http://icb.cau.edu.cn/article/content/view?id=3600
Visit
to Carbon Neutral House, Beijing Olympic Forest Park, by UCD Environmental
Science Students
Those of us living on the CAU East Campus are
fortunate that our campus is located just a few minutes away from Olympic
Forest Park. Designed and constructed for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,
Olympic Forest Park is the largest urban park in Beijing and has become a model
for sustainable urban development and water management in the 21st century.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Olympic Forest Park is the large artificial
wetlands which provide a sophisticated biological water treatment system, as
well as habitat for wild and endangered species, particularly birds.
In the modern world our buildings are the
major source of our demand for energy - accounting for more than 40% of energy
demand - and within our buildings, heating is the foremost consumer of energy.
We all know that our current energy resources - coal, oil, gas - are running
out fast and that burning these resources is the cause of air pollution and the
greenhouse effect. Reducing energy consumption is an urgent priority, and
energy efficiency is often called the “sixth fuel”. On 17th April a
group of freshmen students from the UCD Environmental Science course visited
the “Carbon-Neutral House” at Olympic Forest Park to learn more about modern
technologies being used to reduce energy consumption and improve energy
efficiency in buildings.
Keen to display our environmental
credentials we arrived at Olympic Forest Park by public transport – we went by
Beijing Subway, but there are also many buses, and it is actually walking
distance from CAU East Campus if you have enough time. From the South Gate subway
station we walked around the edge of the Dragon Lake to the Carbon Neutral
House. It was wonderful weather to walk in the park, and on the way we were
able to admire some of the spring flowers which Olympic Forest Park is also famous
for. The entrance to the Carbon Neutral House is not easy to find, being on the
far side of the building from the path, but this adds to the effect of entering
a peaceful retreat where you can escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.
Inside the Carbon Neutral House visitors
are free to explore a small display area, showcasing innovations and new
technologies for sustainable living. These include LED lighting systems, robust
modern furniture made from straw, intelligence systems designed to optimize the
internal environment, building materials for extremely insulated walls, and
double glazing. One of the highlighted products is the house’s own
sophisticated heating and cooling system which relies on waste water as a
source of energy and incorporates as series of very small tubes which can be
embedded in the internal walls of the building. The Carbon Neutral House also
relies on solar panels for its electricity. Many of these products on display are
manufactured by members of the Zhongguancun Green Building Alliance.
While we were all impressed by these
technologies and can see the advantages they offer, it still seems a long way off
before these can be incorporated into an “average” Chinese home as the prices
are very high. However, the shining example of the city of Rhizhao, where 99%
of households get hot water and space heating from renewable energy sources
gives us reason to be optimistic about the future.