Expo in Tianjin highlights green buildings as way to curb carbon emissions

Yu Dihua, one of the principal engineers involved in the hospital's construction, said they adopted methods of prefabrication.

"The hospital consists of a number of building blocks, and all its components were produced in the factory and transported to the site for assembly," Yu said, adding that this approach greatly reduced construction time, resources and waste.

High-tech took center stage at the expo. The China Construction Second Engineering Bureau showcased a digital platform capable of recording the life cycle of steel used in construction. "It can monitor the entire steel process, from design and purchasing to transportation and installation, which effectively helps avoid installation errors and reduces the waste of construction materials," the company's Wu Libo said, adding that each piece of steel was assigned a unique QR code for continued tracing.

Nowadays, green buildings are springing up across China, and intelligent, energy saving technologies are creating new possibilities for home design and lifestyle.

The expo, which features green building materials, examples of ecological cities, and the latest technologies in the construction industry, aimed to promote green and smart buildings, which will help the country achieve its peak carbon dioxide emission and carbon neutrality goals.

Wang Jun, president of the China Academy of Building Research, said during the expo that green building is important for China's green and low-carbon development.

He said that carbon emissions from China's construction sector reached about 2 billion metric tons per year, accounting for about 20 percent of the country's total emissions.

"In the future, the construction industry will integrate low-carbon and smart technical measures to promote the large-scale and high-quality development of China's green buildings," Wang said.