This paper presents the basic background and status of energy efficient building evaluation standards in China and abroad. It introduces the main technical contents, evaluating index system of the energy efficient building renovation in China and then summarizes the characteristics. In the end, the evaluating results of five evaluated projects using this standard were compared with those using the evaluation standard for green building. Though similar results were obtained, the comparison indicates that this standard has good scientificalness and operability. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.