In 2008, the primary energy consumption (excluding biomass energy) of buildings throughout China was nearly one fifth of China's total energy consumption. In addition to the fact that buildings consume such a large fraction of primary energy, recent data indicates that building energy consumption is increasing, especially in urban residential buildings. In order to achieve a good balance between investment costs, energy consumption, and indoor environment quality, various parameters relating to the design of high rise residential buildings were chosen. The influences of these parameters on energy demands for heating and cooling in each Chinese climate zone were studied. Simulations showed that for each climate zone improvement of the three most sensitive design parameters resulted in the following maximum total energy demand reductions: 75 kWh/(m(2) a) in the severe cold zone, 40 kW h/(m(2) a) in the cold and the hot summer and cold winter zones, 50 kW h/(m(2) a) in the hot summer and warm winter zone, and 35 kW h/(m(2) a) in the mild zone. Although more comfortable indoor temperatures will result in higher heating and cooling loads, by improving the building envelope design, the energy demand associated with the increased heating and cooling loads can be lowered. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.