D2 North| Hidden Sustainable Development Businesses in Shanghai

01

State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company

State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company is the largest and the most technical underground transformer substation, whose capacity reaches 500kV. It provides electricity steadily for the city center and improves the organization of high-voltage power lines. We visited the underground transformer substation with the helmets. The visit showed us that the technical innovations of SGCC Shanghai Branch had helped greatly to improve its user experience.

Campers are entering State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company.

Dr. Fang Chen from State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company gave the camp members a seminar. Through the seminar we learned that the SGCC Shanghai Branch contributed to the city construction of Shanghai and provided clear and safe power to people.

Dr. Fang Chen is giving a report.

Expert is showing campers around in the underground area.

Customer Experience Center of State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company serves as its public display window and a popular science education platform to publicize the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection.

Campers are experiencing power facilities.

  State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Company Customer Experience Center Lecturer is conducting a presentation.

The Experience Center like a technology museum, which has five parts: "Harmony - City, Fun - Electricity, Entertainment- Family, Green - Travel, Heart - Service". The campers followed the instructor and tried the facilities through interesting interactions and experiments. The various small interactive devices in the "Fun-Electricity" section, the smart home integration system in the "Entertainment-Family" section and the zero-emission pure electric vehicles in the "Green-Travel" section all aroused the interest of the campers.

02

Hefeng Farm

In the afternoon we visited the Hefeng Farm. It is not only a simple farmhouse but also a place which offers delicious food and serves as the theme pavilion of the Shanghai World Expo “Interaction between City and Country” section. After the introduction by the farm guide, we have a general understanding of how the farm works. The two most impressive things are hydroponics and aquaponics.

Hydroponics is a new type of cultivation method. A crop is suspended in a closed cultivation device while its roots are outside the device. The spray solution is used to atomize the nutrient fluid into small water droplets which can be sprayed directly onto the surface of the plant root. This soilless cultivation technique provides the essential water and nutrients required by the plants and reduces the nitrate in the cultivated plants. The aerosol planting technique has advantages in realizing the three-dimensional space planting，which can help to save land.

Aquaponics is a new type of compound farming system. It combines aquaculture and hydroponics to achieve synergies. In short, Hefeng Farms reminds us we the importance of promotion and improvement of science and technology to agricultural development.

03

Knowledge

After visiting the Hefeng Farm, we had a seminar offered by Mr. Zhang Zemin, an Oxford Alumni and a founding director of Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. The theme of the lecture was China's energy consumption and carbon trading market. Mr. Zhang gave us a detailed introduction from three aspects: climate change, carbon trading and China's energy consumption.

Mr. Zhang Zemin is giving a report.

Campers are listening to Mr. Zhang Zemin's lecture.

In the climate change sector, we learned that we were currently experiencing rather severe climate change. According to the statistics, the 20th century witnessed the hottest 100 years of the past 1000 years, and 16 of the 17 hottest years recorded have appeared after 2000. Besides, the Antarctic ice sheet area is now at its lowest point. This severe warming can lead to pretty serious consequences.

In the Carbon Trading and Low Carbon Action seminar, we understood that there were several ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: increase production efficiency, reduce fossil energy consumption, find alternative energy sources, and collect as well as store carbon dioxide. At the same time, countries' policies to deal with climate change are also emerging, and they are gradually becoming related to each other. This leads to trading the carbon emission quota. That is to say, some enterprises whose carbon emissions exceed the quota can purchase quotas in the carbon market.

In the seminar, we learned that due to the impact of energy structure, China's primary energy consumption and related carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions are ranked first in the world, while 70% of carbon dioxide emissions, 90% of sulfur dioxide emissions, and 66.7% of nitrogen oxide emissions come from coal. There is still a long way for us to go.

In short, the lecture made it more clear that taking measures to lower our carbon dioxide emission should be put on agenda.

To summarize, by visiting enterprises and attending seminars, we further understand sustainable development, which needs transdisciplinary collaboration and practical operation. Undoubtedly, more efforts should be paid to sustainable development. 

——Two battalion members in North Route

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Text | Vanilla Garfield, Turtledove Broccoli, Cherry Mantis Shrimp, Laurel Old Cat

Photo | Tea Fox

Editor | Eucalyptus Koala

Proofreader | Eucalyptus Koala