cooperation among subject. The design of energy-saving renovation subject’s social responsibility sharing contract should take improving the subject’s social responsibility consciousness as the starting point. Its content should reflect the diff erence and convergence between the subject’s goal and the overall goal of the project, consider the limitation of subject’s ability and resources, and make full use of the advantages of participating subject through the formulation of contract responsibility sharing and benefit distribution terms, reasonably realize the complementary advantages among the subject, achieve effective cooperation among the subject, and achieve the purpose of maximizing the income of the participants with the overall improvement of project performance.

3.2.3 Meet the adjustability of the design of social responsibility sharing contract

The long-term nature of the existing building energy-saving renovation and the dynamic nature of the real-time process determine that the subject social responsibility sharing contract must inject some adjustable flexible terms to deal with the possible uncertainty. The flexible terms of social responsibility sharing must reflect the level of social responsibility, the form of social responsibility sharing cooperation, the strategy of subject sharing social responsibility under environmental change, and the distribution of social responsibility sharing benefits. The flexible terms of social responsibility sharing contract cannot only deal with the uncertainty of the project implementation process, but also give participants a certain space to adjust their behavior strategies and resource trends according to the actual situation. Therefore, setting adjustable flexible terms in the social responsibility sharing contract can eff ectively improve the efficiency of the subject’s social responsibility sharing.

4.1 Framework of information platform for sharing social responsibility of existing building energy conservation renovation subject

4.1.1 Necessity of information platform construction

The purpose of building an information platform for sharing social responsibility of existing building energy-saving renovation subject is to improve the cooperation efficiency of sharing social responsibility of energy-saving renovation subject and realize mutual benefit and win-win of all subject. At present, the subject of China’s existing building energy-saving renovation market has failed to eff ectively fulfill its social responsibility for two reasons: first, the subject’s enthusiasm to participate in energy-saving renovation is not high. Firstly, the low cost of energy consumption and the uncertainty of energy-saving benefits lead to the subject’s wait-and-see attitude towards energy-saving renovation; secondly, the energy-saving renovation policy is not mandatory for most existing building owners, and the owners will not pay a high price if they do not choose energy-saving renovation; at last, at present, the existing building owners in China lack the relevant knowledge of energy-saving renovation and social responsibility, and lack the understanding of their own benefits and social benefits brought by energy-saving renovation. Second, the information exchange between market subject is not smooth. From the perspective of information itself, on the one hand, the technology, service content and level of energy-saving service enterprises are uneven, on the other hand, the existing buildings are scattered, the performance of buildings is diff erent, and their owners have diff erent needs for energy-saving services; From the perspective of information transmission, the supply and demand subject lack convenient and eff ective ways to obtain each other’s information (Shin, 2011).

4.1.2 Functions of the platform

In order to solve the above problems, the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings must have the following functions:

(1) The first is to publish information. Publishing information is the basic function of the information platform. It cannot only provide the direct information of other subject for the supply and demand subject, but also provide relevant policies, regulations, standards, cases and other auxiliary information and links to help each subject judge and select useful information.

(2) The second is to establish communication channels. Whether the communication channels are smooth and eff ective is an important standard to measure the quality of the platform. Effective communication channels include not only one-toone interactive communication between the supply and demand subject, but also consultation between the market supply and demand subject, the government and third-party institutions.

(3) The third on is comprehensive management. Comprehensive management is the core of the information platform, which can effectively reduce the subject’s responsibility and share the transaction cost, and is beneficial to the construction and maintenance of the subject’s cooperative relationship. Comprehensive management includes the collection and processing of useful information, the coordination and control of the subject’s cooperation, the evaluation and suggestions of energy-saving benefits, and the evaluation and settlement of relevant disputes.

4.1.3 Information resources of the platform

(1) The first is with relevant laws, regulations, policies and standards. The information platform for sharing the social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings shall not only provide relevant laws, regulations and policy standards for energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, but also provide relevant laws, regulations and policy standards for social responsibility. In addition, it shall also provide relevant typical case analysis (including cases of built projects and suggestions for proposed projects), introduction to the lack of social responsibility and notification of relevant default units.

(2) The second is with information of each subject. The subject information mainly refers to the information of energy-saving service enterprises, the registration of existing building owners and the information of relevant institutions. The information of energy-saving service enterprise shall include enterprise qualification, advantageous technology and resources, source of materials and equipment, source of funds and operation, introduction of completed projects and evaluation of partners; the owner’s information shall include property rights, existing building years and service conditions, expected renovation objectives, proposed renovation funds and whether they have relevant knowledge of energy-saving renovation.

