Environmentally friendly Olympic infrastructure sets cool example
Beijing’s efforts to stage a green Winter Olympics in 2022 and popularize winter sports impressed participants of the 2021 Silk Road Rediscovery Tour of Beijing that was held on June 6-11.
After being introduced to the Shougang big air ramp in western Beijing, Guatemalan social media influencer and participant Celia Esquivel Salguero said the facility blew her away.
Built next to the cooling towers of a former steel mill, the 164-meter-long slope is the first permanent construction of its kind in the world and will be used for snowboarding and freeski big air events at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Esquivel Salguero said she found it interesting that what had been a steel plant is now a venue for snowboarding and freeski events. “It is an architectural structure that will be exemplary worldwide.”
The big air ramp is located in Shougang Park, a former production site of Chinese steelmaker Shougang Group. After the group moved production to Caofeidian in North China’s Hebei province, the site was transformed to host exhibitions, fairs and winter sports events.
George Doupas, a freelance photographer from Greece, was impressed by the transformation. “A factory, which is not in use anymore, is reused to give something to the people. It’s not wasted. For me, this is the most amazing thing,” he said.
“I also like how the old factory and the new structures blend together at the park,” he added.
Participants of the tour were transported around Shougang Park on hydrogen fuel cell buses, which will be used as shuttles during the Games. “The bus is powered by hydrogen and emits nothing but water,” said a staff member at the park.
“Waste heat generated by the fuel cell can be used for cabin heating, which effectively reduces hydrogen and electricity consumption,” the staff member added.
Esquivel Salguero said she did a livestream about the hydrogen vehicles. Her followers were “very impressed with the technological advances that China currently has and were also delighted with the efforts that China is making to reduce carbon dioxide emissions”, she said.
Green practices were also observed at the Wukesong Ice Sports Center in western Beijing, which will serve as the training base for ice hockey teams at the Games.
The arena cools two of its rinks using a carbon dioxide transcritical refrigeration system, which is “the most advanced in the world”, said Zhao Gengfan, senior technical manager of the venue.
“The refrigerant used is liquid carbon dioxide, which is sourced directly from nature. It doesn’t damage the environment like chemical refrigerants do in the case of a leakage.
“By adopting this system, we can also save a lot of energy and reclaim and reuse the heat generated during the ice-making process for ice melting and other purposes,” he said.
According to the venue, the carbon dioxide trans-critical refrigeration system consumes about 40 percent of the electricity used by the traditional ethylene glycol solution.
Jerry Goode, a content creator from South Africa who records his life in China on his namesake YouTube channel, said he hopes people from other countries can come to China to see these developments.
“The 2022 Games is not only a sporting event, but also an incredible opportunity to showcase China to the world and to let the world know that China is working to advance sustainable development,” he said.
Winter sports have enjoyed a surge in popularity after Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in 2015, said Gao Zhizi, a senior executive at the Citizens’ Winter Sports Center in Beijing’s Shijingshan district.
Opened in May 2017, the center receives an average of 400,000 visits annually. The number of visits has kept growing year-on-year, according to Gao. The center is doing its part in achieving the country’s goal of getting 300 million people involved in winter sports.
It has put together a Winter Olympics-themed exhibition to educate the public about winter sports, which recorded approximately 100,000 visits as of last week, according to the center. It also offers free tickets to local residents, schools, companies and organizations, such as a disabled people’s federation, to enable involvement in winter sports.
The 2022 Games is not only a sporting event, but also an incredible opportunity to showcase China to the world and to let the world know that China is working to advance sustainable development.”
Jerry Goode, a content creator from South Africa