[Photo via VCG]

Once again, the Central Green Forest Park in Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (BMC) has received national recognition. The "Green Energy Supply and Carbon Management Project in the Central Green Forest Park in the BMC" has become one of the first 23 examples of energy-efficient and low-carbon transformation in the country.

How "green" is the park? It is known that this project adopts energy-saving and carbon-reducing measures throughout the process and across all fields, from planning and design to construction, operation, and management. For example, the smart grid serves as a hub for the low-carbon energy system, with energy supply mainly coming from photovoltaics, ground source heat pumps, and green electricity in Beijing. In terms of construction, an integrated smart energy management system is used to support the building of three-star green buildings and the retrofitting of old industrial plants.

In 2023, the park utilized 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity, mainly relying on ground source heat pumps for cooling and heating. All photovoltaic power generation within the region is fully absorbed, coupled with the offset from the regional carbon sink of trees, resulting in a significant reduction in the carbon emissions of the park. The park's carbon emissions were only about 1,694 tons.

Roughly estimated, the carbon emissions of 1,694 tons are generally equivalent to the total carbon dioxide emissions from burning 627 tons of standard coal. When considering the park's 600,000 sqm of building area, its carbon emissions from the buildings are only equivalent to one-eighth of the carbon emissions from residential buildings of the same scale. This marks a significant achievement in "near-zero carbon" operation for such a large and significant urban area.

(Source: Beijing Daily)