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The “Green Talents” Award sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is also called the “Green Talents Program”, which was established under the strategic framework of sustainable development. The Award was founded in 2009 and is offered once a year to non-German young scientists all over the world in recognition of their considerable research contributions to the sustainable development field. In the selection of “Green Talents” in 2021, the senior expert jury selected 25 highly potential scientific researchers out of 467 applicants from 78 countries. Researcher He Baojie from the Research Center for Climate Resilience and Low-carbon City of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Chongqing University is among the awardees as the only Chinese researcher receiving this honor in 2021.
He Baojie
Born in the 1990s, He Baojie has been primarily engaged in research of urban climate and built environment. He is currently a researcher and doctoral supervisor of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of CQU. His research areas focus on urban heat mitigation and adaptation under global/local climate change, zero energy consumption building and passive residential design. He has also been an advocate of the construction of cool cities and communities. He Baojie has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, including 10 highly cited/hot papers recognized by the global citation database by now.
He Baojie has served as the special editor, chief guest editor, deputy editor in chief, editorial committee member, conference chairman, branch chairman and scientific committee member of various internationally renowned journals (Sustainable Cities and Society, Remote Sensing, Frontiers in Public Health, Buildings, etc.) and conferences on invitation, and made oral presentations at many major conferences at home and abroad. He is appraised as one of top 100,000 scientists (2%) in the world in 2020 by Mendeley, with significant influence in energy and building environment. Researcher He Baojie is currently the chairman of the First International Conference of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability.
Mitigating negative impact of climatic changes
As for urban heat mitigation and adaptation, the primary contribution of He Baojie is his efforts in promoting the development of cool urban communities and solving the urban heat problem caused by high-temperature heat wave and heat island effect. He Baojie said: "In this regard, I have been focused mainly on the relationship between urban form and urban ventilation performance. I have also looked at the impact of the coupling of urban form and urban Ventilation on heat island effect and outdoor thermal comfort, in an attempt to realize urban ventilation and cooling. Now, my research also involves establishing urban cooling system and taking various cooling technology strategies into consideration, such as urban ventilation and green roof, green facade, shade trees, water body, permeable pavement, reflective pavement and sunshade facilities. Furthermore, based on different urban backgrounds and urban forms, specific urban cooling technologies and thermal adaptation strategies are selected to reduce the impact of high temperature on life and health of residents."
When talking about low-carbon building design and its promotion, He Baojie said: “My research areas primarily include the promotion of green buildings, zero-energy-consumption buildings and low-carbon ecological cities. Since June 2020, my tutors and colleagues at the University of New South Wales in Australia and I have been engaged in research of the net-zero-carbon built environment which aims to consider net-zero operating carbon and net-zero hidden carbon in the entire life cycle and contribute to carbon neutralization and climate change mitigation in the field of building construction. The main output of this research is a guide for Australia's net zero carbon built environment, and it also provides basis for assessing the intensity of building carbon emission, explores the realization path of net zero carbon built environment and various realization means and strategies, and provides some insights into the current and future challenges.”
Main contributions of the research of He Baojie
Besides, He Baojie also participated in the compilation of a book titled Net Zero Carbon Built Environment, which will be published by the end of 2021. This book provides reference and guide for the implementation strategy of net zero carbon built environment in the world. The Climate-smart City Project directed by He is currently in progress and it aims to build a smart-city decision-making system for heat mitigation and adaptation in the 15-minute living circle of the city, so as to provide urban decision-makers with effective mitigation measures to cope with urban high temperature, such as green plant configuration, water body configuration, shading facilities, community form, etc., as well as effective heat mitigation measures for the city residents. "My research on urban heat mitigation and adaptation and low-carbon building design and promotion is essentially an attempt to mitigate climate change and reduce the impact of related disasters," He said.
More collaborative efforts to solve sustainable development issues
In both his learning and research, He Baojie takes the actual need of future development of China as the starting point, and considers issues that need to be solved in sustainable development. For example, when talking about the initiative and research of construction of cool urban communities, he pointed out that China is now facing daunting challenges in solving urban high temperature, which will persist in the future. This is due to a number of macro background factors including climate warming, urbanization, population aging and population growth. If global climate warming continues, tens of millions of residents in China will face the threat of extreme heat and fatal heat waves by the year of 2030. As such, it is urgently needed to solve urban heat problems.”
Urban high temperature has become a fatal climatic disaster in many countries. In this picture above, children are playing around a fountain in Nice as temperature in some southeastern cities of France goes very high (Data picture).
Speaking of the “Green Talent” Award, He Baojie believed that his winning of this honor was partly because of his contribution to the sustainable development goals in various aspects, including sustainable urban communities, health and well-being and climate campaigns. Apart from that, he has also actively participated in the realization and promotion of sustainable development gals. He Baojie currently serves as the chairman of the First International Conference of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability, the chief guest editor of “construction of cool urban communities” of Sustainable Cities and Society, and the special editor of “climatic change and environmental sustainability” co-supported by 5 major international journals.
Green Talents awardees
As for international cooperation, He Baojie stressed that: “The scientific and technological cooperation between China and foreign countries is important necessary. At present, the entire world is facing challenges climatic change, urbanization, environmental pollution, poverty and hunger, health and security, economic development and population growth. As a community with a shared future for mankind, the only solution to the above challenges is scientific and technological development and achievement share. As the largest developing country in the world, China has made remarkable progress, but it still faces many problems such as climate change and renewable energy production. Strengthening scientific and technological cooperation between China and foreign countries should be all-round and reciprocal. On the one hand, China can now help developing countries solve many problems in sustainable development; on the other hand, China still needs to learn from the scientific and technological achievements of other countries in solving such problems in order to meet the many challenges we face.”
In 2022, Researcher He Baojie will participate in the fully-subsided cooperation projects in Germany as invited.
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Source: The Xinhua News Agency, Science and Technology Daily
Official WeChat account of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, CQU
Editor: Chen Feng
Proofreader: Qin Mingfu
