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Charting the less-carbon growth model

By Li Fangfang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-15 10:15

GUANGYUAN, Sichuan - Just after the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, villagers in Yinpingxin village, Qingchuan county, were given clear instructions by the local Guangyuan city government on how to go about rebuilding their homes.

The precise four-phrase mandate helped the villagers cut down energy consumption as the buildings were designed to be less-carbon intensive structures. The city also encouraged massive deployment of solar heating systems to meet the sanitary needs of these villagers.

According to Zhao Aiwu, vice-mayor of Guangyuan, the simple missive helped the city save 2 billion yuan ($294 million) in the construction of rural homes.

"Black tiles, walls painted white, sloping roofs on both sides, and wooden doors and windows became the new standard for village homes. This was just one part of our low carbon reconstruction and redevelopment plan," said Zhao.

Low carbon drive

The city, 300 kilometers northeast of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, was also the epicenter of a 6.4-magnitude aftershock following the 2008 Sichuan quake.

"The earthquake resulted in the city suffering economic losses of around 127 billion yuan. It damaged more than 90 percent of the local houses and destroyed the power, telecommunication and water supply infrastructure," said Zhao.

Guangyuan is economically less developed and is still at the initial stage of industrialization and urbanization. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Guangyuan is only one third the national average, and the urbanization rate is only 31 percent, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS).

"Faced with an urgent need for reconstruction and rapid economic development, it has become necessary for us to seize the opportunities and bring in the concept of low carbon development during the initial phase of reconstruction," said Zhao.

Last August, the local government entrusted the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, under the CASS, with conducting, researching and suggesting a plan to reconstruct and develop it into a low carbon city. Part of the funding for this initiative also came from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development.

With support from many sources, Guangyuan is now exploring a trailblazing path in low carbon development, avoiding the "first pollute and then clean up" model.

"We hope to set an example for other cities in China as a low carbon pioneer," said Zhao. "Guangyuan plans to achieve 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period and 10 percent reduction during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) plan period."

Zhao said the low carbon city initiative was an opportunity to also upgrade its industries. More than 70 percent of Guangyuan's carbon emissions are from industries. The pathway for low carbon development is both through industrial upgrade via technology improvement and through structural changes which increase the share of less energy intensive industries.

"Technology improvement will contribute to 47 percent of Guangyuan's energy conservation and emission reduction targets," said Zhao. "So, upgrading technology and improving energy efficiency in key industries are the most important ways through which Guangyuan can achieve its low carbon vision."

Though Guangyuan's industrialization is expected to be a long drawn affair, the government is also endeavoring to upgrade its industrial structure by encouraging low carbon industries and urging carbon-intensive industries to de-carbonize.

In addition, it plans to increase unit resource output through increasing efficiency and reusing the rate of energy, raw materials and intermediate products, and increase GDP output per unit product through developing clusters of industries and expanding the industrial chains.

It also plans to decrease unit GDP carbon intensity and increase productivity by increasing the share of clean energy in its energy mix.

As Guangyuan endeavors to develop its priority industries - including new material, energy, medium industry and agricultural product processing - it also insists it will restrict highly-polluting and energy intensive enterprises by strictly following environmental assessment procedures and not approve any projects that fail to meet its environmental standards, Zhao said.

Coal to gas

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During China's 12th Five-Year Plan period, Guangyuan will phase out backward capacity in key industries such as cement, ferroalloys, coke and coal mining, which will contribute to energy conservation in future.

For example, "Guangyuan plans to construct a 120 megawatt coal slime power plant with integrated resource utilization and close down all small scale thermal plants," said Zhao.

As Guangyuan is rich in natural gas resources, it is charting the development of natural gas as a tool to develop a low carbon economy.

Currently, Guangyuan is accelerating its transition to gas and helping 35 enterprises switch fuel from coal to natural gas, replacing petroleum with natural gas for 500 public transportation vehicles each year, and building natural gas pipelines to connect urban residential blocks. Natural gas power plants with total installed capacity of 600 megawatts will be built. It is also aiming at expanding its gas coverage to 80 percent by 2015.