Gezhouba Group's Balcony-Mounted Solar Water Heater Project For Jingzhou Resettlement Housing

As a well-known large-scale infrastructure construction enterprise in China, Hubei Gezhouba Group has always adhered to the concept of "Green, Low-Carbon, and Benefiting the People" in promoting the construction of livelihood projects. The Jingzhou Resettlement Housing Project, as a key livelihood security project of the Group, aims to create a livable and comfortable living environment for local relocated residents. The supporting implementation of the balcony-mounted solar water heater project further integrates the application of clean energy with the daily life needs of resettled owners, providing them with a stable and environmentally friendly hot water solution.

This resettlement housing project covers three communities in Jingzhou. Specifically, to meet the hot water needs of owners in the Swan Castle Community, 100-liter balcony-mounted solar water heaters have been specially configured to fully satisfy the daily hot water usage of residents' families. In terms of project scale, the entire Jingzhou Resettlement Housing Project serves a total of 2,968 households. As one of the core residential areas among them, the Swan Castle Community allows its owners to be the first to enjoy this clean energy benefit. The 100-liter capacity of a single water heater, determined through scientific calculation, is well-suited for daily household scenarios — whether it is for family members' washing, clothes cleaning, or kitchen cleaning, it can provide sufficient and stable hot water supply. This avoids the pain points of traditional electric or gas water heaters, such as "insufficient capacity and long waiting time for heating", effectively improving the convenience of residents' lives.

In terms of equipment selection and design, the application of balcony-mounted solar water heaters fully takes into account the architectural characteristics and living needs of the resettlement community. Compared with the traditional centralized solar hot water system, the balcony-mounted design has distinct advantages: Firstly, it offers high installation flexibility. It does not require occupying a large area of the roof space; instead, it can be installed by relying only on the external wall of the balcony. This perfectly adapts to the architectural layout of high-rise resettlement buildings and avoids installation restrictions caused by limited roof space. Secondly, it achieves excellent heat collection efficiency. The equipment adopts high-efficiency vacuum heat collection tubes combined with special coating technology, which can effectively absorb solar radiation energy. Even in Jingzhou's autumn and winter seasons when sunlight intensity is relatively weak, it can still achieve efficient heating, ensuring the stability of hot water supply. Thirdly, it features strong safety performance. The equipment is equipped with multiple protection functions such as anti-leakage, anti-dry heating, and anti-freezing. In response to the occasional low-temperature weather in Jingzhou in winter, the built-in anti-freezing circulation system can prevent pipeline freezing and cracking, ensuring the reliable operation of the equipment throughout the year and eliminating residents' concerns about usage safety.

From the perspective of clean energy value, the implementation of this project not only brings convenience to the owners of Swan Castle Community but also practices the national "Dual Carbon" goals (carbon peaking and carbon neutrality) and the concept of green living. Based on the calculation of replacing electric water heaters with solar water heaters per household per year, a single 100-liter balcony-mounted solar water heater can save approximately 800 kWh of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 640 kilograms annually. Estimated based on the scale of all benefited owners in the Swan Castle Community, the project can achieve large-scale electricity savings and carbon emission reductions every year, making a positive contribution to the ecological and environmental protection of Jingzhou. At the same time, it also helps residents reduce their household energy expenses, realizing the dual benefits of "environmental protection" and "economic affordability".

As a typical case of integrating livelihood projects with green energy by Gezhouba Group, the balcony-mounted solar water heater project for Jingzhou Resettlement Housing has important demonstration significance. On the one hand, it reflects the adherence of large state-owned enterprises to the standard of "Green and Livable" in the construction of livelihood projects. By equipping with clean energy facilities, it improves the living quality of resettlement housing and enhances residents' sense of happiness and belonging. On the other hand, this project provides a replicable model for the energy supporting facilities of domestic livelihood housing such as resettlement housing and affordable housing — within limited architectural space, through scientific selection of clean energy equipment, it achieves the multiple goals of "benefiting residents, meeting environmental standards, and controlling costs". In the future, Gezhouba Group will further promote such green livelihood projects, integrate the application of clean energy into more infrastructure construction, and contribute to the achievement of the "Dual Carbon" goals and the promotion of green and sustainable urban development.