CHINA: Guangzhou's Pearl River Tower to become the world's most eco-friendly skyscraper

Record ID: 609278

  • Title: CHINA: Guangzhou's Pearl River Tower to become the world's most eco-friendly skyscraper
  • Date: 5th December 2009
  • Summary: GUANGZHOU, CHINA (DECEMBER 3, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SHANGHAI CONSTRUCTION GROUP, TECHNICAL MANAGER, ALBERT HU, SAYING: "This is an office building so the building cost will be much higher than an ordinary building. But the energy saving technology can be applied to residential buildings later." SIDE VIEW OF TOWER GLASS PANELS ON FORKLIFT INTERIOR DOUBLE WALL FACADE AUTOMATIC BLINDS VENTILATION SHAFT CEILING PANELS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SHANGHAI CONSTRUCTION GROUP, TECHNICAL MANAGER, ALBERT HU, SAYING: "I think the Chinese government will keep its promise to reduce CO2 emissions and encourage building policies that reduce CO2 emissions and reduce world pollution." WELDER WELDER ON SITE OF TOWER VARIOUS OF GUANGZHOU CONSTRUCTION SITES
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Environment / Natural World
  • Reuters ID: LVA2SXE7BNYHR2VLAQVQZ41MTOXU
  • Story Text: A 71-storey office block complete with wind turbines, solar panels and light-sensitive blinds is set to become the world's most energy efficient building when it opens in the Chinese southern city of Guangzhou next year.
    A 71-storey, 2.3 million square foot tower in southern China is expected to become the world's most energy-efficient office tower, and a milestone along the way to a "net-zero" energy footprint, or energy independence.
    The Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou will incorporate the latest sustainable technologies and engineering in an attempt to significantly reduce its energy consumption and pollution.
    The uniquely sculpted body will direct wind to two mechanical floors, pushing four turbines to generate energy for the building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
    "The building approach is to design a building in such an angle to allow the wind to enter into the wind turbine inside the building. The design needs to have a wider entrance and a narrower rear in order to accelerate windspeed," said Albert Hu, a manager at Shanghai Construction Group.
    Wind studies have predicted the turbines will speed up the wind's velocity two-and-a-half times, potentially generating 15 times more energy than stand-alone turbines.
    Each turbine is capable of generating roughly 65 kilowatts of power.
    An internally ventilated double wall facade will limit heat absorption or act as insulation from the cold.
    The trapped air is then extracted through the ceiling and will be used as heating or cooling depending on the outside temperature.
    Radiant panels and light responsive automatic blinds act to harvest natural daylight and reduce heat absorption while a photovoltaic system integrated into the building's external shading system and glass outer skin will produce additional energy.
    Inside, energy consumption is reduced with low energy, high efficient lighting systems using radiant panels to distribute light.
    The radiant cooling system, which relies on chilled water pipes to distribute cooling through the building, reduces the reliance on air conditioning and fan energy.
    It is expected that the tower will consume at least 58% less power than an energy code compliant equivalent building.
    Designed by American architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merril (SOM), and built by Shanghai Construction Group, the $440 million building is scheduled for completion late next year and will be the headquarters for Guangdong Tobacco Company.
    "This is an office building so the building cost will be much higher than an ordinary building. But the energy saving technology can be applied to residential buildings later," said Hu.
    Green building activity has sustained impressive growth during 2009, amid a brutal construction market that has decimated other segments of the construction marketplace, according to the 2009 Green Building Market & Impact Report, largely due to a surge of green building in countries like China and India.
    Nearly half of the world's new building construction will be in China by 2015, with an estimated 50,000 new skyscrapers in the next 20 years, according to the World Bank.
    Recognising the importance of 'green buildings,' the government has set ambitious energy targets for the building sector, cutting energy use in all cities by 50% by 2010 and 65% by 2020, using the average energy efficiency of Chinese buildings in 1980 as the base point.
    "I think the Chinese government will keep its promise to reduce CO2 emissions and encourage building policies that reduce CO2 emissions and reduce world pollution," said Hu.
    In 2005, the government introduced mandatory design standards aimed at energy conservation in public buildings including adopting energy saving technologies for cooling, heating, ventilation and lighting.
    Ahead of next week's Copenhagen climate change summit, China pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each yuan of national income 40-45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels.
    It was hailed as a vital commitment toward rekindling talks to fix a new framework for tackling global warming, although analysts cautioned it was technically quite modest for China and its emissions could double by 2020 even with the new targets.
    As a developing country, China is not obliged by current treaties to accept binding caps on its emissions, and it and other poor countries have said that principle should not change in any new deal that emerges from Copenhagen.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register