Guangdong's practice of promoting green and low-carbon development in urban and rural areas

News Sources: China Construction News, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, PRC

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to speed up the green transformation of the development mode, implement the overall conservation strategy, develop green and low-carbon industries, advocate green consumption, and promote the formation of green and low-carbon modes of production and lifestyle.

With the rapid progress of urbanization and the profound adjustment of the industrial structure, the urgency of building green and low-carbon development in urban and rural areas is becoming stronger. In recent years, Guangdong has been adhering to the global vision and pragmatic style, taking green and low-carbon development as the lead, accelerating the transformation of urban and rural construction mode, and achieved remarkable results.

With policy and law construction as the guide

Set up a "wind vane" for green and low-carbon development

"To promote green and low-carbon development in urban and rural areas, both the government and the market need to work together. As a functional government department, it must identify its own position, accelerate the construction of policy and legal system on the basis of full research and demonstration, and play a leading and guaranteeing role in green transformation. Reviewing the work Guangdong Province has done in this area in recent years, we mainly focus on three key words -- open source, reduce costs and transform." Guangdong Province housing and urban-rural development Department relevant person said.

Open source means to make full use of renewable energy as an important starting point for urban and rural construction in the new era, utilize solar energy, air heat energy, geothermal energy and waste heat according to local conditions, optimize building energy structure, and support green development with green energy. The 14th Five-Year Plan for Building Energy Conservation and Green Building Development of Guangdong Province proposed the goals of "increasing the installed solar photovoltaic capacity of buildings by 2 million kW, and the renewable energy replacement rate of urban buildings by 8%". The Implementation Plan for Carbon Peak in Urban and Rural Construction in Guangdong Province, which is being formulated, further defines requirements such as "the rooftop photovoltaic coverage rate of new public institution buildings and factories shall reach 50% by 2025, and the rooftop photovoltaic coverage rate of buildings shall be further improved and the level of building energy cleanliness shall be improved by 2030".

Reducing expenditure means overall planning, construction and management to promote green, low-carbon, energy saving and efficiency in the whole process of construction, which not only meets people's environmental quality requirements for buildings, but also reduces energy consumption. In 2013, the General Office of the Guangdong Provincial Government issued the Guangdong Green Building Action Plan, which clarified the guidelines and policies for the development of green buildings. In 2016, Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and provincial government put forward the development goal of green buildings accounting for 60% of new buildings in 2020 in the Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening Urban Planning and Construction Management. The Regulations on Green Buildings of Guangdong Province, implemented in 2021, specify requirements for the whole chain and strengthen supervision at all links, from planning, land transfer, design, review of construction drawings, construction, supervision, project quality testing, project acceptance and green building recognition. The Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the Implementation Plan of Guangdong Green Building Initiative (2021-2023) with 12 departments. In light of their own conditions, each city has introduced local laws and policies one after another. Among them, the Green Building Regulation of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is the first green building regulation in China that includes industrial buildings and civil buildings in the scope of legislative adjustment, and for the first time stipulates the carbon emission control targets in the construction sector and the list of key carbon emission buildings in the form of legislation.

Transformation means strengthening the green and low-carbon leadership of planning, giving full play to the strong supporting role of scientific and technological innovation, and vigorously developing new construction methods such as prefabricated buildings to promote the transformation of the development mode of the whole industry from extensive to intensive. In 2017, the Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the Guangdong Provincial People's Government on Vigorously Developing prefabricated Buildings divided the province into key promotion regions, active promotion regions and encouraged promotion regions, specifying the goals, tasks and supporting policies for the development of prefabricated buildings; The Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, together with other relevant departments, has issued more than 10 policy documents, including the Guidelines for the Compilation of the Special Plan for the Development of Prefabricated Buildings in Guangdong Province (Trial) and the Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Industrialization of New Buildings. In the province, 21 municipalities have issued implementation opinions on the development of prefabricated buildings, 16 municipalities have issued special plans for the development of prefabricated buildings, and established a "1+N" policy system to promote the development of prefabricated buildings in an all-round way. In September this year, the General Office of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the General Office of Guangdong Provincial Government jointly issued Several Measures on Promoting the Green Development of Urban and Rural Construction, which incorporated green development into the overall layout of urban and rural construction, scientifically determined the energy conservation and carbon reduction targets and requirements, and comprehensively promoted the green and low-carbon development of urban and rural construction.

