Innovation in constructing energy-saving buildings is
crucial to China's sustainable development, foreign and domestic
energy experts said on Friday.
Experts came to the consensus at the international
forum on "Innovation for Sustainable Development" at Shanghai
Tongji University.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and United
Nations' Environment Program (UNEP) Executive Director, said Asian
countries especially China are growing at a fast and unprecedented
scale.
Steiner said China's building space will increase by 2
billion square meters every year, and that more energy efficient
building solutions were needed, as a UNEP report
revealed.
"A lot of 'urban dreams' in the 20th century are
proven to be 'urban traps' now, although many of such dreams were
implemented into reality out of the best intention from the urban
policy makers and architects," Steiner said.
Steiner said Chinese architects play an important role
in sustainable growth, and that they need to avoid falling into
those "urban traps".
Wan Gang, minister of science and technology and
president of Tongji University, said China faces the pressure of a
huge population and limited resources, and needs innovative
technological talent, especially architects to find
solutions.
(China Daily May 19,
2007)
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