Arkitema co-organizer of Danish-Chinese Climate Conference in Beijing
China is the country of records: Oldest, longest, widest, most are words that often crop up in the description of the middle kingdom. Among the superlatives are also "biggest challenge" - namely the huge task it will be for China to maintain double-digit growth, while reducing its CO2 emissions. The thick smog that hangs over China's big cities, bears witness to the cost side of the dramatic development China has undergone in the past 25 years.
The Chinese government pays great attention to these problems and also looks abroad for expertise in sustainable technologies. Five Danish companies, which are all active in China, working with technologies that can help reduce CO2 emissions, have joined the Danish embassy in Beijing in arranging the first English-Chinese Climate Conference ever. The five companies are Arkitema, Danfoss, Grundfos, Novozymes and Vestas. The companies have jointly commissioned a report by consultancy McKinsey, where the CO2 reduction potential of each company's technology is reviewed - but perhaps most interestingly, where it is demonstrated that a combination of these technologies often results in dramatic reductions of CO2 emissions.
This is where Arkitema Architects fit in. "We feel that our multidisciplinary approach to our projects and our long experience in environmentally sound design can really contribute to the sustainable development of China" says CEO of Arkitema China, Per Feldthaus.
Bamboo Towers
At the conference, which took place in Beijing on 23 October with, among others Danish Prime MinisterAnders Fogh Rasmussen and the Chinese Vice-Minister Xie Zhenhua as keynote speakers, Arkitema Architects unveiled a virtual housing project conceptually located in Beijing. The project with the working title Bamboo Towers is a collaboration between Arkitema and engineers COWI has been designed and worked through exactly as a real project and has then been subjected to an analysis by McKinsey Group’s experts. It turns out that by using passive technologies alone a CO2 saving of 69% compared with existing Chinese high-rise buildings can be achieved, and if active technologies are added, such as solar panels and geothermal heating, savings of 90% can be reached. These are numbers that really matter considering that China expects that up to 300 million people will migrate from rural to urban areas in the next 20 years.
"We as architects can influence the climate debate, because we know how we can address the building process and achieve savings. We can combine the various energy producers with our knowledge good housing solutions, and we can involve all stakeholders in a network, thereby providing complete solutions - from a specific building to an entire city, "says Per Feldthaus.
The amount of housing expected to be built in China in the next quarter century, roughly corresponds to the whole of western Europe - undoubtedly another world record - but hopefully it will be some of the world's most beautiful and cleanest cities – aided by Danish technology and design.