Autodesk’s AEC headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, designed by KlingStubbins and constructed by Tocci Building Co. using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and an Integrated Project Delivery contract, was certified LEED-Platinum last week by the U.S. Green Building Council. The AEC headquarters project was featured last April in a BD+C feature story on IPD [...]

Associated Press has got the news on a recent report which claims that Beijing’s air worse than at past Olympics, while Just ten days later, Xinhua News just boasted about how Beijing records best air quality in nine years [...]

New vehicle restrictions are likely to be announced soon in the Chinese capital, given that a post-Olympics system has “significantly improved” traffic conditions and air quality, Beijing officials said recently. “New car restrictions will be unveiled soon to replace the current ones,” said Wang Zhaorong, spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications [...]

Haze from urbanization and industrial development is a serious, persistent problem in many parts of China, especially the north, the south and in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Chinese National Meteorological Center (NMC) said recently [...]

Daily ozone and carbon monoxide measurements may be included in Shanghai air quality reports to meet new standards proposed by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. The ministry wants to bring China’s air quality reports into line with international standards [...]

Industries with high energy consumption and emissions are developing too fast in China, along with the quick economic growth, the Chinese State Council, or Cabinet, warned on recently. The traditional industry structure remained unchanged, while the service sector and high-tech manufacturing weighting fell in the national economy, State Councilors heard at a meeting focusing on energy saving and emission reduction, chaired by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao [...]

Water and air quality improved in Shanghai last year, but noise pollution was worse, the city’s Environment Protection Administration said. Water quality in the Huangpu River showed signs of improvement for the first time in five years, the administration said in an annual report before Thursday’s World Environment Day, according to the Oriental Morning Post. Road noise on Shanghai streets hit an average of 71.9 dB during the day while it dropped to 65.9 dB at night, failing to meet last year’s target, the report said [...]

Shanghai maintains the highest quality of life on Chinese mainland for Asian expats, but environmental pollution problem is still a concern, according to the latest survey. The Location Ranking Survey, conducted by one of the world’s largest human resources organizations, ECA International, ranked Shanghai in 11th place in Asia and 78th in the world in terms of expat living conditions. The city retained its top spot among the 13 cities in Chinese mainland that included Beijing, Nanjing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Xiamen [...]

National Geographic Channel made a documentary about the car revolution in China. In the video introduction, it says that ‘Cars are racing into China supercharging its economy, and delivering dreams of a better life. But China’s cars are clogging its highways and spewing out clouds of pollution. The rest of the world better watch out, because some Chinese automakers have plans to flood the world markets with cheaper Chinese cars be they made by GM or Chinas own Geely Automotive [...]

An energy structure with a low utilization rate, and an economic growth mode with serious, hazardous emissions have posed stark challenges for the sustained growth of Chinese economic society. Faced with such a grave situation in energy saving and emission reduction, more than 6,000 science, technology workers, as well as scientist-turned-entrepreneurs on met recently to discuss issues such as energy saving and environmental protection. Among them were more than 100 members from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the highest palaces for scientific research achievements and engineering progress [...]