Shanghai has handed over its reference answers, and the Shanghai Book City, which has been separated for two years, is even greener! Shanghai Book City | Architecture | The Big Challenge of Carbon Reduction in Public Buildings

At the first Shanghai Carbon Expo, after two years of absence, Shanghai Book City received new news: after low-carbon transformation, Shanghai Book City won the highest level award for carbon neutral buildings, and will return to the public's view as a green cultural landmark. Against the backdrop of the "dual carbon" goal, decarbonization of public buildings has become a trend, but it still faces problems such as weak social energy-saving awareness, insufficient proactive emission reduction motivation, and weak market regulation ability.

The proportion of green building materials exceeds 70%

"The Shanghai Book City is a unique cultural and urban memory of Shanghai. It is hoped that after low-carbon and green transformation, it will not only become the first carbon neutral cultural landmark in Shanghai, but also become a public exchange space for citizens to learn and visit the green and low-carbon concept." Tang Min, director of the Green Wisdom Center of the China Academy of Architecture, said that in order to practice this concept, the Shanghai Book City has undergone comprehensive renovation in all aspects such as insulation, doors and windows, photovoltaic, energy storage, and heat recovery. The original stone curtain wall on the exterior has been replaced with an aluminum plate curtain wall, and the original glass exterior windows and mechanical and electrical systems have been replaced.

Tang Min introduced that the external wall of the original building envelope of Shanghai Book City was thick concrete wall, without any thermal insulation materials. After the transformation, the internal insulation of the external wall was made of 2cm thick aerogel inorganic thermal insulation paste, and the overhang of the second floor floor was designed to be coated with 2mm aerogel thermal insulation paint. "The carbon emission factor of aerogel material is only 1/2-1/3 of rock wool board, which meets the requirements of the latest national standard while minimizing the thickness of the insulation layer."

The extensive use of green building materials is also one of the highlights of the renovation of Shanghai Book City. The polyurethane door and window profiles used during the renovation reduce carbon emissions by about 82% compared to traditional aluminum alloy profiles, and the overall proportion of green building materials in the building is as high as 78.57%.

In addition, Shanghai Book City will also purchase carbon quotas through the United Nations Carbon Offsetting Platform for the parts that cannot be carbon neutral during the renovation. During the first neutralization cycle, 1714 CERs will be purchased annually, ultimately achieving carbon emission offsetting. For this reason, the Shanghai Book City renovation project has won the highest carbon neutral platinum level award among carbon neutral buildings, and has also provided a "Shanghai sample" of carbon neutral buildings.

Emission reduction in public buildings in Shanghai has become a business card

In addition to the Shanghai Book City renovation project, multiple projects throughout the city have become industry benchmarks for "dual carbon".

Last year, the Qiantan Diversified Energy Storage Digital Fast Charging Bus Hub, jointly constructed by multiple units such as Meikesheng Energy and Pudong Public Transport, was completed. It is equipped with 200 kilowatt hours of photovoltaic and 100 kilowatt hours of energy storage, and a station style integrated light storage system is being constructed. This not only meets the electricity demand for new energy bus operations, but also reduces the load on the power grid. It is expected that the demonstration hub will save about 20% of the city's electricity expenses.

Meikesheng Energy's participation in the construction of the Qiantan Diversified Energy Storage Digital Fast Charging Bus Hub

The Shanghai Shining City Complex, located in Pudong, integrates building photovoltaic technology through its roof and west facade curtain wall. The annual power generation can reach 124000 kilowatt hours, and it is expected to save about 120000 yuan in electricity bills. In addition, China Construction Technology's self-developed "Energy Conservation Manager" zero carbon comprehensive monitoring and management platform can also match photovoltaic power generation with building energy consumption, keeping buildings in an energy-saving state at all times. Compared to the electricity consumption of approximately 60 kilowatt hours to 80 kilowatt hours per square meter of similar office buildings, the Shanghai Brilliant City Comprehensive Building only consumes 26 kilowatt hours per square meter... After evaluation by ultra-low energy technology experts, this building has become the first modular zero energy building in Shanghai. According to Zhang Qu, the director of the Architectural Design and Research Institute of China Construction Technology East China Company, the team is still studying the possibility of transmitting green electricity through new energy vehicles. "In the future, electric vehicles will be like a 'power bank', fully charged with photovoltaic green electricity when going to work, and can release electricity when returning home to supplement the insufficient green electricity in the community."

