Technologies such as HVAC and exterior protection are in urgent need of upgrading, and energy conservation and carbon reduction requirements in the construction field are becoming stricter.
Recently, the State Council issued the "2024-2025 Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Action Plan", which clearly stipulates the energy conservation and carbon reduction progress of construction projects. At the Carbon Expo's Towards a Zero-Carbon City - New Quality Development Forum on June 6, building energy conservation and carbon reduction became a hot topic among guests present.
"Perhaps every ordinary person may not be very sensitive to energy conservation and carbon reduction, but now the entire planning and design, including construction, operation, and completion, has included energy conservation and carbon reduction as mandatory requirements." Tang Min, Vice President of the East China Branch of China Construction Technology Group According to the introduction, in addition to the economic value and effect value, the construction plans in the review process of major investment projects in Shanghai must also clarify the energy consumption situation, especially large-scale energy consumption projects, such as industrial enterprises, data centers, computing power centers, etc. , the requirements for energy consumption are very clear, and the entire process will be tracked afterwards.
Xue Hongxing, president of the Beijing Green Design Promotion Association, said that zero-carbon cities are one of the important ways to renew cities in the future. In the context of the global response to climate change, it has gradually become an international consensus that cities take the lead in achieving low-carbon transformation and sustainable green development. Cities are important entities in promoting the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Human energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions are mainly concentrated in urban areas. According to United Nations per capita statistics, cities consume 78% of the world's energy and more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. from urban areas. In the context of the construction industry being a large consumer of energy and carbon emissions, it is necessary to pay attention to the research and development and application of new construction materials, and to use digital means and digital twin technology to promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in building operations.
How much can high-performance buildings reduce carbon emissions for cities? The guests held a round table discussion. Di Yanqiang, deputy general manager of China Construction Technology Group, took HVAC equipment as an example. In the past few decades, traditional technology was focused on low-temperature cold water air-conditioning, but now the team he leads is engaged in the research and development of medium-temperature cold water air-conditioning systems and equipment. Because every degree the temperature of the chilled water increases, the overall efficiency of the air conditioner will increase by 3% to 4%, which is of great significance to the energy saving and carbon reduction of the building.
Temperature is extremely important for decarbonizing buildings. "The life cycle of our buildings is 50 years, but our insulation materials cannot last 50 years, so now we often see that in old renovation projects, the insulation exterior walls need to be comprehensively renovated." Shanghai Construction Design Liu Zheng, deputy director of the General Research Institute, said that if advanced technology can be used to make insulation materials last for the same period as the building's life, it will greatly promote energy conservation, emission reduction and high-quality development in the construction field.
