Green Living

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2011
BUILDING A BETTER WORLD
CHINADAILY.COM.CN/LIFE 




A growing number of environmentally conscientious homeowners are renovating their houses to save energy and cash. Cheng Anqi reports.




While Jack Frost has been knocking at Beijingers’ doors for weeks, Du Xiangsi sends him packing. Th is has been made possible by the aluminum corridor Du has constructed in front of his house’s main entrance. “It protects my family from cold in winter and heat in summer,” he says. “It works better than an air conditioner.” He can even turn off his storage heater on
sunny days. Du is among the growing ranks of “green builders”, who believe the value of apartments should be judged less by size and interior design than by energy effi ciency. Th e 60-year-old lives in an old dazayuan, or tenement courtyard, in Xicheng district. His neighborhood comprises a dozen ramshackle homes with poor heating and insulation.

“Even the heater offers little protection

from cold in winter,” Du says. “It’s a waste

of energy.”

He explains he used to dread receiving

his heating bill until the NGO Friends of

Nature included his among the 21 homes

that underwent energy-saving renovations

though the organization’s Good Houses

Save Energy project.

Du’s corridor acts as an “insulator”, Tsinghua

University’s professor of energy saving

technology and project consultant Qiu

Jizhe says.

The house’s south-facing windows can

warm it until sundown.

“So the house’s interior heat is retained

in winter while the summer’s heat moves

around the corridor to flow out the open

windows and keep the inner rooms cool,”

Qiu says.

Weatherizing makes the house comfier.

It blocks draft s and creates a more uniform

temperature inside, Qiu says.

Friends of Nature assistant director

Zhang Hehe adds, “We want our trial

households to have diverse income levels

and situations.”

There are incentives to using less electricity,

other than protecting Mother Earth,

Qiu explains.

“Saving energy directly translates into

saving money,” he says.

Buildings consume up to 30 percent of

the country’s energy supply, Ministry of

Construction figures show. Most of that

goes to heating and cooling.

“Most people want energy-efficient

homes but don’t know where to start,” Qiu

says.

Energy efficient lighting is a bright start,

he explains. Customers should start by

thinking about brightness and colour, and

then decide between compact florescent

light bulbs (CFLs) or light-emitting diodes

(LEDs), Qiu explains.

LED bulbs cost from 50 Yuan to 300

Yuan but last up to 30 years, Qiu says.

Wang Yuan recently replaced five traditional

incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

The 29-year-old had paid about 15 Yuan

($2.3) a month for 200-watt bulbs. But the

60-watt LEDs enabled her to reduce her

electricity bill to 5.4 Yuan a month.

“LEDs are expensive,” Wang says. “I hope

prices will drop as more products enter the

market.”

Other items that are helping homeowners

like Kong Qingling save money and

energy include “green switches”. These are

power strips that operate on a timer that

shuts off power to appliances — especially

“energy vampires”, which are items like

water heaters that suck power even when

turned off.

“The energy a TV uses when it’s on

standby is simply wasted,” Kong says. “A

green switch allows you to save a lot of

energy without unplugging anything.”

Kong filters bursts of dirty air shot into

her apartment by the trains that traverse

Haidian district’s Sidaokou stop across

from her apartment with 30 potted plants.

She has considered buying an air purifier

“But if nature can help freshen air, why

not use it?” she says.

“Gardenia can contribute visual appeal

to a room, and its fragrance can bring clarity

of mind.”

Magazine editor Luo Huixin finds joy in

tending the vegetable garden she cultivates

on her balcony.

The hydroponic setup has produced its

third batch of green beans. A timer-operated

system drips a nutrient solution through

tubes to each plant. Excess is collected in a

reservoir for reuse.

Buying goods certified as produced in

an ecologically friendly way plays a vital

role, Beijing Biechu Space Design Studio

engineer Guan Huilong says.

“People like internationally certified furniture

but don’t realize it creates vast amounts

of carbon dioxide as it’s transported by air 

and train,” Guan says.

“Buying products made with local

materials and labour reduces pollution and

prices.”

This is advice Li Xiaolin took to heart

when redecorating her home according to

a low-carbon plan.

She had her old traditional Chinese cabinet

polished and repaired rather than buy a

new one, she says.

“It has become the living room’s centrepiece,”

she says.

“All of our guests praise it and ask where

we bought it.”

Planting green concepts

By CHENG ANQI, CHINA DAILY

Qiu Jizhe sniff s every place he visits.

The environmentalist, who was born

to a family of poor Taiwan province

farmers, says the habit comes from his

understanding of how important animals’

dwellings are to their breeding.

“I have a sensitive nose and am very

careful about improving a place’s environment,”

the 42-year-old says.

“Most animals — such as cows, ducks

and pigs — are warm-blooded and produce

heat. The more there are, the hotter

they feel. If the temperature is too high,

they get sick, lose their appetites and stop

growing, which cuts into the profitability

of their slaughter.”

His innovative solution is a water wall

that reduces temperatures while filtering

the air, he explains.

“When people feel hot, we tend to turn

on an air conditioner, which expels carbon

dioxide emissions that cause global

warming, which is the crisis of human

existence. We can use the same eco-friendly

methods that help animals to

make our lives more comfortable.”

Qiu has assisted environmental protection

organizations in Taiwan’s Taichung

since graduating with a master’s degree

from Taipei University of Technology’s

architecture department.

He mostly deals in the construction of

“ideal green houses”.

“An ideal green house is a home that is

constructed and operates with the least

disruption to land, water and energy

resources. The optimum design solution

effectively emulates the site’s natural

systems.”

He started innovating in Taichung,

in 2007.

“I saw many disadvantages in our community,”

he says. “We had water leakage

problems. People would fall on the slippery

courtyard tiles, and the air in every

room stank and was dirty. It was a low

quality of life.”

The couple purposefully sought a

cheap apartment with many problems

to test their energy-efficient renovations.

It faced westward, and its summer

temperature peaked at about 38 degrees

when it was 32 degrees outside.

So he successfully experimented with

a temperature regulation method of

installing another window 10 cm outside

of the original.

During hot weather, he can open the

inside windows and roll down the blinds.

This causes hot air to rise and cool air

to fall.

“It allows you to take advantage of passive

solar heat,” Qiu says.

When installing pine flooring, Qiu

found a space in the back of the western

wall he filled with fibreglass.

The couple also installed 2-meter-high

outdoor air conditioning units on the

kitchen balcony, living room, study and

downstairs room to draw bad smells out

and fresh air in.

When the roof started leaking, Qiu

lined it with insulating polystyrene bricks.

“It’s like the thermal insulation of

refrigerators,” he explains.

“Their temperatures are cool inside

and aren’t outside. It’s the thermal insulation

that maintains the cold that’s inside

the fridge that you can’t feel if you touch

its exterior.”

The green building concept changed

the couple’s quality of life, Qiu says.

“We reinvented our house with good

ideas and cheap materials,” he says.

“It doesn’t look like a luxury home. But

it’s a coziness that’s very comfortable and

doesn't use much energy or cost much

to live in.”

He says it took some convincing for his

neighbours to agree that many sustainable

building practices aren’t more expensive

than conventional methods.

The community went on to found the

Green Comfort Health Association, Taichung’s

first studio dedicated to sustainable

housing renovations.

Qiu’s 2009 book Hao Fangzi (Good

House) shows how to get started in the

green building business.

The book and his work earned him

the 2010 Taiwan Environmental Heroes

Award from Global Views Monthly.

“I hope to create a green concept in

everybody’s mind,” Qiu says.

“It can be glorified in every workplace,

home and occasion.”