JD.com to build China’s first carbon-neutral logistics industrial park in Xi’an
JD.com is making progress in its construction of the first carbon-neutral intelligent industrial park for China’s logistics industry, with the Xi’an Asia No.1 logistics park expected to be carbon-neutral on the operations level by early 2022. At nearly 300,000 square meters, JD’s Asia No.1 logistics park in Xi’an has deployed 100,000 square meters of rooftop solar PV with a capacity of 9 MW, which generated a total amount of about 8,500 MWh of electricity from January to October in 2021 — equivalent to providing electricity for about 3,900 Chinese households for a year, and reducing carbon emissions by approximately 5,670 tons when compared to purchasing electricity from local power plants. In addition, Xi’an Asia No.1 can meet heating needs through distributed air conditioning instead of a conventional boiler room in certain areas. New energy is widely used in forklifts and other special equipment, including 22 sets of charging terminals that can support charging 44 vehicles at a time. Streetlights in the park will also gradually be replaced by solar lights. With the support of advanced technologies including 5G, blockchain and AI, JD is also researching an industry solution for carbon neutral parks by further improving operating efficiency and lowering energy consumption. Green warehousing: Automation enabling warehouses to operate without lighting JD.com pioneered a rooftop-distributed solar PV system in its Shanghai Asia No.1 location in 2017, which now generates 3.11 million kWh per year, supplying the energy for warehouse lighting, automatic sorting, packaging, picking and other activities. Currently, JD has completed installation of PV systems at 12 logistics parks, while automation systems and robots also enable warehouses to operate without lighting. Such “dark operations” help save an average of 2,283 kWh per minute at JD’s logistics parks, which is equivalent to the electric consumption of a normal household for one and […]