Abstract: Since the reform and opening up, my country's social economy has always maintained a rapid development trend. Our people have created huge social wealth with hard work, which has significantly improved our country's comprehensive national strength and the people's living standards. In this context, people also have higher requirements for the living environment, which has promoted the rapid development of civil construction in our country, so the construction industry has become one of the pillars of our national economy. In the new era, my country is paying more and more attention to environmental protection and effective use of resources, and energy conservation and environmental protection have become new requirements and new goals for various industries. Judging from the status quo of civil buildings in my country, they have serious environmental pollution and consume large amounts of resources. Based on this, this paper conducts research from both theoretical and practical aspects. First, it analyzes the concept of energy-saving design, then discusses the principles, infl uencing factors, functions and meanings that energy-saving design in civil buildings should follow, and fi nally puts forward the application of energy-saving design concepts in architectural design eff ect.