Chengdu to stage 'green' horticultural exhibition

The International Horticultural Exhibition 2024 Chengdu, scheduled to open on Friday in the capital of Sichuan province, fully incorporates a green and low-carbon approach, an expo official said.

The 186-day event will showcase more than 500 varieties of distinctive plants from five continents and over 60 local plant species, as well as a diverse range of gardening styles worldwide in 113 exhibition parks.

Zhou Jun, deputy director of the expo executive committee's publicity department and deputy director of Chengdu's park city construction administration bureau, said the green and low-carbon approach is the expo's primary principle, implemented in planning and design, construction and operation.

The city has produced a sustainable development research report for the expo, the first of its kind in the event's history, he said.

"The construction of the main venue in Chengdu Eastern New Area has fully protected and utilized the existing ecological and landscape resources such as vegetation, water systems and farmlands, and preserved the natural terrain features as much as possible," Zhou said. "This not only avoids damage to the local ecosystem but also reduces construction costs."

Green building technologies, new materials and low-carbon design concepts were also widely adopted in the construction of the exhibition parks and pavilions in the main venue to help reduce carbon emissions.

One example is the three giant lotus petal-shaped buildings at the entrance to the main venue. They not only serve as decoration, but also have a more important function of collecting rainwater.

Huang Cong, chief planner of the main venue, said the facility collects rainwater and channels it through pipelines into an underground filtration and storage system.

"They are expected to collect about 2,500 metric tons of rainwater per year, which can meet the daily watering needs of 2 hectares of green areas in the venue," he said.

Another example is the Main Exhibition Pavilion, which was designed to make the most of natural ventilation and lighting.

"It provides shade in the summer and collects heat in the winter, resulting in reduced operational energy consumption," said Xiao Bo, the building's designer and chief architect of the No 3 Design Institute of China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Corp Ltd.

Instead of using central air conditioning, the Main Exhibition Pavilion uses decentralized air conditioning that is expected to save 60,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, equivalent to the annual air conditioning energy consumption of 30 households.

The expo will also bring together the latest green technologies in agriculture and horticulture from around the world.