↑ Shanghai's first modular zero-energy building "Shanghai Brilliant City Complex"

The Shanghai Carbon Peak Implementation Plan has put forward clear requirements and timelines for the new energy configuration of public buildings: starting from 2022, the proportion of photovoltaic installed on the roofs of new government agencies, schools, industrial plants and other buildings shall not be less than 50%, and the proportion of photovoltaic installed on the roofs of other types of public buildings shall not be less than 30%. By 2025, the photovoltaic coverage rate on the roofs of public institutions and industrial buildings will reach over 50%, and by 2030, all necessary installations will be fully installed.

The latest "2022 Shanghai State Office Building and Large Public Building Energy Consumption Monitoring and Analysis Report" shows that the total annual carbon emissions of public buildings connected by monitoring platforms last year were 4.238 million tons of carbon dioxide, of which 542000 tons were direct carbon emissions and 3.696 million tons were indirect carbon emissions. The data also shows that the total annual electricity consumption of connected public buildings was about 8.81 billion kilowatt hours last year, a decrease of 12.9% from the previous year, with some contributing to the upgrading of energy-saving and carbon reduction technologies.

"As early as 2014, Shanghai began to release annual energy consumption reports for large public buildings, which is relatively leading nationwide. The energy conservation and emission reduction of Shanghai's public buildings has become a business card." Zhang Beihong, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Academy of Building Sciences Co., Ltd., told reporters that since the 12th Five Year Plan, Shanghai Academy of Building Sciences has completed at least 20 energy-saving renovation projects for public buildings, with an average energy consumption reduction of 20%. It has also taken the lead in piloting new energy-saving technologies and equipment in public buildings, such as magnetic levitation centrifugal units, low nitrogen vacuum hot water boilers, etc. "These devices may seem common today, but they were still very advanced ten years ago."

Calculate the energy-saving account and recover the cost as soon as one or two years

However, Zhang Beihong also admitted that the road to carbon reduction in public buildings still faces many obstacles, mainly due to the lack of energy-saving awareness among the general public.

"At present, carbon reduction work is still mainly guided by the government, and the participation of social enterprises is limited. For example, some properties in commercial buildings are charged based on area, and the correlation between energy conservation and leasing is low, and there is a lack of substantive punishment measures, so there is a lack of energy conservation motivation." She used an analogy, saying that while it is usually possible to turn off the lights at home, it is often easy to waste electricity in public areas. To completely change this situation, it is more necessary to rely on market mechanisms to regulate. "We have calculated that with the simplest energy-saving optimization of lighting systems, such as replacing LED bulbs, the cost can be recovered in one or two years. If replacing motor equipment, etc., it usually takes 5-8 years to recover the cost. From the perspective of the operation cycle of the building, owners' energy-saving renovation is a steady profit and not a loss."

In recent years, Zhang Beihong has clearly felt that the entire society's demand for energy conservation and carbon reduction continues to rise. With the gradual increase in ESG requirements for enterprises in the market, listed companies also have disclosure requirements for carbon emissions. At the same time, the demand for decarbonization in the industrial chain is also increasing, which in turn forces the energy-saving and emission reduction of public buildings such as commercial buildings.

In her impression, the Tianhui Business Plaza located in Changning District has great reference value in energy conservation and carbon reduction practices. The total construction area of Tianhui Business Square is about 340000 square meters, which is a super large building. However, the square has not undergone large-scale energy-saving equipment renovation. Instead, it focuses on details such as optimizing and adjusting the air conditioning system, upgrading the frequency conversion of motors, balancing and debugging the water system, and replacing 10000 fluorescent lights with more energy-efficient LED lights. At the same time, rooftop photovoltaics have been installed according to the building's appearance. The entire energy-saving system is expected to reduce energy consumption by more than 10% annually, equivalent to the total electricity consumption of a building of 30000 to 40000 square meters.

During the Shanghai Carbon Expo, the Shanghai Academy of Building Sciences, together with multiple partners, officially released the "CN100 Building Carbon Neutrality Initiative Mechanism", advocating that building entities voluntarily participate in the initiative, prioritize the implementation of their own carbon dioxide reduction strategies, and based on this, neutralize the inevitable carbon dioxide gas emissions during their operation stage through carbon offsetting, achieving carbon neutrality within the commitment period.