BENEFITING from green construction, Shenzhen’s energy and water use per 10,000 yuan (US$1,492) of GDP was at the lowest level in the country last year. The average PM2.5 density was 26 micrograms per cubic meter, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

As of 2018, the city’s energy-efficient buildings covered more than 175 million square meters. Green construction extended 93.37 million square meters, while the area of prefabricated construction reached over 10 million square meters.

Additionally, the city has built 10 green ecological urban zones and industrial parks, and a total of 44 projects have been recognized as green properties.

At present, of the nearly 100 million square meters of historical buildings, more than 1,000 of them have been ratified as green constructions. The city has also built nine national industry bases for prefabricated construction, becoming the country’s first batch of model cities for prefabricated buildings, according to the report.

Green construction refers to that which provides a healthy and comfortable space for people without consuming too much in the way of resources or creating too much pollution.

In other words, they are highly efficient constructions facilitating the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, based on the definition given by the housing and urban-rural development administration.

As environmental protection and saving energy is being heatedly discussed around the world, Shenzhen is at the forefront of the campaign for green construction.

Andy To, managing director of North Asia at U.S. Green Building Council, said at the 15th International Conference on Green and Efficient Building & New Technologies and Products Expo, which was held recently in Shenzhen, that increasingly more real estate developers, both in Shenzhen and throughout China, are being driven by the market to take initiative in promoting green construction, either under new construction projects or transformation projects.

By the end of 2018, more than 260 constructions in Shenzhen had been registered as green constructions under the LEED certification system, of which 47 projects were registered in 2018, up 42 percent as opposed to the figure in 2017.

The LEED certification system is said to be one of the systems with wider applications around the world.

Bao’an Library was among the first batch of public constructions in China to receive the LEED certificate in 2015. Other buildings, including Peking University HSBC Business School, the Philips researching center, Philips China development center and Galaxy Group headquarters, have also received the certificate since 2009.

In terms of the increased costs resulting from green construction, To said that the incremental cost does not always exist and developers can reduce, for example, the costs of building materials simply by using local materials.

Apart from office and commercial buildings, other types of buildings, like logistics warehouses and public buildings, have also received the green certificate.

(Wang Jingli)