Being a heavy user of fossil fuels, China contributes greatly to pollution and ozone layer destruction. 70% of China’s needs are met by fossil fuels; however, in recent times the country has taken some steps towards environment preservation by relying on wind and solar power as sources of energy.

A vast fan-shaped roof of an 800,000 square-foot facility located in China has officially taken the title of “largest solar-powered office building in the world“. It is situated in Dezhou, Shangdong Province in northwest China. This world's largest solar energy office building was opened on November 27, 2009. Its semi-circular, dial-shaped roofsare covered with solar panels. The building covers an area of 75,000-square-meter. The office building is modelled after the sun dial structure.

The design of the new building is based on the sun dial and “underlines the urgency of seeking renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels.” Conservation of steel was carefully considered through construction and the building is primarily white, which both symbolizes clean energy and reflects solar radiation back to the atmosphere rather than absorbing it as unwanted heat.

The building provides many services such as space for exhibition centres, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities and a sustainable hotel. This building is named as the Sun and the Moon Altar micro-row buildings. The architecture included the Chinese characters for sun and moon. It'll be a showcase of solar design, solar desalination, and, of course, about 50,000 square-feet of solar panels on the exterior.

Aside from the obvious sustainable nature of the solarpanel – clad exterior, other green features include advanced roof and wall insulation practices resulting in an energy savings of 30% more than the national standard. In addition, the external part of the construction makes use of about 1 percent of the amount of steel that was used to build the famous Olympic Stadium, Bird's Nest.

This centrepiece of the $22 billion development–the world’s first sustainable city–will be a 1.4 million square-foot solar building that is energy positive; that is, it will actually produce more power than it needs. This energy efficient building will procure 95% of its energy needs from alternative energy sources. This building also has the facilities of solar hot water and a solar energy theme park.

The building's ground-breaking solar energy and power-saving technologies, some of which have already been patented, include a number of technical advances that will push forward the mass applicationof solar energy. Its extraordinary profile and cutting edge, symbolic design has already made it a local as well a national and international landmark.