When Chinese skier Gu Airing took off in the air and challenged the difficult movement of 1620-degree rotation in the air, the cyberpunk-style competition venue behind her also attracted the attention of the world.
"In Beijing, a halted steel mill is using a 'crazy chimney' to send Winter Olympic skiers, not smoke, into the sky." ——The American media expressed its amazement in the title of the article. American freestyle skier Freyjand said, "It's one of the coolest sights I've ever seen." ”
It is the competition venue of the freestyle ski jump, which is located in the old industrial park of Shougang and is also a small microcosm of the "green" Winter Olympics.
Li Sen, director of the Overall Planning Department of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, said at a press conference held by the main media center on February 9, "The Shougang Ski Jump was transformed from the original industrial building in Shougang, and the Winter Olympics made it a representative landscape of the perfect integration of the city's industrial heritage culture and Olympic culture." This is the 'sustainable development' of the Beijing Winter Olympics. ”
As one of the four major Olympic concepts of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the "green" concept runs through the whole process of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Whether it is the first hydrogen fuel torch in the history of the Winter Olympics, the first use of carbon dioxide refrigerant, or the first time to achieve full green power coverage of all venues, they together constitute a wonderful footnote to the practice of green Olympics and low-carbon management.
Zhang Jianhong, a senior engineer at China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., told the first financial reporter, "From the bidding to the preparation of the Beijing Winter Olympics, it has always adhered to the principles of green, low-carbon and sustainable, strengthened environmental governance and pollution prevention and control, and enhanced the environmental awareness of the whole society, which left a very deep impression on me." ”
Light the "hydrogen" torch of the Winter Olympics
On the evening of February 4, the Winter Olympic torch "Flying" passed by about 1,200 torchbearers ignited the "main torch" snowflake of the National Stadium. So far, the Beijing Winter Olympics have witnessed the debut of the first hydrogen fuel torch in the history of the Winter Olympics in the past hundred years.
"In the darkness, the technicians dressed in black moved quickly, quickly connecting 6 pipelines hanging from the sky to the 'snowflakes'. The first two wires to be connected are cables and network cables. Then the two hydrogen tubes were successfully inserted, the hydrogen fuel supply was normal, and the main torch had a 'main artery'. Two WIA steel cables will pull this 'snowflake' up and make it dance in the air. ”
The technical details that were difficult for the audience to notice when the main torch was lit were subsequently disclosed by the media - "Torchbearers Zhao Jiawen and Dinigal Iramujiang climbed the steps and inserted the 'flying' torch in their hands into the center of the 'snowflake', so that the hydrogen supply system in the air was connected with the 'snowflake' main torch, and the hydrogen in the hydrogen storage tank swam down the flexible hose, passing through the 'snowflake' built-in gas pipeline into the 'flying'." The pipe inside the holding torch shell bends and loops, and the hydrogen flows along the pipe and finally sprays out. ”
In August 2020, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee issued a notice officially clarifying the use of hydrogen as fuel for the torch. Therefore, all relay torches in the Beijing Winter Olympics should be hydrogen fuel, and hydrogen fuel was used to ignite the main torch of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games at the opening ceremony, and a large number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were used during the event to reduce pollutant emissions.
In previous Olympic Games, the main torch fuel has used a large number of gases such as liquefied natural gas or propane, which is cheap and has a high amount of heat combustion. Hydrogen energy is recognized by the world as a clean energy source, and the only product of combustion is water, which is regarded as a subversive technological direction for the future energy revolution. However, the utilization of hydrogen energy involves many links of "preparation, storage, transportation and application", and the use of hydrogen fuel torches puts forward higher requirements for the comprehensive utilization level of hydrogen energy.
As the smallest element in the world, how to ensure that hydrogen does not leak during transportation and delivery? How to ensure that the main torch burns stably and continuously, while having a curvy aesthetic? To this end, the torch development team of the six academies composed of 11 institutes (Beijing) and 101 institutes of the six academies of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group spent two years to overcome the problems of hydrogen fuel torches.
The first financial reporter learned from Sinopec Group Corporation that the hydrogen fuel of the "main torch" was provided by Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical. In order to ensure the supply of hydrogen for the main torch of the Winter Olympics, Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical has set up a support team to formulate a detailed work plan and safeguard measures from the aspects of hydrogen filling, testing, transportation support, etc., to ensure the high quality and safety of the hydrogen supplied.
Replacing "ignition" with "no ignition" and "flaming" with "micro-fire", the main torch of this Winter Olympics alone saved about 99.9% of energy.
"The application of hydrogen energy on the torch is like a microcosm." Zhang Jianhong believes that this will further promote China's overtaking in the development of hydrogen energy, ensure national energy security, and create new economic growth points.
Carbon dioxide is reused to create a snow and ice resort
As of February 9, the speed skating event has been competed for four competition days, and the athletes have set six new Winter Olympic records. For a time, the National Speed Skating Hall "Ice Ribbon" won the reputation of "the fastest ice".
Surprisingly, the seemingly ordinary ice surface actually contains "black technology": this is the world's first project to use natural working carbon dioxide refrigeration technology to replace the traditional refrigerant Freon to make ice surface. Under the ice surface of two or three centimeters thick, more than ten layers of different structures were buried, such as moisture-proof layer, anti-freeze layer, permeation layer... One of the layers is a densely packed ice tube with liquid carbon dioxide flowing inside.
