China green building & energy investment events run with success

Running from December 10-11 Noppen's China Advanced Green Building Summit 2009, organized in conjunction with Shanghai Green Ecosystem Building & Living Environment, Science-Technology Expansion Centre in Shanghai, focused on cost, energy and environmental solutions in buildings in an attempt to increase the country's uptake of green building solutions. 

Currently, developers in China are hesitant to pursue green building due to common misconceptions that the market is not mature enough and that the cost of green building is higher and green building initiatives lack government support. These false impressions are a result of a lack of awareness in the country, which is a problem the two day event was aimed at solving. 

The summit brought together green building project developers, investors, bankers, customers, and technology solution providers to share best practice methods for green building construction. Low cost and financial benefits were demonstrated through case studies on a global scale, including some examples from China itself.

Government speakers at the event included Wang Wei, director of Green Building Research Center, MOHURD who gave insights into green building development and low-carbon economy trends in China and Huang Qiuping, deputy chief architect and director of Green Building Council, ECADI who spoke about the concept of building a Green Expo and gave a comprehensive description of ECADI Expo green building projects. Another main speaker was Lin Wusheng, director of Green Real Estate R&D Center, China Merchants Property Development who illustrated a developer's experience in green building.

Many other speakers from all areas of the industry gave presentations at the two day event, including the showcase of a low-carbon and green community (Changsha Fountain Valley) by Andrew Zheng, CEO, Shenzhen Fountain; an outline of the DGNB sustainable building certification system by Quinn LU, China chief representative, German Sustainability Building Council (DGNB) and Jiang Wei, Green Credit project manager, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank who spoke about green finance contributions to low-carbon enterprise development.

Also present at the event was Chen Yin, chief architect and engineer at Modern Green Development, Pan Yanping, vice director of Shanghai Municipal Construction, Engineering, WANG Baohai the former vice director at the Shanghai Building Energy Efficiency Office and Chen Bingzhao, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University. 

Running during the same two day period was the China Solar Energy Technology and Investment Congress, also organized by Noppen. With over 150 attendees, including international senior executives, top-level Chinese government officials, industry experts and leading production and technology directors, the event ran in close connection with Huhhot Municipal Government in Huhhot, in Inner Mongolia, China. The focus of this event was how to drive down the cost per installed watt and the future growth of the solar energy market in China. 

Among the speakers at the event were Liu Min, director general of development and reform commission of Huhho who talked about the incentive policies of developing solar industry and the current state of the solar industry in Huhhot. Keynote speaker Frank Haugwitz, former EU renewable energy manager, EU-China Energy & Environment Programme (EEP) also gave a detailed introduction of Europe's solar energy development and its future trend.

Highlights at the conference included a presentation by Lee Seong Hooi, group manager field engineering, FM Engineering International, which dealt with risk management strategies for solar panel manufacturers and other presentations from domestic experts, including Wen Lishi, member of Chinese Academy of Engineering; Jiang Liping, vice president of State Power Grid Energy Research Institute and Xu Honghua, vice director general, Institute of Electrical Engineering Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Some of the other topics discussed include the opportunities and challenges facing solar industry technologies in China, key technologies of large scale solar farm development and operation, and promoting the development of the silicon industry in China through international methodologies.