Pioneering park city embraces more green spaces, lifestyles

Li Yang, a new energy vehicle owner, has had a novel experience at a charging station by the Xinglong Lake in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

More than merely electric vehicle supply equipment that provides power to the EVs, this charging station features vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, technology that enables electricity to be returned to the power grid from the battery of an EV.

"It's amazing. I didn't know electric vehicles can be used this way," Li said.

The charging station, the first integrated photovoltaic and energy-storage charging station in Tianfu New Area, has been put into trial operation since September. It constitutes part of Chengdu's project to build a park city and a "carbon-neutral" demonstration zone.

There are 30 charging parking spaces in the station, including six V2G charging piles and lithium energy-storage systems.

The devices are configured to achieve flexible and efficient management of energy, to reduce peak demand and compensate for electricity shortages elsewhere.

The basis of Li's surprise is Chengdu's unremitting efforts to promote the city's green and low-carbon development.

As a pioneering park city and a national pilot low-carbon city, Chengdu has taken the initiative to fine-tune its urban spatial planning for more sustainable development.

The city is speeding up to develop a Giant Panda National Park-based nature reserve system and major ecological projects like the Longquan Mountain Urban Forestry Park and Jincheng Park.

Thanks to such ecological efforts, the forest in Chengdu has covered 40.2 percent of its land area.

At the same time, the city has launched the 16,900-kilometer Tianfu Greenway, aiming to build the longest of its kind throughout the world.

So far, the greenway has extended more than 4,400 km, connecting scattered urban green spaces, such as ecological zones, public parks, leisure parks and micro green landscapes.

Furthermore, such mobilization of ecological resources has in turn breathed new life into socioeconomic development in the park city.

The Beilin Greenway, a 65-km-long pathway in Chengdu's Wenjiang district, has blazed a trail to link various types of greenery and landscapes with urban agriculture, the healthcare industry and recreation tourism.

Adopting standards for the international marathon and cycling courses, the greenway has also served as the venue for multiple sports events, including mini-marathons and cycling races, thus advancing the integration of fitness and recreation tourism.

In a similar vein, the desolate riverbank of Lujiatan by the Jinma River has been renovated into a must-visit ecological park on the outskirts of Chengdu, where tourists and local residents are able to take part in a variety of leisure and fitness activities, such as cycling, ball games, sightseeing, camping and taking a stroll.

In order to better meet people's higher expectations for a happy life, Chengdu has launched a "version 2.0" ecological project to add fresh green spaces to the city.

Efforts will be made to create an ecological residential community, where lush mountains, lucid waters, flowers and grasses would become an important part of daily life.

Chengdu has introduced carbon emission reduction credits to encourage residents to participate in the citywide campaign to lower emissions of carbon dioxide.

The campaign has been launched on social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo and Douyin and payment app Alipay since May.

Participants are encouraged to live a low-carbon life and will earn credits in return for environmental protection behaviors, for example, driving NEVs rather than oil-fueled automobiles, or consumption at designated low-carbon restaurants, markets, tourism attractions and hotels.

In terms of low-carbon transport, Chengdu has been developing an intermodal urban transport network through complementary systems of urban railway, buses and bike-sharing.

So far, the city's aggregate length of urban railways reached 558 km, the fourth-longest in the country; its average daily number of bike-sharing rides exceeded 1.85 million, contributing an annual reduction of about 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Since the city was approved as a national pilot low-carbon city four years ago, Chengdu has been extending its implementation efforts to promote the green industry, clean energy and low-carbon consumption.

As a result, the city has seen a reduction in carbon emission intensity, an optimized energy mix and a more sustainable living environment.