It is understood that Guangdong Province will update, supplement and improve existing policies and regulations in a timely manner in light of problems encountered in the implementation process. At present, the Implementation Plan for Carbon Peak in Urban and Rural Construction in Guangdong Province is being studied and formulated to provide more operational guidelines for the green and low-carbon development of housing and urban and rural construction in Guangdong Province.

Traditional and modern blend as the keynote

Adhere to the "main position" of building energy conservation and low carbon

According to the industry, the building of energy conservation and carbon reduction from the connotation, in fact, since ancient times. In the long course of evolution, the architecture of Guangdong Province has gradually formed an architectural style that ADAPTS to the geographical climate and folk culture of Lingnan and takes shading, ventilation, heat insulation and moisture-proof as the main characteristics. In the new era of green and low-carbon development of urban and rural construction in Guangdong Province, modern advanced technology should be used to better inherit and carry forward Lingnan characteristics.

Implement whole-cycle management of green buildings. We carried out an assessment of the implementation effect of the Regulations on Green Buildings of Guangdong Province, supervised local governments to strengthen supervision over the whole process of green building construction through guidance in planning and design, spot checks on construction drawings and inspections of construction processes. Focus on strengthening Lingnan characteristic green building technology application, improve the indoor heat and humidity environment. The Guangzhou National Edition Pavilion, completed this year, draws on the traditional concept of the arcade, designs the wind and rain gallery with modern techniques, connects the building community and the garden, integrates new materials, new technologies and new aesthetics, and applies the traditional design of square column components to meet the requirements of shading, ventilation, heat insulation and moisture-proof, reflecting the beauty of the combination of tradition and modern. According to reports, the newly added green building area in urban areas of Guangdong Province has increased from 0.8 million square meters during the 12th Five-Year Plan period to more than 800 million square meters in total, and green buildings have achieved leapfrog development. Green building standards are implemented for all urban civil buildings, and the proportion of green buildings in newly built urban buildings has been increasing year by year, reaching 73 percent by the end of 2021. Fifteen projects, including Terminal 2 of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport expansion Project and Shenzhen Zhongjian Kegong Building, won the National Green Building Innovation Award. At the same time, a number of outstanding Lingnan characteristic buildings with near zero energy consumption, represented by Shui Fa Xingye and Future Building, have emerged. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhuhai and other places have built high-star green building development clusters. In 2019, Lingshan Island Tip Area of Mingzhu Bay starting area was awarded the first three-star Green ecological urban planning and design logo in China. The China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City South Starting Area was officially awarded the national three-star Green Ecological Urban Implementation Management certificate this year.

We will deepen energy-saving renovations in buildings. In order to adapt to the climate characteristics of Lingnan, which is characterized by hot summer, warm winter and high humidity, pilot projects of greening renovation of existing buildings have been carried out, and green renovation technologies suitable for Lingnan characteristics have been explored. The Guangzhou Library project was awarded the title of "Energy-Saving Demonstration Unit of Public Institutions", and the two projects of high efficiency refrigeration system of Taikoo Hui and Baijiang Subway Station line were selected as "Best Engineering Practice Cases of Energy Conservation in Public Buildings" in China Annual Building Energy Conservation Development Report (2022). Shenzhen actively promotes the construction of key cities to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings, and simultaneously promotes the implementation of energy saving and green renovation of residential buildings in combination with urban renewal and renovation of old urban districts. In light of the needs of industrial transformation, supporting urban public services and ensuring housing, idle office buildings and industrial plants will be promoted to upgrade their functions and make them greener. All cities in Guangdong Province actively implement the General Code for Building Energy Conservation and Utilization of Renewable Energy, and promote the construction of solar photovoltaic integration in new buildings. Yangjiang City promotes the application of solar heating system with the strength of government regulations, and Shaoguan, Huizhou, Zhaoqing and other cities adopt the contract energy management method to apply distributed solar photovoltaic. The application of renewable energy in buildings shows a good trend of development.

