Electric co retrofits 'smart' apartments

Electric co retrofits 'smart' apartments

• Source: Global Times
• [08:40 March 14 2011]
• Comments

By Yan Shuang

"Smart" apartments with remote-controllable appliances and utilities have debuted in the capital, and will be available for rent at an unspecified date in the future, the Beijing Electric Power Company revealed Friday.

Formerly the old Zuoanmen Hotel in Fengtai district, the newly renovated Zuoanmen Smart Apartments have 68 units on 10 floors, two of which are underground.

A press release from the electric company, which owns the apartments, claims their project is low-carbon, energy saving and environmentally friendly. The compound will use solar power, streetlights will be wind powered and there will be three charging stations for electric car owners.

"Currently, renovations are finished, and they will be for rent, though I don't know when they will be ready or how much the rent will be," Wang Lei, a media department employee with the company told the Global Times Sunday.

The apartments feature a communication technology-supported terminal system that allows the tenant to control all electric home appliances, with settings such as the "welcome home mode," which turns on all the lights, turns on music and draws the curtains, according to a Beijing Daily report.

"You can choose whichever mode you want when you are at work. You can turn on the electric rice cooker and the water heater right before you get off work," said Huang Yu, an engineer with the company's marketing department.

Wang said that 6,000 more smart apartments will be renovated in two residential communities in Chaoyang and Fengtai within the year on the State Grid's dime. A Beijing Times report quoted Fan Guoping, an electrical engineer with the company, as saying that the cost of renovation is "relatively high."

"The idea of the smart apartment does sound nice, but I don't think many people will be interested in renting them," Zhang Cheng, a real estate agent in Beijing, told the Global Times.

"As far as I know, a hotel room in Beijing costs more than 3,000 yuan ($456) per month, and the smart apartment may cost more than 5,000 yuan per month, based on my experience. Only a few rich people, I guess, will be interested," he said.