China showcases low-carbon technologies for the "Green" Olympics

Reuter

On December 15, 2021, Shougang, the venue of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, freestyle skiing and snowboarding competition, displayed snow guns during an organized media tour

From natural CO2 cooling on ice rinks to venues that use 100 percent renewable energy, China is working to host a "green" Olympics to demonstrate its leadership in climate-friendly technologies and address concerns about the lack of natural snow in its venues.

China will reduce its total carbon emissions from 2030 and become a global leader in the fight against climate change.

"(Chinese) want sustainability to be at the heart of their preparation and hosting of the Olympic Games," Mary Salois, director of the IOC's Corporate and Sustainability Department, told Reuters.

A pre-match report for the Beijing Winter Olympics in January said emissions had been reduced by about 158,300 tons through the deployment of low-carbon energy and venues.

Total greenhouse gas emissions during and after the 2016-2022 Beijing Olympics could reach 1.028 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, about a third less than the 1.6 million tonnes emitted at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.

Much of the reduction was due to China's zero-virus agreement leaving no overseas spectators for the Beijing Olympics. The committee said the reduction in the number of international flights meant that CARBON dioxide emissions would be reduced by 512,000 tons from previous forecasts.

Abandoned cooling ice rink

For the first time, China used carbon dioxide collected from industrial exhaust gases to cool the ice rinks at its four ice sports venues to replace traditional HFCs that destroy the ozone layer.

"With the CO2 refrigeration process, we can save 20-30% of electricity compared to traditional ice-making methods," Wu Xiaonan, an official at the National Speed Skating Hall, said earlier this week.

The 25 competition venues, of which 13 were newly built, also deployed energy-saving technologies, including low-carbon building materials such as recycled cement and smart snowmaking, which can reduce water consumption by 20% compared with traditional technologies.

All Olympic venues will also be powered entirely by wind farms in neighboring Hebei Province via a 666-kilometer (414-mile) ultra-high-voltage grid, while more than 800 hydrogen vehicles are being deployed.

China is the world's largest producer of hydrogen, with an annual production capacity of 41 million tons, and has been striving to achieve a breakthrough in clean energy storage and transportation technology.

Still, criticism of pollution, water use and ecological sustainability for the Beijing Olympics remains, especially the need for 100% artificial snowmaking, putting pressure on already water-stressed regions. Read more

Carmen de Jong, a professor of hydrology at the University of Strasbourg, said moving the Winter Olympics to arid countries with limited snowfall was a dangerous trend that required extensive carbon-intensive infrastructure.

"Beijing is the worst of all the candidates because it needs more water," Zhong said.