Linchun Village, a tourist resort at the southern tip of China's Hainan Province is now lit at night by street lamps using methane for fuel, the first among villages in the island province.

With an illumination distance of about 25 meters, the methane street lamps have made the small village take on an entire new look, lighting the road even brighter than 100-watt spotlights could do.

The use of methane for cooking and lighting was promoted among the 367 households of the village beginning 2000. So far, about 180 rural households have built methane ponds.

In the village, 223 of the 367 households raise pigs. The resulting large amount of pig dung provides rich raw materials forthe formation of methane.

Besides, abundant bagasse left over during the process of sugar refining, a pillar industry in the local area, also offers plentiful resources for the production of methane.

According to local experts, the remains in the methane pits after fermentation are actually a kind of highly-effective organic manure free from pollution.

It is quite economical to extract manure from the methane ponds, which will also be conducive for farmers to grow "green" crops, the experts say.

Local officials say the use of methane has obviated the need for the villagers to cut trees in the surrounding mountains for firewood, which effectively protects the ecological environment.

As a matter of fact, the Chinese government has made great efforts to promote the use of methane in the southern rural areas.

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region started a project to publicize the use of alternative energy resources in 1997.

To date, the region has built 1.02 million methane pits, or one third of the national total, with another 300,000 under construction.

Thanks to the wide use of methane, more than 300,000 hectares of forest are saved in Guangxi per year.

Luo Chongbin, from a Guangxi village, said, "My family burned over 2,000 kilograms of firewood a year in the past; now the amount has dropped to less than 50 kilograms."

As a result, Guangxi's forest coverage rate has jumped from 34.4 percent to 41.3 percent, according to official statistics.

Huang Xiuyan, a young woman of the Miao ethnic group, known forits brightly colored dress, used to wear old work clothes to chop firewood for fuel. But changes began to take place after methane was piped into the house in 1998.

She said, "I can wear fine clothes in the kitchen, just like urban women, because my family uses methane for cooking."

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2002)