The "2010 World Expo Architecture - Building Materials, Energy Saving and Low-Carbon Concepts and Practices" international forum was held in Shanghai recently. More than 150 experts, scholars, entrepreneurs, government officials and association development personnel gave excellent speeches and interactive exchanges, vividly demonstrating the strong vitality of energy-saving new technologies and chemical new materials in the new building energy-saving industry and future urban development. The amplification effect of the Green Expo and Low-Carbon Expo is becoming apparent.
The Shanghai World Expo can be regarded as a World Expo of Architecture. More than 230 pavilions have become a great practice and high-level display platform for new concepts, new materials, new technologies and new designs in energy-saving buildings.
Historical World Expos all reflect the characteristics of the times. Tang Shifang, the deputy director of the Technical Office of the Shanghai World Expo Bureau, introduced that in terms of display and application of technologies in this Shanghai World Expo, the obvious characteristic of the times is the innovative application of energy-saving, ecological and environmental protection technologies. Firstly, the utilization of solar energy, including solar photovoltaic power generation, solar collectors and solar thermal power generation, are available throughout the park with a total capacity of 4.6 megawatts. Secondly, all buildings use insulation materials, and many also adopt ecological technologies. Four venues, including the Expo Center, have been rated as three-star green buildings. Thirdly, there is a demonstration of new energy vehicles, with 1,000 new energy vehicles in operation in the park. Fourthly, the use of river water source and ground source heat pump technology, with an unprecedented scale, provides air conditioning and refrigeration for about 600,000 square meters of buildings. Fifthly, the innovative application of chemical new materials provides new ideas for architects; the exterior wall of the German Pavilion is covered with a revolutionary polymer material Mesh, and the Italian Pavilion uses transparent concrete.
Tang Shifang said that there will be a large-scale development trend of green buildings and ecological buildings. The Shanghai World Expo Bureau's Technical Office Deputy Director proposed that all buildings must be green buildings after 2016, and the United States also has such regulations. Currently, the Chinese government is vigorously promoting this, requiring all buildings to meet energy-saving targets. The wider application of energy-saving, ecological and environmental protection technologies will become a new opportunity for the development of building chemical materials in the post-Expo period.
However, the task of promoting energy-saving buildings is difficult. The current bottlenecks are the issue of industrial policies and the issue of technical regulations. It is reported that the Chinese government has accelerated the pace of promoting building energy conservation. Experts from the New Building and Building Energy Conservation Materials Branch of the Shanghai Building Materials Industry Association, Lu Shanbao, introduced that recently, the state has issued two draft opinions on energy-saving design standards, one is the standard for buildings in hot summer and cold winter regions, which has been adjusted according to the actual situation of the region, and particularly puts forward mandatory requirements for shading for window energy conservation; the other is the design standard for existing residential buildings for energy conservation, and the energy conservation renovation of residential buildings will be implemented in steps. The "Shanghai Building Energy Conservation Regulations" is also about to be introduced. It is understood that among the 860 million square meters of existing buildings in Shanghai, only 20% are energy-saving buildings.
At the forum, experts proposed that there are three contradictions to be solved in building energy conservation. The first is the contradiction between commonly used building energy-saving materials and the different life cycles of buildings. Currently, the life cycle of commonly used organic and inorganic insulation materials is 25-30 years, but the reasonable usage period of buildings is 70-100 years. The second, the contradiction between existing energy-saving materials and fire prevention and protection requirements. Our country stipulates that the exterior walls of public buildings over 50 meters high must use A-level non-combustible materials, but currently, the energy-saving materials that can meet the A-level standard are very few. The third, the contradiction between vigorously promoting building energy conservation and urban safety. The firmness and density of some insulation materials that are pasted on strong-faced bricks cannot be known for how long. After several years, will the face bricks of high-rise buildings cause safety hazards to the city? Experts suggest that the chemical building materials industry and the architectural design industry should jointly join forces to strive to solve this problem.
