Stricter rules make businesses greener

Last summer, an air-conditioner factory in east China gave up using traditional air conditioners and turned to a much greener way of making workers feel cool, which helped save 40 percent of its normal electricity needs.

Technicians collected rainwater from the roof and blew the atomized water into every vent along the production line in the workshops.

Now in winter, the producer, Yair Co. Ltd. based in the Chuzhou city in Anhui province, is using another system based on geothermal resources to provide hot water and indoor-heating for its workers -- cutting its electricity usage by 35 percent.

Fang Zhao, vice president of the company, said the two technologies have not only cut electricity costs, but also won orders from all over the country.

As China is tightening its environmental protection measures so to build an energy-saving and environmentally-friendly economy, an increasing number of businesses like Yair, have been forced to cut emissions, and at the same time, seek new business opportunities due to the stricter rules.

This came after the national energy work conference at the beginning of this year, publicizing the aggregate energy consumption during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2016), and assigning responsibilities to local governments.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection then swiftly issued a five-year plan dedicated to environmental protection, specifying goals for the air quality and the quota for total emissions of pollutants.

Near the end of last year, Vice Premier Li Keqiang said that strengthening environment protection can help transform the economic development pattern, and also create new industries as businesses need to improve energy-saving and environmental protection measures.

Yair represents how Chuzhou, a city of 4.5 million, is developing. The city government has been promoting innovations for energy-saving technologies. It invested more than 2 billion yuan (316 million U.S. dollars) in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) for technological improvements, which in turn has saved the city 300,000 tonnes of standard coal every year.

Traditional thermal power plants only provide electricity as final product. The power generating process creates a huge waste of heat, which was normally taken away by cooling water, leaving the utilization rate of energy at about 30 percent.

To avoid that waste, the Chuzhou Thermal Power Station introduced a new mechanism to use the heat in the city's concentrated heating supply network.

With a newly-installed heating pipe over 30 km in length, the heat from the plant has replaced that generated from some 120 small coal-fired boilers in the city.

"Each year, the new mechanism saves about 20,000 tonnes of standard coal, or over 200 tonnes of sulfur-dioxide emissions," said Zhou Chuanjin, president of the plant.

"It also has opened new markets for our business," Zhou added.

In northwest China's Qinghai province, a company in the silicon industry has also been running experimental projects in recycling the smoke and dust generated in furnaces, while at the same time generating power with the heat.

Economists have said China is still in a mid-to-late stage of industrialization and acceleration of urbanization, where the trend of overall environment deterioration had not gone through fundamental changes but are experiencing escalating pressures.

They say that the environmental protection sector could grow strongly during China's 12th Five-year Plan period, with the output of energy conservation industry alone exceeding 10 trillion yuan.

Moreover, Chinese businesses may face a growing number of environment-related trade barriers in the future, therefore it is crucial for China to improve its efforts in promoting eco-friendly and environment-friendly development so as to further participate in international cooperation and competition.