Evolution of China’s Building Energy Service Industry Based on Synergetic Theory

Global climate crises are forcing the world to behave sustainably. The building energy service industry (BESI) emerged and promoted building energy conservation by providing a market-oriented mechanism for initial investment. However, the BESI lacks scientific and rational planning, lagging far behind the energy service in the industrial sector. This paper attempts to analyze BESI from the perspective of order parameter-based analysis by adopting the DEMATEL (Decision-Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory) method, thereby revealing the characteristics of industrial evolution and ascertaining the main order parameters. Consequently, the results show that the evolution of the BESI industry relies on synergistic interaction in the corporate operation, industry-standard, production factor-related, and external environmental industry subsystems. The synergy of the BESI consists of synergy in subsystems, between subsystems, and between the system and the external environment. Three main order parameters dominating the evolution of the BESIs system are determined, namely, “financial support”, “industry standard”, and “technology innovation”. Financial support and industry standard drove the development of the BESI in China over the last few years, while technological innovation will lead its evolution in the coming years. Based on these results, policy suggestions can be proposed to foster BESI development, especially regarding technological innovation.