Cleaner Greener China

January 18, 2010

Get to GIGA Event on Saturday

Filed under: Greener Companies, Greener NGOs, Greener People, Greener Products, Greener Tech — Tags: , — Rich @ 9:55 pm

For anyone looking to come down from 30,000 feet to get their hands dirty with Green Buildings, then I recommend checking out this Saturday’s GIGA event (1:00 – 5:30pm).

Full details are at their website (click here), but here is the basics:

Schedule:

13:00 – 13:30: registration and networking
13:30 – 13:45: event introduction and welcome
13:45 – 14:20: case study: building positive impact
14:20 – 14:30: RCC: China’s premiere project information network
14:30 – 14:40: WoiGreen: making green fashionable
14:40 – 15:10: Manufacturer 1 GuLi: quality window and door hardware
15:10 – 15:30: break
15:30 – 16:00: Manufacturer 2 JinJing: ultra clear glass
16:00 – 16:30: Manufacturer 3 Haworth: positive furniture
16:30 – 17:00: GIGA: incremental improvements
17:00 – 17:30: GIGAbase LIVE: reviews of Manufacturers 1, 2, and 3

Where:
Haworth Organic Workspace
16F Shanghai World Financial Center
100 Century Avenue Pudong New Area
Shanghai
When:
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010.
13:00-17:00

The event is free, but you must register here before joining.

Also, a word of warning, when going to the site you will need to bring some ID.  The World Financial Center will not let you in otherwise.

April 14, 2009

Rebuilding Green In Hong Kong

Filed under: Policies and Issues, Uncategorized — Tags: , — Rich @ 12:32 am

When researching sustainability in the building sector, one will come across a lot of new technologies for how buildings can be made better… meters, cement, solar panels, insulation, and so on.

However, at the same time as we are celebrating these technologies and the architects who are able  to incorporate them into their buildings, it is equally important to recognize that in China’s cities there is a huge need to address the buildings that have been constructed during the last 10 years.

It is perhaps one of the greatest markets I see in China, given the billions of square meters built in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and dozens of other cites, and the recent CNN article Can Hong Kong build bigger, higher, greener? provides a glimpse into some of the green forces at work in HK.

Famous for their refrigerator like mall conditions, hugely unsustainable, the article really gets to the heart of it by showing how sustainability is being hampered by lax building regulations and greedy developers – a condition that exists in the mainland as well.

…but a few rays of hope as firms like Swire (mentioned in article), Shui On (not mentioned), and others take steps to conduct audits an invest in the after market:

By converting a five-storey “tong lau” — an old Chinese building — with solar panels, a turfed roof and energy efficient appliances, Khan also is keen to emphasize that his eco-friendly flat is as much about preserving the old and a sense of heritage as it is about being green.

“In an age when you can combine development and also adapt and reuse — it’s the ultimate in recycling. You incorporate innovation and there’s a premium attached to it.”

March 30, 2009

Building the Future on Sludge

Filed under: Greener Products — Tags: , — Rich @ 2:56 am

With one of the key areas of focus in China to improve efficiencies being buildings, and building materials, I found the Cleantech article Sludge-powered cement in China? particularly interesting.

Guangdong, China-based Guangzhou Heidelberg Yuexiu Cement said it began treating sludge this week at its RMB 70 million ($10.2 million) facility designed to turn the wastewater byproduct into a fuel for cement-making.

The company expects the technology to both reduce the coal needed to produce cement, as well as tackle the sludge problem in China.

Initially, I must admit that I experienced a bit of a gag reflex when I first read this article as I thought about the fact that buildings of sludge laden cement would result from this technology. However it did not take me long to look past that and realize that with millions of km of road being planned as part of the recent stimulus package this was a product with a bright future.

December 15, 2008

Creating Energy Through Revolving Doors

Filed under: Greener Products — Tags: — Rich @ 11:01 am

In perhaps one of the easiest, and most transferable technologies, that I have seen in a while, Boon Edam has recently installed a revolving door generation product that I would say is ripe for China.

According to the Boon Edam press release, installing the door inside a train station with a capacity of 8500:

The TQM revolving door will help primarily to save the carefully generated and conserved energy. A calculation was made for this particular situation that indicated an energy saving of around 4600 kWh per year, a considerable saving compared to a conventional sliding entrance.

It is an inexpensive piece of equipment, that is probably at a similar cost structure to an revolving that is automatic, and in my mind that means that commercial and retail developers could find these very attractive.

With higher levels of traffic, the amount of power could be increased, and surely with technology advances that would come through manufacturing at scale the efficiency rating would increase as well.

November 26, 2008

The Future of Connected and Sustainable Cities

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — Rich @ 9:35 am

With dozens of cities in China urbanizing all at the same time, and at a pace matched at no time by anyone else, making sure cities are planned and built properly is a must.

YouTube Preview Image

October 12, 2008

Cleaner Greener Materials

Filed under: Greener Products — Tags: , , — Rich @ 7:32 am

Poptech is one of those website that I need to visit on a monthly basis, and this month I found the 20 minute presentation given by Blaine Brownell.

Like my friends at GIGA, Brownell is:

an architect obsessed with sustainable building materials. He introduces a wonderful world of products made from repurposed materials and provides a glimpse of what a post-fossil fuel world might look like.

through this clip, we are given a glimpse into some of the coolest new products that architects are able to incorporate into their designs and projects.  My hope is that we will see these products in China as China’s development plans still include billions of square meters of space to be built, and having already surpassed the US as the top green house emitter, I see building materials as a way that China could find huge energy savings.