(3) The third is information exchange module. The subject dialogue section is used for the implementation of communication and timely feedback between the subject. If the technology allows, it can also track the needs of the subject in real time and push the enterprise consulting services that meet the requirements in time. The main dialogue section should include online question-and-answer and offline message, which can be divided into pre-sales consultation, follow-up communication and after-sales feedback window. It should also include consultation links from government regulators, third-party appraisal agencies and financial and insurance institutions.

(4) The fourth is other information. Other information mainly includes talent training channels, professional talent management measures, energysaving knowledge publicity films and education courses, suggestions for improving energy consumption behavior, and other information related to energy-saving renovation of existing buildings and sharing of social responsibility.

4.1.4 Operation guarantee mechanism

(1) The first is information protection mechanism. Information protection mechanism mainly involves two aspects: one is the protection of user information. Since the platform information is open, on the one hand, it is necessary to avoid illegal enterprise theft of enterprise users’ information and shoddy, so it is necessary to strictly review and access mechanisms; On the other hand, to avoid the exposure of the owner’s information, it is inevitable for the owner to enter private information when using the platform. Therefore, firstly, the owner’s information cannot be made public. Secondly, other users who can obtain the information shall be subject to strict qualification examination and registration of information use. Second, the information platform needs to run with the help of corresponding software and hardware equipment. In order to avoid the intrusion of information by computer viruses and hackers, in addition to establishing an effective supervision mechanism, it is also necessary to protect, encrypt, track and monitor the platform information with the help of information security technology.

(2) The second is management coordination mechanism. The operation of the information platform is long-term and dynamic, and involves multiple subject. In order to realize resource integration and subject cooperation, we must establish a long-term and effective management and coordination mechanism. Firstly, establish a coordination organization to be responsible for the overall planning and daily management of the platform and reduce the management cost of the platform operation; secondly, according to laws, regulations and policy standards, establish a scientific and reasonable resource use plan and strictly implement it to improve the utilization efficiency of resources; finally, establish an effective income sharing mechanism to ensure the reasonable maximization of the income of each participant.

(3) The third is performance evaluation mechanism. Since the construction and operation of the information platform need to invest corresponding costs, and the cooperation among subject will also produce corresponding benefits. Both costs and benefits need to be scientifically evaluated and reasonably distributed. The establishment of an eff ective performance evaluation mechanism can’t only make the cost investment more reasonable, but also deepen the understanding of each subject on the operation process of the platform. To provide guarantee for better service to all participants.

(d) The fourth is information feedback mechanism. The long-term operation of the information platform and the diversity of participants determine that we must improve the service content of the platform and improve the operation efficiency of the platform according to the changing needs of the subject. On the one hand, the information feedback mechanism can feedback the information and needs of each subject to other subject to deepen the subject cooperation. On the other hand, it can share the responsibilities of the subject and feedback the cooperation process to the platform in time to facilitate the adjustment and improvement of the platform.

4.1.5 Overall architecture of the platform

Through the above analysis, the framework of the information platform for sharing social responsibility of the main bodies of the existing building energy-saving renovation is constructed: Taking the management organization, technical personnel and various software and hardware equipment as the basic support, providing various information resources for the main bodies involved in the energy-saving renovation, and finally realizing the function of the platform through the operation guarantee mechanisms such as information protection, management coordination, performance evaluation and information feedback (Lee, 2016).

4.2 Process design of sharing social responsibility of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

4.2.1 The characteristics of the process design of sharing social responsibility of the subject in the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

Process design is an activity based on the determined objectives and ideas, investing the required resources, using a specific organization, and achieving the expected results and certain value through a series of processes. Therefore, the process design of social responsibility sharing should have the following characteristics: the first is the goal. The design of responsibility sharing process must follow the specific goal. The goal is the basis to guide the behavior and resource flow of the existing buildings. The goal should be to maximize the comprehensive benefits of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings. The second is systematic. The process of social responsibility sharing includes not only the definition of social responsibility scope, responsibility distribution, implementation process negotiation and sharing effect evaluation, but also various subject, resources and management forms. The third is being dynamic. The sharing of social responsibility of the reformed subject runs through the whole process of the progress of the technological renovation project. No matter the interest demands of the subject or the external environment may change, the process design of sharing responsibility should be adjusted according to the actual changes.

