SCIO press conference on progress of green Olympics and sustainability for Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 17, 2022
Southern Metropolis Daily:
We've learned that Beijing adhered to the principles of low-carbon and energy-efficient in constructing the Winter Olympic Village, and all the residential buildings have been certificated as three-stars green buildings. How were these buildings created? Were their construction costs high? Will the technologies be applied to other public facilities? Thank you.
Liu Yumin:
Thank you for your questions. A green building is a building that saves resources, protects the environment, and reduces pollution during its whole life cycle while providing people with healthy, suitable, and efficient space to realize the harmonious co-existence between man and nature to the most significant extent. A green building has characteristics of safety and durability, health and comfort, convenience, resource conservation and livability. Therefore, it is an essential measure for peak carbon and carbon neutrality in the construction industry.
In China, three stars are awarded to the highest-rated green buildings. China attaches great importance to developing green buildings and vigorously promotes green building practices. As with many other countries, China has included green building requirements into the general requirements for urban construction. Though standards differ among countries, the construction costs of the green buildings in the Winter Olympic Village all fall within a reasonable range. Therefore, the buildings are economical and meet the requirements for sustainable development.
We coordinated the construction of venues for Beijing 2022 throughout all procedures, including site selection, design and material selection, to fulfill the criteria of being both economical and effective. As a result, as Mr. Li Sen mentioned, all the newly-built indoor venues for the Games have met China's standards of three-stars green buildings.
Whether in China or other countries, most green building standards are formulated for indoor buildings. However, many Winter Olympic venues are outdoor buildings, including those constructed on snow. Therefore, we organized experts to develop a green building standard for sports venues on snow in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province in the early construction process. Up to now, all the venues have met the standard. This regional standard has promoted the construction of green buildings for the Games and contributed to the development of the Winter Olympics in China and relevant international standards. It will also become a legacy of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Winter Olympic Village in Beijing has adopted many new green technologies. For example, the main residential building in the village adopts a prefabricated steel structure. This aseismic structure is light, environmentally friendly, and quick to build. It is also easy to control its quality.
A polyclinic needs to be set up inside the village according to the requirements. Therefore, this medical facility adopts a building envelope with greater thermal insulation and airtightness as a demonstration project of ultra-low energy-consuming buildings. In addition, highly efficient fresh air heat recovery technology helps minimize the need for heating and cooling the building while making good use of renewable energy.
The sound insulation and air quality of the interior spaces such as bedrooms and living rooms have been optimized to create a healthy and comfortable environment.
The roof of the building can host various outdoor activities. It helps improve the microclimate and offers the "Fifth Façade" for the urban environment. At the same time, solar panels installed on the roof can supply more than 70% of residential hot water.
We pay special attention to controlling carbon emissions during the construction and operation of the venues. We selected low-carbon materials and equipment through Building Information Modeling (BIM) analytics. With the help of an energy consumption monitoring platform, we coordinated carbon emission information across the village.
It is fair to say that the Winter Olympic Village has become a model living environment project, which is green, healthy, livable, intelligent, and sustainable. It can provide a healthy and comfortable living environment for athletes from all over the world and set an example for the development of the construction industry. The above-mentioned green building requirements have become part of the general requirements of China's construction industry. The technologies I mentioned just now will continue to be used in urban construction. As technologies mature and upgrade, I believe green buildings will play a bigger role in improving venues and urban construction.
Thank you.
Chen Wenjun:
Thank you to friends from the media and all our speakers. Today's press conference is with this concluded.
Translated and edited by Cui Can, Chen Xia, Gong Yingchun, Liu Sitong, Dong Qingpei, Zhang Junmian, Zhang Rui, Huang Shan, Zhu Bochen, Wang Yanfang, Zhang Liying, Li Huiru, Wang Qian, Wang Yiming, Yuan Fang, Duan Yaying, Yang Xi, Zhang Jiaqi, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, Tom Arnstein and Drew Pittock. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.
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