China Issues New National Standard for Compressed Air Stations to Drive Industrial Energy Efficiency
Compressed air stations account for approximately 12% of China's total industrial electricity consumption. This new voluntary standard introduces a comprehensive framework for evaluating the energy performance of existing, newly constructed, and retrofitted stations. It defines evaluation metrics, value determination rules, and a classification system for energy efficiency.
A key highlight of the standard is its energy efficiency classification policy, which showed that the best-performing compressed air stations can be 60% more efficient than the lowest efficiency level. According to CLASP’s Mepsy analysis, if all stations in China reach Level 4 efficiency, cumulative emissions reductions could total 880 Mt of CO₂ by 2040. If all achieve Level 1 efficiency, the reductions could reach 1.6 Gt of CO₂ by 2040.
The standard introduces several technical innovations:
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Output work efficiency is adopted as the core metric, simplifying energy efficiency assessments by accounting for pressure variation, a longstanding challenge in system evaluation.
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A new mathematical modeling approach replaces the outdated tabular method in T/CGMA 033001-2018, enhancing continuity and supporting digital monitoring and management.
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A weighted coefficient method is introduced for assessing compressed heat recovery, ensuring a comprehensive and integrated approach to energy efficiency evaluation.
By addressing key technical gaps and enabling more accurate performance assessments, GB/T 45785–2025 lays a strong foundation for ministries and local governments to promote energy savings and continuous optimization of compressed air systems across China's industrial sector.
CLASP’s China team provided technical support as key experts, by identifying the most efficient compressed air stations and developing a unified formula to calculate the baseline and most efficiency line for the compressed air station classification scheme.