4.2.2 Multi stage dynamic process design of existing building energy conservation renovation subject sharing social responsibility

Based on the life cycle of the modified project, the process of social responsibility sharing is divided into three stages according to the early stage, construction period and operation period of the project. In the early stage of the project, the subject of energy conservation renovation first need to clarify their respective interest demands, determine the overall scope of social responsibility, and establish a cooperative relationship of shared responsibility according to law; The construction period of the project is the stage in which the subject of energy conservation renovation fully assumes social responsibility. It must have a detailed and operable social responsibility sharing scheme and implement the scheme, continuously evaluate the eff ect of the implementation scheme, give real-time feedback and coordination, and initially distribute the income of responsibility sharing at the end of the construction period; During the operation period of the project, due to the change of the cooperation mode of the subject of energy-saving renovation, the responsibility sharing scheme shall be adjusted, the new scheme shall be implemented and the energysaving income shall be redistributed.

4.3 Construction of social responsibility sharing system for the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings

System is a series of normative systems set up by the organization or society as a whole to achieve specific functions or objectives. The “economic man” hypothesis holds that all human actions are to maximize their own interests. Based on this assumption, we should not only change the design of subject social responsibility sharing system, but also use fixed rules and norms to prevent each subject from damaging the interests of others when pursuing the maximization of their own interests; on the other hand, through reasonable institutional arrangements, make full use of the motivation of the subject to pursue the maximization of its own interests, promote the beneficial behavior of the subject, and realize the unity of the subject’s own interests and social benefits (Tao, 2017). Therefore, the system design should start from two aspects: one is interest guidance, which guides the subject to take positive and cooperative behavior by improving the subject’s income expectation; The second is behavior restriction, which limits the subject’s misconduct by using control resources and prescribing code of conduct. Scientific and reasonable system design is an important guarantee to promote the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings to effectively share social responsibility, and is of great significance to the smooth implementation of energysaving renovation projects.

4.3.1 Interest oriented system design

The interest demands of the subject of energysaving renovation of existing buildings are complex and diverse, including not only direct economic interests, but also environmental benefits and reputation benefits. The interest guiding system should aim at the different interest demands of each subject and promote the improvement of subject behavior through various positive incentive means. Therefore, starting from the demands of existing building owners and energy-saving service enterprises, which are the core subject sharing the social responsibility for the energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, the analysis is as follows:

(1) The first is owner interest orientation system. Since the existing building energy-saving renovation project aims to meet the owner’s energysaving renovation needs and has a leading impact on the implementation and operation of the whole project, the owner plays a vital role in the process of sharing social responsibility and cooperation of the subject of the existing building energy-saving renovation. The interest orientation system design of the owner’s behavior is mainly at two levels:

First, use the owner’s pursuit of improving the comfort of building use to guide the owner to actively cooperate with the progress of energysaving renovation. Energy saving renovation is a long-term and complex process. The implementation stage of the renovation is always in the environment of personnel and equipment interaction and multi-agent interaction. Whether the owner can provide convenience for the implementation of energy saving renovation as much as possible without damaging his own interests has an important impact on the implementation effect of the renovation. Therefore, in addition to the energysaving effect promised in the contract, effective communication should be established between the main bodies, which cannot only enable the owner to timely understand the progress of energy-saving renovation, but also promote the owner to improve his own energy consumption behavior.

Second, use economic benefits to stimulate owners to actively support energy-saving renovation projects in terms of funds and actions. In the cooperation relationship construction stage of the changed subject, if the owner can promise to invest, it will obtain a higher proportion of energysaving benefits, the owner is likely to adopt the investment strategy, which cannot only reduce the capital pressure of energy-saving service enterprises, but also enable the owner to obtain more energy-saving returns. In the later operation stage of the project, on the one hand, guide the owner to establish a sense of social responsibility through the ethics of public opinion, on the other hand, let the owner understand the role of standardized energy consumption behavior in promoting the longterm increase of energy-saving benefits, and then give the owner energy-saving behavior guidance. The overall improvement of the owner’s energy consumption behavior is bound to bring the improvement of comprehensive economic, environmental and social benefits.

