Approaching Key Words In Low Carbon Cities (Part Two)

The citizens of the city who enjoy the charm of architecture may be "self accusation". The figures of the United Nations Environment Programme are astonishing. The carbon dioxide emissions of global 1/3 come from the construction industry, but sustainable construction is expected to turn buildings from the "chief culprit" of carbon emissions to a powerful contributor to emission reduction.

The director of the Department of sustainable consumption and production of the United Nations Environment Programme, Arabia, has only visited an apartment in Nanjing yesterday. He exclaimed: "outside the apartment is a high temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius. There is no air conditioning in the apartment, but it is cooler than the air conditioning."

This sustainable building, said by Mr. Ho, is not unfamiliar to Wang Shi, the chairman of the real estate giant Vanke.

Vanke has a Vanke Building Research Center. The center has built a tower. The tower is built on termite's nest principle, heat insulation during the day, heat dissipation at night, and use breeze, garbage to generate electricity and natural water. Therefore, it does not need electricity in the market and no municipal drip.

Wang Shi said: "this technology is actually quite mature and can be used in the urban community."

More mature technologies in the field of sustainable architecture are just around the corner.

In the Shanghai Expo Garden, the Portuguese pavilion features a distinctive cork wall, a zero carbon Museum in London, a green roof in Malmo, a green house in Vancouver, a cherry tunnel in Osaka, and a sunrise house in the city of Germany.

However, the popularity of these green buildings seems to be low at home and abroad.

Wang Shi admitted that the domestic real estate development projects to implement sustainable building standards of less than 5%.

The Arabia Department of sustainable consumption and production, director of the UNEP, said that many builders did not feel the benefits of energy conservation. Some local governments also believed that the provision of energy-efficient facilities, especially for low rent housing, was extravagant.

He suggested that action must involve government participation, good policy framework and legal support, and financial support.

"In fact, the government should take the lead because many buildings are actually owned by the government, and these government buildings should be the first to be built as sustainable buildings and play an exemplary role."

Wang Jinnan, vice president of the environmental protection planning department of the Ministry of environmental protection, has popularly defined the livability of the urban environment in 5 aspects: drinking clean water, breathing fresh air, sleeping peacefully, eating safe crops, and living in a good green environment.

However, with the development of the city, the environment is heading in the opposite direction.

According to Du Dande, the chief economist of the US Environmental Protection Association and the foreign member of the China International Cooperation Committee on environment and development, in 1980, the distance traveled by cars was 730 million kilometers, and in 2005, it had reached 9 billion 200 million kilometers.

It's not just environmental threats.

The number of motor vehicle owners in China is only 50, the number of Americans is 780, and Europe is 550, but China's oil imports have exceeded 50%. Last year, imports of 2 million tons and domestic production were only 1.7 million tons. What can we do after 10 years? Even if we rely on imports, the world's proven oil reserves are only 42 years.

China's coal reserves are relatively abundant, but today's consumption is only enough to exploit for 38 years.

"In today's China, low carbon urban pformation and low carbon urban construction are not only for tackling climate change, but also for energy security, and for sustainable development."

Pan Jiahua, director of the Institute of urban development and environment of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stressed that green pformation is not a question of "can" but "how can".

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How can we look squarely at the status quo, not demanding "zero carbon", but constantly approaching "low carbon"?

Pan Jiahua believes that absolute zero carbon is unrealistic and unnecessary at the moment.

At present, the cost of renewable energy is high, limited and unstable, and it is difficult to guarantee the urbanization and industrialization process. "If China can achieve unit GDP and carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% in 2020, it will continue to approach low carbon."

He believes that we should start from the source, reduce the consumption of fossil energy, increase the proportion of zero carbon energy, improve the efficiency of technology and implement a low-carbon lifestyle from the consumption level. "Low carbon indicators should be a dynamic and constantly approaching process."

Kitayama Keimi, vice mayor of Osaka, brought Osaka's practice: "in order to build a sustainable society, we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25%, which requires the common people and related enterprises to work together."