We will extensively promote the use of green building materials. Enterprises in Guangdong Province accounted for 20% of the certificates issued in the national green product certification activities, ranking first in the country. Foshan City was selected as one of the first batch of national pilot projects of government procurement support for green building materials to promote the improvement of building quality, and set up the "warehousing system" and "project management system". On the one hand, it actively expanded the category and quantity of materials in the catalog, and on the other hand, it improved the project's demand for the procurement and application of green building materials through pilot demonstration projects. Up to now, Guangdong Province has put 1,050 green building materials into storage, 668 green product certification certificates, and 104 green building materials pilot projects. The total construction area of the pilot projects is about 4.5652 million square meters, and the total investment is about 33.782 billion yuan. Guangdong Province will actively summarize and promote the experience of Foshan, carry out provincial-level pilot application of green building materials, and fully apply green building materials in star-level green buildings.

We will vigorously promote innovation in construction methods. As early as 15 years ago, Guangdong Province responded to the national requirements and actively promoted the industrialization of housing, taking green, energy saving and intelligent as the key content of the industrialization of housing. Since 2016, a total of 230 million square meters of prefabricated construction area has been built, and in the first three quarters of 2022, the proportion of newly started prefabricated construction area in the province was 22.87 percent. The province has set up 42 provincial prefabricated building demonstration projects and one national prefabricated housing pilot project, and built a number of typical demonstration projects, such as Yujing Happy Home, China Construction Steel Structure Building, and Shenzhen China Resources City Run House. Taking advantage of the mature industrial supporting advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangdong Province has effectively integrated the whole industrial chain of prefabricated buildings. It has built parts production bases in 16 cities and provinces, and established 21 national and 83 provincial prefabricated building industrial bases respectively, playing a strong radiating role. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and other national and provincial prefabricated building demonstration cities have exported a package of experience and practices. For example, Shenzhen took the lead in carrying out the research on building standardization industrialization, establishing the professional title of prefabricated building, and initiating the self-regulation mechanism of "star evaluation" for precast concrete component management. Guangzhou carried out the pilot work of on-site worker allocation in prefabricated projects, and established the mechanism of cooperation between technical experts and skilled craftsmen at the front line of projects. Foshan City gives full play to its advantages in the local building materials industry, establishes a closed-loop management mechanism for the whole process of prefabricated construction projects, and builds a Foshan solution of "industrial construction + optional hard fitting + fully autonomous home furnishments".

It is reported that Guangdong province will continue to implement the provincial special fund incentive policy, the urban and rural construction of green low-carbon typical projects to reward. At the same time, we organize "Energy Conservation Publicity Month" and a series of green building activities to promote the construction of green campus, green hospital and green community, and improve the recognition of the whole society for building energy conservation and carbon reduction.

Driven by continuous reform and innovation

Fostering an "Incubator" for the Transformation of development Mode

"The green and low-carbon development of urban and rural development is a complex and systematic project. We must uphold the spirit of daring to try, be the first and work hard, identify the right strength points, cultivate 'incubators', strengthen reform and innovation in key areas, and inject driving force into the green and low-carbon development of urban and rural development." Guangdong Province housing and urban-rural development Department relevant person said.

Enabling information construction. The green building information platform of Guangdong Province has been built, and it is the first in the country to realize the online management of the whole process of application, review and certification of green building evaluation work. Experts directly answer the questions of the evaluated parties in the review process, so as to realize the supervision of green building evaluation work in the province "without dead corners" and handle "standardization and zero running". The prefabricated building information statistics platform in Guangdong Province is being set up to integrate the prefabricated building project database, industrial chain enterprise database, talent pool and prefabricated building related pilot demonstration declaration, evaluation and management functions, so as to improve the information management level of prefabricated building development. To study and carry out the construction of green building materials product catalog information platform, promote the storage platform, construction and construction units that have obtained green building materials certification to use green building materials products on the platform, and accelerate the pace of promotion and application of green building materials products. Through the application of information technology, the integration of industry management related factors, optimization of the handling process, streamlining of materials, shorten the time limit, to achieve the improvement of green and low-carbon development efficiency.

