Low Carbon News in China in February 2014
Beijing mulls reducing population by relocating offices
28 Feb 2014｜China
Beijing will reduce its population by 500,000 if 20 State-owned enterprises move their headquarters out of the capital, said an official.
The Tianjin municipality official said relocating headquarters of State-owned enterprises will be the most effective way to relieve Beijing’s congestion.
As President Xi Jinping lays down a new roadmap for Beijing’s development and management, the capital plans to usher in a major change in its urban landscape. It wants to relocate some departments that do not have core operations away from the capital. (Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2014-02/28/content_17314137.htm)
Urumqi plans to dismantle 6,500 coal-fired plants
28 Feb 2014｜China
The city of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has decided to dismantle 6,500 coal-fired plants and expand the coverage of clean and renewable energy. The department in charge will start the dismantling project this April.
An official from the Urumqi environmental protection bureau explained that the coal-powered stations are mainly located in Urumqi’s Midong and Dabancheng districts, and in Urumqi county.
The local government has been putting increasing efforts into environmental protection in the past two years. The coal gasification project, started in 2013, has improved the city’s air quality significantly.
(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/xinjiang/urumqi_toutunhe/2014-02/28/content_17313503.htm)
Hebei to promote tourism in 2014
27 Feb 2014｜China
Hebei province seeks to make great developments in its tourism industry in 2014, striving to receive 300 million visitors and achieve total revenue of 233 billion yuan ($38.06 billion), according to the Hebei Tourism Industry Development Conference.
Zhou Benshun, secretary of the Hebei Provincial CPC Committee, said: “The tourism industry is a green and low-carbon industry. Accelerating the development of the tourism industry in Hebei is significant to our province’s structural adjustment and upgrading, and will thus increase people’s income.” (Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/hebei/2014-02/27/content_17311071.htm)
China outlines strategy for energy sector
17 Feb 2014｜China
New, cleaner sources, industrial transformation needed: Official
China’s leading think tank has outlined a revamped energy strategy highlighting new energy and calling for industrial transformation.
In an article entitled “Foreseeing and Analyzing China’s Future Energy Development” published by the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, on Wednesday, Li Wei, head of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said China must transform itself into a country of “security, greenery and efficiency” by 2030 or be faced with erratic supplies and insurmountable environmental challenges. (Source:http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2014-02/17/content_17287160.htm)
Tianfu Wetland Park becomes pilot national wetland park
14 Feb 2014｜China
Recently, Tianfu Wetland Park was approved as a pilot national wetland park, making it the first national wetland park in Kunshan city.
Tianfu Wetland Park is situated in the north part of Huaqiao Economic Development Zone, covering an area of 8 square kilometers. It was approved as a Jiangsu provincial wetland park in September 2012. Huaqiao launched a general plan for Tianfu Wetland Park in March 2013, which divided the park into five functional areas including an ecological reserve area, rebuilding area, exhibition area, reasonable utilization area, and administration and service area. The plan will help the park play an important role in ecological preservation, culture inheritance, low-carbon development and industrial optimization.
(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/zhouzhuang/2014-02/14/content_17284171.htm)
New low-carbon lantern celebration
14 Feb 2014｜China
Members of a neighborhood in Beijing’s Dongcheng district welcomed this year’s Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb 14, two days ahead of that, in a novel way – a low carbon celebration.
While the local community service center took on a new look, with some 300 colorful lanterns, in various shapes, all made of recycled waste materials, such as packing boxes and desktop calendars. (Source:http://www.cityofbeijing.gov.cn/2014-02/14/content_17282870.htm)
Guoxin Energy Development (Group) Co
8 Feb 2014｜China
Shanxi province’s Guoxin Energy Development (Group) Co, which was founded in 1981, is a large State-owned energy group with various businesses, with gas, coal transportation, and trade as its pillar businesses. Its 2010 income exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.63 billion) and it joined the Top 500 Chinese enterprises list in 2011, and ranked 409th in 2012. It also ranked 125th among China’s Top 500 service enterprises and 31st among China’s coal enterprises the same year. It has 44 subsidiaries and total of assets of 16 billion yuan.
In recent years, it has worked with low-carbon industries and projects for low-carbon consumption, new types of industrial clusters, and ecological civilization and modern urbanization. (Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/shanxi/2014-02/08/content_17272656.htm)
Authorities cooperate to keep capital’s water safe
28 Feb 2014｜China
Beijing’s water authority and health and family planning commission signed a cooperation agreement on Friday to ensure the city’s water remains safe after October, when water from Yangtze River will flow to the city through the South-to-North Water Diversion project.
“Some cities saw their running water become yellowish after they introduced water from outside,” said Jin Shudong, head of the water authority. “The authority is doing its best to guarantee that the water people in Beijing will be using is safe.”
Water plants in Beijing lead the country’s water treatment industry as they have been using new technologies such as absorption by activated carbon and ozone disinfecting to treat water, said Yang Huaijin, a deputy inspector of the authority. (Source: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-02/28/content_17314180.htm)
Takeoff for nation’s first proprietary jet biofuel
26 Feb 2014｜China
China National Aviation Fuel Supply Co has long been the sole supplier of jet fuel to airlines in the country, but another option is in the pipeline.
Though initially small in production, the new source is also eco-friendly.
China’s leading oil refiner Sinopec Group recently received a license from the Civil Aviation Administration for commercial production of its aviation biofuel made with proprietary technologies.
(Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2014-02/26/content_17305350.htm)
China uses economic tools against smog
22 Feb 2014｜China
After days of lingering smog, the Beijing municipal government has for the first time issued an orange alert for heavy air pollution, initiating an emergency response.
The alert, issued on Friday and the second highest after red, requires manufacturing plants in the city to suspend or cut production, building work to be halted, and even no barbecues, according to the emergency response program.
(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/greenchina/2014-02/22/content_17299474.htm)
Renewables can support China’s 80% power consumption by 2050
20 Feb 2014｜China
China can transit to an 80 percent renewable electric power system by 2050 at far less cost than continuing to reply on coal, according to a report released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Wednesday.
The report said around 80 percent of China’s electricity generation can be met by renewable sources, if appropriate policies and measures are taken, on condition that energy efficiency would improve aggressively.
(Source: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2014-02/20/content_17295142.htm)
Beijing govt criticized for ongoing smog
17 Feb 2014｜China
Heavy smog in Beijing lasting for days has triggered public criticism over the municipal government’s inaction.
At 8 p.m. Sunday, the air quality index (AQI) at monitoring stations in the city’s downtown areas read between 342 and 414 and was rated at Level 6, the highest level, indicating hazardous pollution, according to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center’s website.
The business channel of the China Central Television (CCTV) late on Saturday questioned why the government failed to initiate an emergency response under such smoggy weather.
(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/greenchina/2014-02/17/content_17286611.htm)
Geothermal warming up as energy source
13 Feb 2014｜China
Geothermal energy is set to play a bigger role as the State-owned Sinopec Group makes inroads into the clean fuel’s exploration and development through international technological exchanges designed to reduce the country’s carbon footprint.
On Monday, Sinopec Star Petroleum Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinopec, put a geothermal energy utilization project into operation in Henan province.
It will supplant natural gas consumption by about 4.87 million cubic meters annually and reduce carbon emissions of 70 million cubic meters, according to the company.
(Source:http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2014-02/13/content_17281121.htm