According to the poor environment situation of residential building in Tibetan plateau both urban and rural and the shortage of conventional energy sources, this paper presents the basic theories, methods and key technical problems for low energy consumption buildings design appropriate to the local climate natural condition and the social economic background, by the means of large-scale field investigation, detailed testing and calculation on the physical environment and energy consumption and the comprehensive analysis about the basic model of residential buildings. The basic meteorological data for low energy building design are developed. The energy saving building system for city and rural and the new rural ecological residential building model, based on the local culture and social economic development condition, are proposed and designed focusing on the utilization of solar energy. Moreover, exemplary projects are built,which not only meet basic thermal comfort level, but also guarantee the super low energy consumption for heating and cooling. Design standard and atlas reference to low energy building design for Tibetan plateau are compiled, promoting the overall progress of building energy conservation. The results of this study provide an effective reference for the entire Qinghai-Tibet plateau and for other areas of the country.