Royal Danish Embassy goes green

The Royal Danish Embassy has decided to implement eco-friendly solutions in order to help making Beijing greener.

In order to combat pollution and save energy, the Royal Danish Embassy has recently implemented several eco-friendly solutions at the Embassy.

“Here at the Royal Danish Embassy, we want to show that we walk the talk when it comes to energy efficiency,” says Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen.

“Therefore we have now installed energy-efficient pumps that regulate our heating system as well as solar panels on the Embassy rooftop. By doing so we save energy and the best energy isthe one you do not use.”

The Embassy has recently installed new pumps that regulate heating, cooling and hot water circulation. These pumps reduce the energy consumption of the Embassy’s heating system by 40 per cent. Likewise the Chinese solar panels that the Embassy has installed on its rooftop helps reduce the Embassy’s total energy usage by 30 per cent from the coal power plants near Beijing.

“It’s a matter of credibility. When we as a government try to promote environmentally friendly technology, we need to show that we also want to use it ourselves,” says Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen.

“When the environmentally friendly systems help us reduce our energy consumption, it is only obvious that we use them.”

The Royal Danish Embassy is located in the Chaoyang district of Beijing and was constructed in 1973. The total area that use electricity in the Embassy is 2,500 square meters and the energy consumption level of the Embassy was 172 kilowatt hours per square meter annually before the new energy solutions were implemented. With the new pumps, solar panels as well as other green solutions at the Embassy, estimates conclude that the actual needed energy from the Chinese grid can be reduced to as low as 100 kilowatt hours per square meter annually.

“Pollution in China has a significant personal and financial impact – including flight delays, traffic congestion and increased medical costs,” says Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen.

“We might not be the largest institution in Beijing, but we hope to change behaviours with the aim of creating a greener China, and we will continue to embrace green solutions here at the Embassy.”

The Royal Danish Embassy hopes to be able to connect the solar panels on its rooftop to the Chinese State Grid in order to provide the excess clean energy to the Chinese end-consumers.

The long-term goal for Danish energy policy is clear: the entire energy supply of Denmark – electricity, heating, industry and transport – is to be covered by renewable energy by 2050.

In many ways, Denmark has started the green transition well. Denmark will have large investments up to 2020 in energy efficiency, renewable energy and the energy system. Results in 2020 include approximately 50% of electricity consumption supplied by wind power, and more than 35% of final energy consumption supplied from renewable energy sources