Global Brief

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 911 Views

BRITISH PLANNERS VISIT CHINA TO ADVISE ON BUILDING HEALTHY CITIES

A team of British planning experts visited China in October to advise mayors on building cities that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable, according to the website of the Chartered Institute of Building.

The workshop tour by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) will cover urban renewal, green infrastructure and energy, political leadership, and transport.

Funded by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Beijing, the group will meet Chinese mayors and deliver a workshop on low-carbon buildings, and meet officials in fast-growing Shenyang, which has more than six million inhabitants.

The TCPA said that, to succeed, cities must reduce carbon emissions, shift to renewable, make homes zero-carbon and provide cost-effective transport.

This echoes a report released last month by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, which found that building better connected, more compact cities based on mass public transport can save over US$3 trillion in investment costs over the next 15 years.

JAPAN CONSTRUCTS FLOATING SOLAR STATION

A joint venture between Kyocera Corporation, Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation and Ciel et Terre International is constructing two floating solar installations in Japan.

The first of these installations with 1.7MW power capacity will be the world’s largest floating solar power generating system.

The facility is being built on the surface of Nishihira pond in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, and began construction in September. The second solar plant will have a capacity of 1.2MW and will be built on Higashihira pond.

These floating solar power plants will save space, produce more electricity than ground-mount and rooftop systems due to the cooling effect of water, as well as will reduce reservoir evaporation and algae growth by shading the water.

The power generated by the plants will be sufficient to power approximately 920 households, and will be integrated in the local utility through the country’s feed-in-tariff system.

The plants are expected to be operational by April 2015.