Spring Festival travellers departing from Nanjing South Railway Station are among the first to be able to say their journey home was a considerably less carbon-intense experience, as the Station has recently upped its green credentials.
The eco-friendly upgrade to Nanjing South comes as China as a whole begins to adopt national policies demanding a peak in carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.
But it was actually as long ago as 2019 that Nanjing South began investigating ways in which it could become a so-called “smart station”.
Key to the energy-efficient upgrade has been improvements in the Station’s lighting and air-conditioning systems. To achieve this, the Station has implemented that which it is calling an “intelligent management platform”, reports ECNS.
With Nanjing South as the largest station in Asia, the platform exercises control over literally tens of thousands of control devices.
Now, remote sensing monitors adjust the lighting systems in waiting areas and on platforms based on passenger flow. Elsewhere, upgrades to pipelines supplying cooling water to air-conditioning units mean consumption can be much more efficiently controlled.
Overall, since its implementation, the upgrade has brought about a 7,200 tonne reduction in carbon emissions. That’s the equivalent of not burning almost 2,700 tonnes of coal. In addition, there are also the benefits brought about by savings of 5 million kWh of electricity and almost 25,000 tonnes of steam.
And not only does Nanjing South now use half as much power as it used to, it’s also feeling the difference in its pocket. As a result of the green upgrade, the Station saw a ¥8.2 million saving in its energy expenditure for 2021.
On an even larger scale, China joined much of the world with carbon-neutral pledges announced by the State Council in October of last year.
Specifically, the country’s policy states, “By 2030, China’s carbon dioxide emissions will peak, stabilise and then decline, and by 2060, China will be carbon neutral and have fully established a green, low-carbon and circular economy”.
