IT IS centrally located and has won international architectural design accolades. But the iconic Modern Moma estate in downtown Beijing has another trump card: It is ‘green’.
Equipped with waste-water recycling, an elaborate natural ventilation system and geothermal heating instead of traditional air-conditioning, the eight-tower residential and commercial property – which achieves the comfort level of a five-star hotel using about one-third as much energy – is a standing symbol of China’s newfound pursuit of green buildings.
Green is the new colour for cool for some Chinese property developers – in a country better known for having the world’s most polluted cities and its breakneck pace of construction.
In the past two years, Beijing has rolled out green building codes, even as more and more Chinese building owners jump, on their own accord, on the bandwagon of getting international certification.
Since 2007, there has been phenomenal growth in the number of Chinese projects trying for green certification, Mr Robert Watson, a veteran scientist who advises the Chinese government on green construction, told The Straits Times.
Many are gunning for the stringent internationally recognised Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) certification conferred by the non-governmental United States Green Building Council.
The certification system rates properties by measuring their environmental footprint with a range of indicators, including energy savings, reduction of air and noise pollution, smart water usage, carbon dioxide emissions and its impact on the surroundings.
While there were just a handful of Chinese projects trying for Leed certification two or three years ago, there are close to 300 today, said Mr Watson, the ‘Founding Father of Leed’.
The number of Chinese projects applying for that recognition has been doubling every year, putting China alongside the US, India, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea as being the most active in pursuing green building standards now, said Mr Watson, who heads his own consultancy working on green building projects in China and the US.
About 45 projects in China – several designed by foreign architects – have already been stamped with Leed approval, including Modern Moma.
China introduced its own certification two years ago, giving building owners the option to get their property rated one, two or three stars based on how good their site planning, land use, water conservation and internal air quality are.
China’s Construction Ministry data show that 15 Chinese properties have star status so far.
In 2006, Beijing issued building design regulations that mandate new buildings to adopt energy-saving technologies for cooling, heating, ventilating and lighting.
Beijing’s stated target is to cut building energy use in all cities by 50 per cent by next year and 65 per cent by 2020, compared with buildings constructed in the 1980s.
Rapidly urbanising China builds 2 billion sq m of floor space every year – almost half of the world’s annual total in construction floor area.
That means energy consumption by China’s buildings is no sneezing matter. From 10 per cent of the national total in the 1970s, it shot up to 20 per cent by 2006 and is about 30 per cent today.
Ahead of the Copenhagen climate talks this week, Beijing made its inaugural pledge last month to cut China’s carbon intensity – the amount of carbon dioxide produced per unit of gross domestic product growth – by 40 per cent to 45 per cent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
Praised by many, that figure has also been criticised for being a mere continuation of what China could already achieve before 2020.
Still, some industry players say that greening China’s buildings will be a key part of the puzzle and the ‘construction industry will have a huge responsibility’, as Mr Chen Yin, chief engineer of the Modern Green Development group that built Modern Moma, put it.
Qinghua University architecture professor Li Dexiang thinks one key way to further reduce Chinese buildings’ carbon footprints will be to use more renewable energy like solar, wind or geothermal power.
That might mean higher costs for property developers and home buyers, with building green estimated to add at least 10 per cent to the bill, said Prof Li.
The green features of Modern Moma – named by Time magazine in 2007 as one of the world’s ‘10 best new and upcoming architectural marvels’ – cost about 1,000 yuan (S$203) more per sq m, said Mr Chen.
With the sales accent on luxury and style, the estate has seen 80 per cent of its 670 units sold – even at a high average price tag of 49,000 yuan per sq m – to mostly mainland Chinese buyers.
‘Some home buyers might like that the estate is ‘green’, but that is not the decisive factor. It still comes down to geographical location, size and layout,’ said Mr Chen.
The engineer declined to provide data on the energy savings of Modern Moma in the 15 months since its first tenant moved in, but said it is ‘running close to how we planned it’.
While the Modern group and China’s largest property developer Vanke – both working on green projects – now see going green as part of a good branding strategy, many others are still put off by costs.
Ms Li Fei, of green construction consultant EMSI, pointed out: ‘Many in China’s construction industry still feel that green buildings need to be high-tech or expensive, but it may be a matter of making better use of sunlight or natural ventilation.’
There is a growing body of Chinese architects, contractors and suppliers schooled in green ways, but currently, many projects are designed first and then greened later, noted Mr Watson.
And that is often what drives costs up: ‘They’re taking a brown branch and hanging lots of green ornaments on it, which costs more, when actually, the cost of designing a green branch is the same as designing a brown one.’
Mr Chen said: ‘There’s still a gap between us and developed countries with good building standards, like Germany. But you know, once China decides to change, it catches up very fast.’
Source : Straits Times – 7 Dec 2009
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