(2) The second is interest oriented system for energy-saving service enterprises. The energy-saving service enterprise is the construction subject of energy-saving renovation. It provides all elements of funds, talents, technology and equipment for the implementation of energy-saving renovation, and is responsible for all relevant organization and management. Therefore, the energy-saving service enterprise is the core implementation subject of social responsibility during the implementation of the existing renovation project. The essence of energysaving service enterprises is a profit-making social organization. Therefore, giving reasonable positive incentives to energy-saving service enterprises can stimulate the renovation power of energy-saving service enterprises and improve their service level to a certain extent. The interest orientation system for energy-saving service enterprises should also start from two aspects:

On the one hand, stimulate the ability of energy-saving service enterprises to improve and transform through economic incentives. Economic incentives should start from two directions. One is to promote the self-development of energy-saving service enterprises, reduce the financing pressure of energy-saving service enterprises by broadening financing channels or providing special subsidies, encourage industry university research cooperation, and help enterprises eliminate the obstacles to energy-saving renovation and technological innovation; the second is to improve the income of energy-saving service enterprises in the renovation project. In addition to the increase in income brought by improving the energy-saving effect, provide additional financial incentives for energysaving service enterprises with better renovation effect and stimulate the power to improve the renovation level.

On the other hand, we should guide energysaving service enterprises to standardize their renovation behavior through reputation incentive. In addition to profitability, good reputation is also very important if energy-saving service enterprises want to have a long-term foothold in the energysaving renovation market. Therefore, by improving the performance evaluation mechanism and information disclosure mechanism, we can timely and objectively evaluate the financing, management, renovation and other capabilities of energy-saving service enterprises and the implementation of energy-saving renovation, publicly commend the enterprises with excellent service quality, circulate a notice of criticism to the defaulting enterprises, or use the information platform to display the user’s evaluation of the enterprise, guide enterprises to actively improve their reputation and continuously improve the quality of energy-saving services under legal requirements and public expectations.

4.3.2 Behavioral constraint system design

The behavior constraint system is a necessary supplement to the interest guidance system, and has strong guidance and binding force on the behavior of the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings. Behavior constraint system is to prevent the possible default behavior of the subject and damage the interests of other subject, which can be set from the following aspects:

(1) The first is interest constraint. The profit seeking nature of each subject determines that interest constraint is the most effective method to standardize the subject’s behavior. For energysaving service enterprises, the characteristics of EPC mode of existing building energy-saving renovation determine that energy-saving service enterprises bear almost all the risks of energy-saving renovation projects and master most of the information in the process of energy-saving renovation. On the one hand, energy-saving service enterprises that forge qualifications, steal work and materials and falsely report energy-saving effect information should be fined higher, On the other hand, a certain proportion of energy-saving income can be deducted for enterprises whose energy-saving renovation eff ect does not meet the promised goal. For the existing building owners, the owners are the implementation subject in the operation stage. Their energy consumption behavior directly aff ects the realization of the later energy-saving effect. The method of layered measurement and charging can be adopted, and the owners who exceed the energy consumption standard will be charged at a high price to improve the standardization of energy consumption.

(2) The second is resource constraint. Resource constraints eliminate the lack of social responsibility of energy-saving service enterprises from the source of lack of social responsibility. Resources include many aspects. First, strictly control the source quality of materials and equipment, and eliminate the circulation of low-quality raw materials in the market; secondly, cut off the financing channels of enterprises with poor reputation and reduce their competitive advantage; Thirdly, through the information platform to reduce the lack of responsibility, enterprises obtain the demand information of energy-saving renovation services, so that they can’t undertake the project.

(3) The third is right constraint. Right restriction promotes the rational transfer and distribution of rights among subject and stimulates the renovation power of subject. On the one hand, because the energy-saving renovation service aims to meet the needs of the owner, the behavior and attitude of the existing building owners affect the whole process of the implementation and operation of the energy-saving renovation project. In order to avoid unnecessary changes in the project implementation process caused by the non-professional requirements of the owner and aff ect the realization of the overall performance of the project, it is necessary to limit the scope and degree of the owner’s rights in the contract. On the other hand, the energy-saving service enterprise provides the owner with a full set of energy-saving services under the authorization of the owner. The energy-saving service enterprise grasps various rights such as materials, equipment and organization management, but it is difficult for the owner to directly observe the behavior of the energy-saving service enterprise. In order to avoid deception by the enterprise due to too large range of rights, it is necessary to limit the rights of the enterprise, Supervision mechanism can also be used to supervise enterprise behavior.