Osaka should link the environmental protection action with the incentive policy, introduce solar power generation, and the residents will be able to reduce the cost by some 20% by the government and the autonomous part. By installing such facilities on the primary and government roofs, the total generating capacity will reach about 2 million watts.

Facing environmental challenges, we must act immediately.

Washington (reporter Jan Gong Bo Tan Yan Li Ye) China's 2010 Shanghai World Expo "environmental change and urban responsibility" theme forum was successfully concluded in Nanjing yesterday.

Yang Xiong, executive vice mayor of Shanghai and executive deputy director of World Expo Executive Committee of Shanghai attended the closing summary of the forum and made concluding remarks.

The former executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Klaus Toepfer, made a closing speech.

Yang Xiong said that this forum has brought together the wisdom and practical achievements of experts, scholars and city administrators around the world. This is an important spiritual wealth left by Shanghai World Expo to the world. It will play an important role in further promoting the sustainable development of cities and the world.

Klaus Toepfer said that the forum invited architects, planners, policy makers and entrepreneurs from all over the world to explore the challenges and sustainable development models in the process of urbanization, and to listen to their experiences and practices. This is a real good platform for learning from each other.

World Expo, Shanghai, conveys a very clear message that in the face of global environmental challenges, action must be taken immediately.

We must soberly realize that the success of low carbon economy and low carbon cities is an important prerequisite for achieving sustainable economic and urban development.

Climate negotiator: "common but differentiated responsibilities" should not be deviated.

Developed countries should honour their emission reduction commitments

"After the Copenhagen conference, the core issue is how to rebuild mutual trust among countries, but the foundation of reconstruction is to return to the principle of" common but differentiated responsibilities "of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change and the Kyoto protocol.

Yesterday, during the interview with Yu Qingtai, Ambassador of China's foreign affairs climate change conference in Nanjing, who participated in the Forum on "environmental change and urban responsibility" in World Expo, the opening remarks highlighted this point.

"Today we are facing the problem of climate change, which is the cumulative result of long-term greenhouse warming in the one hundred or two hundred years of industrialization in developed countries. The developed countries occupy too much of the common emissions of human beings. Therefore, we must first make clear that developed countries are the makers of problems, and we are victims of developing countries."

Yu Qingtai said that developed countries should first actively reduce emissions and let more space be occupied; the two is to provide capital and technology pfer to developing countries.

Yu Qingtai introduced that the Kyoto Protocol stipulates that from 2008 to 2012, greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial developed countries will be reduced by an average of 5.2% on 1990 basis.

But in fact, the developed countries have not fulfilled their commitments, and have released the voice of "common but differentiated responsibilities" from time to time, putting the main pressure on emerging powers such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

If we look at these commitments according to China's actual conditions, China's efforts will be very great. If it is achieved, it will reduce 15 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. China's behavior and contribution will be no less than that of any other country.

"World environmental Godfather": developed countries have the obligation to pfer environmental protection technology.

China

Yesterday, in the theme forum of "environmental change and urban responsibility" in World Expo, Morris Strong, the former Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Environment Programme and the first UN executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said that the practice of environmental protection in some developed countries was "disappointing".

Shanghai World Expo is also an excellent platform, showing the green dream of all countries and the necessity and urgency of international cooperation for improving the environment.

Morris Strong said that Shanghai is a great city, but it is sensitive to climate change, especially the impact of sea level rise on the city. He said: "not only is Shanghai, but many of the population will be affected.

This trend is irreversible, but the Shanghai municipal government is wise to take a series of measures to protect people's lives.

Morris Strong also said that China is one of the countries with the largest increase in carbon emissions and one of the victims. The Chinese government has taken positive measures to carry out environmental protection work. For example, China's automobile exhaust emission management measures are even more stringent than those in Europe and the United States. This effort is appreciated and has played an exemplary role in the world. "China is also concerned about the actions taken by developed countries in this situation."

"The practice of many developed countries is disappointing."

Morris Strong said that these countries are the makers of the environment and have the most advanced technology of environmental protection and energy conservation. They are obliged to pfer technology to developing countries.

People all over the world should press for their "omission".