"Standards + scientific research". Guangdong Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has promulgated 19 local standards for prefabricated buildings such as the Evaluation Standards for prefabricated Buildings, 17 standards for building energy efficiency and green Building Construction Acceptance Codes of Guangdong Province, and 24 standards for the application of building materials such as the Technical Regulations for Non-load-bearing Autoclaved Foamed Concrete Brick Wall Engineering. In conjunction with meteorological departments, China has promoted the compilation of standards for Meteorological Parameters for Energy Efficiency Design of Civil Buildings, and established a standard system for green and low-carbon development in urban and rural construction, covering the whole process of prefabricated buildings, building energy efficiency, green buildings and the application design, construction, testing, acceptance and evaluation of building materials. At the same time, China supports the application of key green and low-carbon technologies for national and provincial awards, and includes a number of research projects, such as Research on the Development and Supervision Mechanism of Green Buildings and Building Energy Efficiency under the Reform of Regulation and Service, into the plan, so as to store energy for green and low-carbon development. We promoted the application of new technologies such as "direct optical storage and flexible energy" and hydrogen energy, and made a number of scientific and technological achievements marketable. With the large-scale application of "light storage, direct and soft" technology, the energy consumption of Shenzhen Future Building is about half of the average energy consumption of similar office buildings. Foshan has built the country's first smart energy demonstration community project of "Hydrogen energy into every household", and realized the shift of gas supply from natural gas pipe network to mixed hydrogen natural gas pipe network.

The creation of green community promotes common creation. It has issued the Implementation Plan of Guangdong Province for the Creation of Green Communities, issued the Evaluation Criteria for the Construction of Livable Communities and the Evaluation Criteria for the Construction of Green Residential Areas in Guangdong Province, and compiled the Evaluation Criteria for the Construction of Green Communities, integrating the concept of green development into the whole process of community design, construction, management and service activities. We will actively promote the greening of community infrastructure, the construction and improvement of community living environment, the intelligent renovation of community municipal infrastructure and the intelligent construction of security systems, cultivate a green culture in communities, and promote the realization of the goal of a clean, comfortable, safe and beautiful living environment in communities. By the end of October this year, 3,154 communities in Guangdong Province had participated in the creation of green communities and met the requirements, accounting for 63.73%, exceeding the national deployment of green community creation task ahead of time. Through the creation of green communities, the concept of ecological civilization is further rooted in the hearts of the community, and the community is encouraged to save resources and protect the environment to the greatest extent.

Guangdong Province also focuses on the green and low-carbon requirements in urban renewal, historical and cultural protection, vehicle-city collaboration, future urban construction research demonstration, digital family construction and other aspects. It encourages all localities to actively apply for national and provincial pilot projects, create demonstration models, and implement the concept and requirements of green and low-carbon in all aspects of housing and urban and rural construction.

The problem is the voice of The Times. An official of Guangdong Provincial Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department said: "There are still many weaknesses in the green and low-carbon development of urban and rural development in Guangdong Province. In particular, the concept of life-cycle cost accounting is not strong, the problem of inter-regional development imbalance is prominent, the popularization of new construction methods needs to be strengthened in the breadth and depth, and the mindset of emphasizing increment over stock has not yet been changed. There is still a large gap between the requirements for high-quality development of urban and rural development. Need to strengthen the problem-oriented, hoof gallop steady, continuous progress."

In accordance with the national unified deployment, Guangdong Province will continue to improve supporting policies, vigorously develop Lingnan characteristic ultra-low energy consumption and near-zero energy consumption buildings, promote the quality and expansion of prefabricated buildings, strengthen and improve the whole process of green building supervision, in planning, design, construction and management of all aspects of the whole process, to contribute to the realization of the national "double carbon" goal.