5.1 Implement a variety of incentive means to mobilize the subject’s enthusiasm for performing responsibilities

The positive externality of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings determines that effective incentives are indispensable to promote the subject of energy-saving renovation to actively perform social responsibility. In view of the slow development of China’s existing building energysaving renovation market and the differences between the conditions and needs of the supply and demand subject in the existing building energysaving renovation market, the incentive means to promote the existing building energy-saving renovation subject to actively perform their social responsibilities can be economic incentive, policy incentive, reputation incentive (Zhang, 2017). The first is economic incentive, which is the most intuitive and eff ective incentive means. On the one hand, it can directly help the survival of most small and medium-sized energy-saving service enterprises, on the other hand, it can drive the enthusiasm of existing building owners, such as broadening the financing channels of small and medium-sized energy-saving service enterprises and providing them with tax incentives and financial incentives, Improve the income distribution proportion of owners actively participating in the renovation; the second is technical incentive, which is mainly used to improve the business capacity of energy-saving service enterprises and improve the service quality of energy-saving service enterprises, mainly including special technical funds and equipment support; The last is reputation incentive. At present, with the rapid development of information technology, reputation incentive seems to be the most important incentive means. It can’t only report the social responsibility behavior of social organizations and groups through the media, but also use various platforms to enable the people to directly evaluate the enterprise.

5.2 Use reasonable contract design to stabilize the cooperative relationship between subject

The existing building energy-saving renovation subject share the social responsibility, which is based on the relatively stable cooperative relationship between the subject. Through the reasonable contract design, it is very important to clarify the subject’s “responsibilities and rights” and divide them reasonably. Firstly, the contract design should include “responsibility”, which not only refers to the responsibilities of each subject, but also refers to the social responsibilities of the subject. The provisions of responsibility should not only clarify the scope of responsibility, but also divide the respective responsibilities of the subject; The second is “right”, which refers to the subject’s domination of resources and its influence on other subject. The provision of right should not only avoid interference from the non-professional requirements of the owners to the implementation of energy-saving renovation, but also deceive the owner by using the professional advantages of energy-saving service enterprises; the last is “profit”. The social responsibility sharing of the subject of the existing building energy-saving renovation aims at improving the comprehensive income and realizing the mutual benefit and win-win of the subject. The expectation and distribution of income is the key to aff ecting the responsibility sharing of the subject. Therefore, the provisions of profit must include two sets of distribution schemes of established income and excess income.

5.3 Promote the participation and cooperation of non-core subject and create a good responsibility environment

A good environment for the performance of social responsibility plays an important role in promoting the eff ective sharing of social responsibility among the subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings. On the one hand, the long-term and complex process of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings involves multiple subject. In addition to the core subject, many noncore subject (such as financial institutions, thirdparty evaluation institutions, colleges and universities and other scientific research institutes) will have an impact on the energy-saving renovation process. Therefore, the participation of non-core subject should be strengthened by building structures including financing, evaluation Technological innovation and other functional cooperation platforms to give full play to the linkage role of noncore subject; On the other hand, the quasi-public goods attribute and strong positive externalities of the existing building energy-saving renovation determine that the public has become an important beneficiary for the energy-saving renovation subject to share social responsibility. Therefore, cultivating the social responsibility consciousness of the whole society through publicity and education can’t only guide the energy-saving renovation subject to standardize its own behavior. It can also use public opinion to improve the main behavior of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings.

5.4 Optimize industrial social responsibility standards and establish a system of laws and regulations for performing responsibilities

From the practice at home and abroad, the establishment of social responsibility standards and relevant laws and regulations is an effective way to promote enterprises to standardize their own behavior and actively fulfill their social responsibility (Wei, 2014). At present, there is still a lack of complete industry standards and perfect legal system on social responsibility in the field of building energy conservation in China. The first is to establish the social responsibility standard of the existing building energy-saving renovation industry as a powerful reference for the implementation of social responsibility sharing by the subject of the existing building energy-saving renovation. The establishment of the standard should refer to the relevant standards of social responsibility at home and abroad, combined with the actual situation of our country and the relevant regulations of the existing building energy-saving renovation industry, which will reasonably and effectively realize the economic, social Environmental benefits are included in the measurement criteria to design terms; Secondly, establish the legal system for energy-saving renovation of existing buildings, and guide the market subject of energy-saving renovation of existing buildings in a standardized and institutionalized way. The establishment of the legal system can learn from the relatively mature laws and regulations of foreign building energysaving industry and the relevant provisions of the company law, In the industrial social responsibility laws and regulations, the scope and level of social responsibility performed by the subject of energysaving renovation of existing buildings shall be specified, and the relevant supervision and restraint mechanism shall be established appropriately.

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71573188), Late-stage Subsidy Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Education Department of China (Grant No. 16JHQ031), Tianjin Social Science Planning later support project (Grant No. TJGLHQ1403), Tianjin University Innovation Team (Grant No. TD13-5006).