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Climate change museum built to explain impacts on everyday life
March 5, 2010, Friday
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HANGZHOU government is taking a major leap forward in the environmental issues debate by establishing a low-carbon science museum - the first in the world - to demystify the science for ordinary people to understand. Pan Zheng takes a look inside.
The term "low-carbon" - already a hot topic in environmental debates around the world - gained higher profile after last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
But what exactly is low-carbon? No cars? No planes? The Low Carbon Science Museum under construction in Hangzhou may soon provide the answers.
Located in Binjiang District, it will be the first museum of such kind in the world.
The museum will occupy 33,656 square meters and construction is expected to be finished by the middle of this year. The formal opening will be in 2011.
It's been a challenge for the Hangzhou government to develop the concept because it's the first of its kind, without any previous example or experience to draw on.
So, what to show? And how?
The museum's main hall will cover five aspects - World of Carbon, Global Warming, Low-carbon City, Low-carbon Life and Low-carbon Future.
Through interactive exhibitions and special events, visitors will be able to learn and experience how to reduce their own carbon emissions in daily life.
The museum will also show how local attractions, such as the West Lake and Qiantang River, sustain low-carbon practices.
Visitors will be able to measure their daily carbon emissions and visit a zero-carbon house designed to be the most environmentally friendly home in the world.
There will also be a special amusement park for kids, with various interesting games to help children learn low-carbon concepts from an early age.
Hangzhou government invited top experts from around China to discuss the concept and design and received invaluable ideas and suggestions.
"It shouldn't be a simple educational museum," says Xu Yanhao, curator of China Science Museum. "Instead, it should combine the construction itself with displays inside, especially using natural light properly to stress the features of a science museum."
Shen Jiacong, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Science, says it is natural for Hangzhou to host such a museum as it has contributed a lot to building a model low-carbon city.
"But it's extremely important that the displays be very scientific and accurate. For example, it should not mix carbon with carbon dioxide, nor think carbon is a terrible element," says Shen.
The initiative shows the importance with which Hangzhou government treats environmental issues.
The scenic city at one stage was estimated to be annually discharging about 60 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than 7 tons per person.
It was not a good number for a city with a sizeable tourism industry.
Hangzhou in recent years has implemented various policies to improve the environment, such as public bicycles, economic structural adjustments, smoking controls and energy-saving boats on the Grand Canal of China.
Six low-carbons points have been identified by the government for the future city plan - low-carbon economy, construction, transportation, life, environment and society.
"A symbol of a low-carbon city is improving the social welfare and GDP growth while the carbon emissions doesn't increase," says Zhu Dajian, professor at the Economy and Management College of Shanghai Tongji University and an environment adviser to the World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
"An international criterion for a model low-carbon city is to make the per person emission under 10 tons annually when the per person GDP reaches US$20,000," he says.
The term "low-carbon" - already a hot topic in environmental debates around the world - gained higher profile after last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
But what exactly is low-carbon? No cars? No planes? The Low Carbon Science Museum under construction in Hangzhou may soon provide the answers.
Located in Binjiang District, it will be the first museum of such kind in the world.
The museum will occupy 33,656 square meters and construction is expected to be finished by the middle of this year. The formal opening will be in 2011.
It's been a challenge for the Hangzhou government to develop the concept because it's the first of its kind, without any previous example or experience to draw on.
So, what to show? And how?
The museum's main hall will cover five aspects - World of Carbon, Global Warming, Low-carbon City, Low-carbon Life and Low-carbon Future.
Through interactive exhibitions and special events, visitors will be able to learn and experience how to reduce their own carbon emissions in daily life.
The museum will also show how local attractions, such as the West Lake and Qiantang River, sustain low-carbon practices.
Visitors will be able to measure their daily carbon emissions and visit a zero-carbon house designed to be the most environmentally friendly home in the world.
There will also be a special amusement park for kids, with various interesting games to help children learn low-carbon concepts from an early age.
Hangzhou government invited top experts from around China to discuss the concept and design and received invaluable ideas and suggestions.
"It shouldn't be a simple educational museum," says Xu Yanhao, curator of China Science Museum. "Instead, it should combine the construction itself with displays inside, especially using natural light properly to stress the features of a science museum."
Shen Jiacong, an academician from the Chinese Academy of Science, says it is natural for Hangzhou to host such a museum as it has contributed a lot to building a model low-carbon city.
"But it's extremely important that the displays be very scientific and accurate. For example, it should not mix carbon with carbon dioxide, nor think carbon is a terrible element," says Shen.
The initiative shows the importance with which Hangzhou government treats environmental issues.
The scenic city at one stage was estimated to be annually discharging about 60 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than 7 tons per person.
It was not a good number for a city with a sizeable tourism industry.
Hangzhou in recent years has implemented various policies to improve the environment, such as public bicycles, economic structural adjustments, smoking controls and energy-saving boats on the Grand Canal of China.
Six low-carbons points have been identified by the government for the future city plan - low-carbon economy, construction, transportation, life, environment and society.
"A symbol of a low-carbon city is improving the social welfare and GDP growth while the carbon emissions doesn't increase," says Zhu Dajian, professor at the Economy and Management College of Shanghai Tongji University and an environment adviser to the World Expo 2010 Shanghai.
"An international criterion for a model low-carbon city is to make the per person emission under 10 tons annually when the per person GDP reaches US$20,000," he says.
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