With the need of both heating and cooling demands in the hot summer and cold winter (HSCW) zone of China, the demand on buildingenvelope can be different from that in the northern colder region, where energy demand is dominant by the heating need. The paper examines theenergy performance of common types of building facades with various degrees of insulation and solar transmittance using the climatic data inHangzhou, a city in the HSCW zone. The results show that window insulation and solar shading are the two most energy efficient measures forbuilding envelopes in Hangzhou. The double skin façade (DSF) turned out to be the most efficient envelope by having better insulation andshading scheme. In the south orientation where the solar radiation is sufficiently strong, the DSF with shading device can be energy positive.Without proper shading device, the transparent façade is no better than walls with properly insulated windows except in the south orientation,where transparent façade is advantageous to gain solar radiation in winter. The results support that better insulated and transparent facades withsolar shading devices should be encouraged in the HSCW zone. In other cities with different solar radiation, we suggest that the building envelopeshould always be checked against the annual climatic data during the design stage.