SHANGHAI, China —
Johnson Controls' green building and efficiency solutions are in play at 18 Olympic stadiums and supporting facilities, the firm said.
The sites include the vast National Stadium, also called the Bird's Nest, the National Gymnasium, which is better known as Turtle Back, the Beijing Olympic Building, Beijing University Stadium, Laoshan Mountain Bike Course, Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, China International Conference Center, Tianjin Olympic Building, New CCTV Building and the Beijing Capital International Airport T3.
Johnson Controls, based in Milwaukee, Wisc., offered the details yesterday amid mounting anticipation and high hopes for the
Beijing 2008 Olympics, which open on Friday.
Making the international gathering a green event is one of the banner themes for the games and has been the platform for a major campaign by China to showcase its efforts in environmental responsibility.
On Sunday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited with athletes, volunteers and utility workers in addition to touring various Olympic venues and other areas. He pledged that the civic improvements and the eco-friendly face Beijing presents during the games will endure after the event concludes.
"China is a responsible country," said Wen, according to the Xinhua News Agency. "We will fulfill the promises we made for the Olympics. We will not only host high-quality and unique Games, but also build a more scenic, greener and more civilized city in a sustainable manner.
"The Games are very short, but what is left behind will last. I, together with Liu Qi (Beijing party chief), promise that Beijing will stay as clean as now after the Olympics."
Johnson Controls has been working to help address China's developing green needs for some time.
In 2004, Johnson Controls had a key role in a U.S.-Sino project that created energy-efficient headquarters for the Ministry of Science and Technology in Beijing. Considered China's first green building as well as the first to be internationally certified, the 19,000-square-meter project was designed using LEED standards and featured a Johnson Controls energy management system.
In 2005, the firm was invited to provide the Administration Building of Beijing Planning Board with energy saving services that included detection, diagnosis, evaluation and reform. The project trimmed building operation costs by 13 percent in half a year and became a model for energy conservation among Chinese government buildings. The same year, the firm worked with GM and others help green China's auto supply chain.
Other major energy efficiency projects in China include work at the National Stadium that helped cut annual operation costs by over 15 percent and work with the Guangzhou Higher Education MegaCenter, for which the firm installed one of the world's largest district cooling systems. That project cut refrigeration costs by 40 percent and covered a district made up of 10 universities, 57 research institutes, some 400,000 people and roughly 3.5 million square meters of space. Johnson Controls integrated building management systems are also used at the Shanghai World Finance Center and the Shanghai International Airport.
In April, Johnson Controls co-sponsored the China Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Forum in Beijing. At the time Johnson Controls CEO Steve Roell said, "While energy is essential to economic growth and prosperity today, sustainability is the key to success in the future. China is now taking the initiative in energy conservation and environmental protection."
