Beijing & Shanghai Surpass Major US Cities in Green Space Rollout
China's green building sector is on a fast track to large-scale development, according to a white paper published by international real estate consultancy CBRE.
Beijing and Shanghai, each with nearly 20 million square meters of green building space, took the top two spots in the ranking of global green buildings, surpassing such cities as Chicago, New York and Washington, according to the document "New Era of China's Green Buildings".
Shenzhen and Wuhan were also among the top 10 cities on the list. The white paper suggested that first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai have begun to harvest economic benefits from green buildings which are cost-effective, reducing operating costs and creating higher property value.
"Going green" has increasingly become an important element in corporate social responsibility and employee engagement programs for both multinational corporations and domestic companies. As a result, green building certifications are enabling real estate projects, especially commercial properties, to differentiate from their counterparts in the market. Space that is "green" certified can help landlords attract quality tenants, as it can provide a comfortable and healthy workplace and improve productivity.
Findings indicate that the average office rent of Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design-certified space recorded a premium of between 1.5 percent and 25.7 percent. Research also suggested that LEED-certified projects were proven to be more resilient when the market goes down.
"The cost of transformation into green building is not that high," said Tang Hao, chief marketing officer of Asia Clean Capital (ACC). "Our customers do not need to pay anything but just need to provide the building and coordination".
Beijing's Chaoyang District: World's Fifth Largest Intelligence Agency
China's Internet users have amusingly nicknamed residents of Beijing's Chaoyang district (or acronym BJCYQZ in Chinese pinyin) as the "fifth largest intelligence agency" in the world after the Central Intelligence Agency in the US, the Committee of State Security (KGB) in the former Soviet Union, Mossad in Israel and Military Intelligence 6 (MI6) in the UK.
The largest among Beijing's eight districts in terms of both land area and number of residents, the eastern Chaoyang district was home to 3.84 million people by the end of 2013, according to the latest statistics.
Then how good is BJCYQZ at collecting intelligence? Who are they? What has turned them from common people into capable intelligence workers?
How good is BJCYQZ at collecting intelligence?
"A Chaoyang resident came to our drug control team this January, reporting the unusual behavior of one of his neighbors. The neighbor was reportedly behaving much like a drug user as he was sneaking around, staying at home in daytime and going out at night or sometimes staying up all night," said Li Jiangbo, the deputy-director of the drug control team of the district police station.
We followed the tip and discovered more than 30 grams of ice at the neighbor's house and also two of his suppliers, added Li.
In April, 12 foreign drug users were detained and a foreign drug dealing network was busted based on the intelligence provided by a resident in Chaoyang
Ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking this year in June, the police located two suspects and then confiscated one kilogram of ice after receiving anonymous tips from a Chaoyang resident claiming that someone was using a specific express delivery firm to deliver massive amount of drugs.
What's more, a number of high-profile Chinese celebrities were found using drugs by the police all based on tips provided by BJCYQZ or residents in Chaoyang, according to the official notices issued by the police. See more by clicking (Chinese celebrities caught with drugs)
Besides drug control, residents in Chaoyang have also tipped the police about celebrities buying sex resulting in the arrest of famous micro-blogger Charles Xue (whose nickname is Xuemanzi) and well-known Chinese actor Huang Haibo.
