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.

Was walking through Lujiazui this afternoon and notice this sign in front of Super Brand Mall.  Good to see that in an area that seems to see a new sete of cranes every week someone is advertising they are going LEED.

Perhaps, they can catalyze a competition among developers?  Or perhaps the mayor will just follow the SF model and enforce LEED for all new buildings?

One can only dream…..

… and there is also the UNEP Expo Report, which spends 150 pages on the “sustainability” of EXPO

Key concern #1 for almost everyone has been the fact that of the 50+ pavilions being erected, only 4 will remain.  that, even when being sold as a “sustainable” EXPO – the first of its kind – it is really … NOT.  However, on the Puxi side of the river where the Urban BEst Practice Area (UBPA) is being constructed, it appears that a reprieve has been granted as UBPA structures may become office, recreation zone

THE Urban Best Practices Area of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be turned into an office, bar and entertainment area after the 184-day event concludes, an Expo planner revealed yesterday [...] After the Expo, all the UBPA buildings that involve distinctive architectural styles will remain. They will be transformed into a complex including office buildings, galleries, museums and pubs, Tang said.

A big ambiguous to say the least, it is going to be interesting going forward to see just what will qualify as a “distinctive architectural style”, or if it is really about who has a lease prior to the demo crews showing up, but either way I am glad to see that there is a slight chance that 50 more buildings will not be built and reduced to rubble 6 months later.

“China’s Urban Billion” – Episode Teaser from Green Dragon Media on Vimeo.

At 120 RMB a night, the 12 sqm hotel room was literally was packing in as much efficiency as possible.

Building materials aside (I thought it best not to rip open a wall), I give the hotel credit on a number of fronts.
1) Double Paned Windows
2) Water saving shower head
3) CFLs in every lamp and fixture (not a single halogen in the room)
4) NO WATER BOTTLES IN THE ROOM
5) No bath tub
6) Card reader that could not be fooled by business card

Items that would be categorized as “room to improve”
1) Disposable toiletries
2) No central A/C – each room had own window unit

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.”

In another, don’t pop the bubbly story, Patel Architecture Inc. announced that they have completed the design of a 5-Star China Hotel To Be Carbon-Neutral

For those of you who are saying… Wait a minute, URBN hotel in Shanghai is the first carbon neutral hotel, you would be right… and wrong.

Where this story really is interesting, is that per the announcement, it appears that this facility will not require the purchase of carbon offsetting and will deploy a lot of technology to make it carbon neutral by operation and design:

The design provides for wind turbines on the upper portion of the tower and massive array of photovoltaic panels covering the entire south façade. In the basement is a provision to incorporate a fuel cell power generator that would run on clean natural gas to efficiently produce electricity and heat for hot water. The proposed groundbreaking design of the 373-key Mayland Seaside Hotel would make it the first hotel in the world to be completely carbon-neutral.

To be completed by 2012 – 2013, I look forward to seeing what changes/ compromises are made to bring the project to market.

In another example of the fact that anything is possible through technology, money, and design, Coop Himmelblau has put forward this creation:

The facade’s design is driven by solar and wind powered energy generation. The second skin of the building will be lined with photovoltaic cells and will feature mechanisms to provide natural ventilation, reduce wind pressure, shade the interior from sun and display multimedia banners. The use of sun and wind as renewable energy sources will increase energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuel energy.

Of Course, that just leaves a couple 10,000 other buildings in Shenzhen to retrofit…Anyone know of a retrofit project in progress?

It is a topic that Edward Ziegler has studied and written some excellent articles on, and it is a the focus of a 518,000 grant from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Based in richmond Washington, this agency is an arm off the US Department of Energy and will work with 2 cities to train construction company employees and inspectors (an often overlooked area in need of more investment) as part of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate

Like other programs that are being piloted in the area of eco-building/ cities, the core issue will be creating a platform that can be scaled out across China.  IT was a question of the Dongtan development (prior to its shutdown), and it will continue to be a critical question for planners as an unprecidented amount of building takes place across China.

By 2015, the World Bank estimates, half the world’s building construction will be in China. Over the next 20 years, China will build 430 billion square feet of floor space, or the equivalent of 20,000 to 50,000 new skyscrapers, the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of New York-based McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm

Click here to view the embedded video.