According to the "Beijing Winter Olympics Sustainable Development Report (Pre-Competition)" released by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee in January, the carbon dioxide refrigerant used in the Beijing Winter Olympics National Speed Skating Hall, the Capital Gymnasium, the First Body Short Track Speed Skating Training Hall and the Wukesong Ice Running Center is collected and purified from industrial by-products. The initial filling process at the end of 2021 will reduce CO2 emissions by a total of 900 tons.
An unprecedented project means a breakthrough in concept and technology.
The national speed skating hall ice making technology program has been repeatedly demonstrated by more than ten academicians, top experts of domestic industry associations, and construction representatives. In a discussion with ice experts from the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee and the International Olympic Committee, Zhang Xinrong, a professor at Peking University, proposed that "our ice rink can no longer use Freon to make ice." The traditional refrigerant Freon has serious environmental damage and poor safety, while ammonia has a certain risk of explosion and toxicity. Therefore, he advocates the application of a more environmentally friendly carbon dioxide ice making technology to the Beijing Winter Olympics. This novel proposal won support, and the demonstration of natural working medium carbon dioxide ice was officially launched.
Argumentation has not been easy. In the following years, the Olympic Organizing Committee traveled all over the north and south of the jiangnan and the north, searching for the other side of the ocean, and finally adopted this plan. With the help of natural working fluid carbon dioxide ice making technology, China took the lead in the history of the Human Winter Olympic Games to replace Freon ice making.
In response to a reporter's question on February 9, Li Sen said that carbon dioxide ice-making technology will not cause greenhouse gas effects, nor will it cause damage to the ozone layer. Carbon dioxide ice making technology can recover heat energy very well, and the energy saving in operation reaches about 20%. "It will cost a little bit more when it is built, but in the long term, it will greatly reduce costs because it has advantages in terms of heat recovery and so on, so carbon dioxide ice making technology is a very good technology."
Ice making is a comprehensive demonstration of the technical strength of the Winter Olympic venues. "China's courage in using carbon dioxide, a new refrigerant, has not been used in an ice rink before. Thanks to China's efforts to make this possible. A.Gil Sutherland, an ice-making engineering consultant at the International Olympic Committee, said at a previous media briefing, "I hope that the carbon dioxide ice-making technology of the Beijing Winter Olympics can spread around the world." ”
Relevant officials of the International Olympic Committee said that the use of carbon dioxide refrigeration systems has taken the lead in making environmentally friendly and sustainable demonstrations for the world, and the choice of R449A refrigerant will make the Beijing Winter Olympics the lowest GWP (global warming potential) of refrigerants in ice venues in the history of the Winter Olympics.
"The wind of Zhangbei lights up the lights of the Winter Olympics"
Ms. Zhang is a native of Zhangjiakou, and when she was a child, she often heard people say that "two winds a year, one blow for half a year". This year's Spring Festival, she returned to her hometown to sit in front of the TV with her relatives to watch the Winter Olympics together. To her surprise, the wind in front of her house even lit up the Winter Olympics on the screen.
The Bashang area, where Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, is located, with an altitude of about 1400 meters, a vast area, with high-quality wind and solar energy, and is one of the 9 10 million kilowatt wind power bases planned by the state.
With the efforts of the power team for more than two years, the Zhangbei Soft Straight Project, which broke ground in 2018, created 12 world firsts, such as "the world's first DC power grid with real network characteristics", "the world's first DC power grid that realizes the complementarity of wind, light and energy storage", and "the world's highest voltage level and largest capacity flexible DC converter station".
Through the "green electric highway" of the Zhangbei Flexible DC Power Grid Experimental demonstration project, renewable energy sources such as wind and light in Zhangbei are converted into green electricity and transmitted to the three competition areas of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, lighting up the Venues of the Beijing Winter Olympics and realizing 100% of the conventional electricity consumption of all venues using green electricity.
Li Sen said that the realization of this result also benefits from the cross-regional green electricity trading mechanism, which provides a guarantee for the "green operation" of the Winter Olympic venues through the market-oriented power trading mechanism.
As Marie Sarois, director of business and sustainability at the IOC, said at the aforementioned launch, "Sustainability aims to maximize socio-economic benefits, but it is not limited to sport itself." Industry insiders believe that the Olympic green power project is an important way to explore the integration of large-scale "transmission-grid-consumption" of clean energy, which is not only of great significance to the Winter Olympics, but also has a huge pulling effect on several fields.
"On the one hand, China's wind power and photovoltaics will enter explosive growth, and flexible HVDC transmission technology and construction have also entered a stage of rapid development. On the other hand, in order to ensure the stable operation of the Zhangbei Rouzhi power grid, the Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station sits firmly in the rear, so it will drive the rapid development of the mainland energy storage industry, and energy digitalization will also usher in a golden period of development. Zhang Jianhong said.
According to the "Beijing Winter Olympics Low Carbon Management Report (Pre-Competition)" released by the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the carbon emissions generated by the Beijing Winter Olympics have been reduced as much as possible through a number of measures such as low-carbon energy, low-carbon venues, and low-carbon transportation. At the same time, carbon offset measures such as forestry carbon sequestration and independent action by enterprises have been adopted. After comprehensive calculations, the carbon emissions generated by the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and The Winter Paralympic Games will all be neutralized.