To read more about Blaine Brownell, you can go to Worldchanging, you can read his book on Google Reader, or you can visit Transtudio to learn more about what he and his firm are up to.

October 11, 2008

Alcoa Moves To Build Sustainable China

Filed under: Greener Companies, Greener Products — Tags: , , — Rich @ 4:23 am

A couple weeks behind on this story, but the China Daily had an article last month titled Alcoa moves to build a sustainable future in China that I thought was really interesting.

According to the article, Alcoa’s position is :

To build a sustainable city, urban traffic capacity and urban resource supply are decisive factors that cannot be neglected.

The application of environmentally friendly materials in traffic and transportation and urban construction is of great importance, according to Alcoa.

Using a considerable amount of aluminum in automobiles will improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions of greenhouse gas. With China’s large population, transportation such as trains, automobiles and others are frequently used. If aluminum is widely adopted in transportation, the discharge of the greenhouse gases will be greatly reduced, Wieser said.

And they have a few case studies

Alcoa cooperated with the Beijing Public Transportation Co and provided the forged aluminum wheels for 50 electric motorcycles. A new type of environmentally friendly bus jointly introduced by Alcoa and Yutong Bus was road tested in August

and

Alcoa’s construction product Reynolux has been widely used in many newly built facilities including the Terminal 3 of the Capital International Airport and the National Indoor Stadium for its aesthetic appeal and exceptional weather resistance.

No doubt, by making lighter modes of transportation, a savings in petroleum will be found, and that by using Alcoa products vs. a local steel smelter we can be assured that the VOCs released into the atmosphere are fewer.

However, Aluminum is one of the most energy intensive products there is, and the smelting process is a nasty one filled with VOCs.. so when I read something like the below, I have to wonder if they are a “sustainable” company at the core.. or are just regulated that tightly

“Considering that sustainable development is a long-term investment, we will do our best to minimize the impact of operations on the environment. At the same time, we are always ready to share with the industry the achievements that Alcoa has made in the fields of environmental protection and energy conservation because we are convinced that only by making great strides in those areas can we achieve the sound and long-term development of the enterprise itself and the whole industry.”

October 6, 2008

Home First Emission Free Building in China in Ningbo

Filed under: Greener Products — Tags: , , , — Rich @ 4:34 am

h/t to Alex Pasternack at Treehugger for highlighting China’s First Zero-Emissions Building: Ningbo’s Sustainable Energy Technology Center .

Alongside an array of photovoltaic cells around the building (with batteries that can store two weeks’ worth of electricity), the building boasts geothermal energy, which is used to cool and heat the floor slabs. A double skin of glass — with screen printing of the area’s historical buildings — offers reduced solar radiation. Materials are locally sourced, and there’s a gray water and rainwater recycling system. A large rooftop opening brings natural light to all floors of the building simultaneously creating a flue effect to allow efficient natural ventilation.

According to Bologna-based Mario Cucinella Architects, who is known for its sustainable focus, the building is designed so that it’s electrical energy needs for cooling are only 7-8 kWhr /m2 a year.

The 1,300 square meter building hosts a visitors center, research laboratories and classrooms for masters courses. Sitting in a large meadow alongside a stream that runs through the campus, its design is inspired by Chinese lanterns and traditional wooden screens.

In china, where there are fewer than 20 LEED certified architects, and fewer LEED certified buildings, projects like these are few and far between.

October 5, 2008

Chinese Architect Shows Paper House in Venice

Filed under: Greener Products — Tags: — Rich @ 6:06 am

While there will be limited applications for developing a paper house (as you see above) in China, where I can see some interesting applicatons for this type of product/ technology/ form is inside the house.  Already, you have the folks from A00 showing off what can be done with old suitcases, and if there is an element of this form that I think could make this interesting is simply that it is another product that can come from recylced paper.

According to the coverage at Inhabitat:

Ultimately, Xianggang hopes that the Paper-House emphasizes the importance of sound construction. In a world where new developments seem to pop up daily, quality should not be forgotten.  Although it is unlikely we will see paper-house villages in the future, the message is worth considering, and the house itself is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

Something the UK architects visiting China on sustainability market mission can learn from China on their November mission.

September 14, 2008

CO2 Sucking Blocks Have Potential Markets for China

Filed under: Greener Companies, Greener Products — Tags: , — Rich @ 11:04 am

Given China’s building boom, and China’s reliance on bricks and concrete to build walls and foundations, the applications for this product could be huge if the product was proven and brought into China.

A product of Carbon Sense Solutions, it CO2 eating concrete process is one that is still under review (according to their website), and according to the EcoGeek review of the technology:

Concrete carbonation – the sucking up of CO2 by concrete as it cures – occurs naturally, but Carbon Sense Solutions says its faster curing method gets concrete to suck up more CO2 in a way that uses off-the-shelf technology that can be slapped on to their existing equipment. The process also uses 30% to 40% less energy to manufacture. The lower amount of energy used and the avoidance of expensive new equipment makes the wonder-concrete cheaper, and more profitable. Additional positive byproducts of the method are that the concrete is more durable, and more resistant to shrinking, cracking and water absorption.

Sounds like a winner to me.

go to the Carbon Sense Solutions website to learn more about their company and products.

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