A white modern building with clear cut outlines and a strong sense of science and future sits right across a river. It is supposed to have extremely low energy consumption demands which could be provided by the clean energy of solar and wind. That’s what the Xiong’ An Future Zero Carbon Building would be like after its completion in the summer of 2023.
Design sketch of the building
“We aim to build a ‘zero carbon’ demonstration building in Xiong’An Area that achieves the goal of ‘carbon neutrality’ in its whole life cycle,” Doctor Candidate Zhao Tong from Tianjin University, also the project leader, said at the project launching ceremony held recently at Xiong'an Future Urban Innovation Center Park. Young as he is, Zhao Tong is already a veteran entrepreneur who started his first business in 2018 and owns 3 companies now.
Developed by Zhao’s company, the project will locate in Xiong'an Future Urban Innovation Center, about 1km from Baiyangdian Reservoir and covers an area of 313 square meters. It will serve as a science education base as well as a technology exhibition and conference venue.
Zhao Tong (Second from left) with his team
To achieve carbon neutrality, the building systematically integrated passive and active energy-conserving technologies. It uses the zero-energy building technology system and prefabricated light steel skeleton composite insulation wall panels to construct the buildings. All building structures are pre-made and then assembled on-site. “In this way, the building can reduce carbon emissions by nearly 93%,” said Zhao.
The project also adopts network-linked intelligence control pipeline space heat storage system developed by Zhao’s team to realize underground energy recycling. The technology was initially used to collect heat energy contained in underground sewage conduits and transfer it into power generation that supports building heating or cooling. It has been applied in Germany, Beijing, and Panjin(a city in Liaoning Province) , with a power saving rate of 76%.
In this case, however, the heat energy Zhao Tong collects comes from the river water surrounding the building. Zhao further explained that, “With a smart operation and maintenance management system, the thermal power we collect from the river will be enough for the building’s power consumption and generates no carbon at all. That’s why it is called the Zero Carbon Building.”
The network-linked intelligence control pipeline space heat storage system won support by the "China Youth Entrepreneurship Fund" in 2021, and has been included in the "New Product Recommendation Catalog of Xiong'an New District". It enjoys a priority in government procurement.
“We are committed to constructing a model green building by integrating new technologies and new concepts and leading the green city construction of Xiong’ An,” Zhao Tong said hopefully.
By Eva Yin
