Sustainable futures
Building for the future
China’s first zero-carbon building, the Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, embodies how researchers at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China are using cross-disciplinary expertise to create spaces that are good for both people and the environment.
For a university with strengths in sustainable architecture, it seems fitting that UNNC has its own flagship sustainable building: opened in 2008, originally to house its Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, this was the first zero-carbon building in China. Its award-winning design is inspired by traditional Chinese paper lanterns and fans, and yet the techniques that it uses are anything but traditional: it was intended to be a showcase of some of the most innovative methods of sustainable and environmentally responsible construction. From its solar panels and natural ventilation, geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines, advanced insulation and clever use of daylight, the design of the building ensures that its energy consumption does not exceed what it can itself provide. Locally sourced building materials, and the capacity to store rainwater and re-use grey water, further reduce the building’s environmental impact.
UNNC’s Sustainable Built Environment Research Group continues to find innovative ways of ensuring that buildings work in harmony with the natural environment: it focuses on low-carbon, intelligent and human-centred designs for buildings and cities. The team now includes over 30 research students and 21 researchers, and has one of the top citation rates in China in its field. It has received research funding worth over 20 million RMB, including from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ningbo Natural Science Foundation and others.
Since it was established in 2019, the Sustainable Built Environment Research Group has been led by Dr Wu Deng, Associate Professor in Sustainable Architecture. For Professor Deng, one of the group’s strengths is that it combines the expertise of a number of different university departments. “Our architecture research is very broad in scope,’ he says. “It ranges from the Humanities (including history and design theory) to the more technical.”
"We care about the environment. We’re trying to make the environment better: that’s our duty, and our responsibility."
The ‘mother-building’
Two particular research streams have been identified as priorities for the team: one is architectural heritage, the other low-carbon buildings. The two come together in a particular area of specialism: using building typologies for low-carbon energy retrofit. Professor Deng explains: “The process of retrofitting – in which new features are added to existing buildings, to make them more sustainable – is taking place in many countries. Very often, however, the methodology is applied piecemeal: it involves taking one building at a time. But if you look at a city, you can begin to classify the energy characteristics of certain types of building, not treating buildings individually. To work out the best energy solution for a particular building, in other words, you can use the idea of building typology. Knowing when a building was constructed, under the building regulations of the time, within a certain culture of construction and using certain materials, we can work out the prototype of that particular kind of building: the ‘mother-building.’ Then through computer modelling we can see how to optimise its energy systems, which will hold true for all the buildings of that type. This all helps developers to choose the best solution for restoration or retrofit.”
Professor Deng’s award-winning textbook, Ecological Development in China: Cities, Communities, and Architecture, is contributing to dialogue on sustainable cities and communities around the world. Sustainable design principles developed by his team are being incorporated in low-carbon buildings, including in Ningbo.
Wu Deng
Dr Wu Deng is an Associate Professor in Architecture and Built Environment and Head of the Sustainable Built Environment Research Group. His research interests are in four areas: 1) Sustainable eco-city development; 2) Building life cycle material, energy and carbon modelling and analysis; 3) Passive house technologies in the hot summer and cold winter climate; 4) Building prototyping and modeling.
Email: wu.deng@nottingham.edu.cn