The green buildings of Shanghai Research Institute of Building Science include an office building for the demonstration of public building and two residential buildings, which are for the demonstration of flat and villa, respectively. Here, a solar-powered integrated energy system including heating, air-conditioning, natural ventilation and hot water supply was designed and constructed for the office building. However, only solar hot-water systems were installed for the flat and villa. All the three solar thermal systems have continuously run for 2 years. Two different integrated approaches have been put into practice in the two green residential buildings. It is shown that, for new buildings, solar collectors can be mounted on balconies and awnings besides roofs, on condition that solar systems become part of the general building design. The solar-powered integrated energy system has the advantage of high utilization ratio with different functions according to different seasons. It is testified to be capable of taking on about 70% of the yearly building load regarding the involved space under the weather condition of Shanghai. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.