Backup from central level

Located in the northwestern part of Shandong, away from more developed coastal regions, Dezhou has a long farming tradition but since the 1990s has been exploring possible methods of industrialization.

"We are very eager to develop industry but if we head in the wrong direction, the harder we work the more damage we will do," said Lei Jianguo, the city's Party chief and most senior official.

Finally, the city fathers elected for solar energy. In May, the city announced it would make itself into a low-carbon city.

It is not accidental that Dezhou is trying hard to replace petroleum and coal energy with renewable and clean forms.

Two weeks ago, the State Council (the Cabinet) pledged China would try its best to reduce energy intensity by 20 percent during 2010 and increase the ratio of renewable energy to 10 percent of total energy consumption.

It decreed long-term development strategies developed by governments at all levels should include plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This week in Beijing, China's top legislature is reviewing a draft resolution on climate change, which will accelerate the country's attempts to tackle the pressing challenge of global warming.

Prof. He Jiankun, deputy head of the national expert commission for climate change, said in an interview with Xinhua: "As China is on its way to realizing industrialization, consumption of petroleum and coal will continue increasing and so will greenhouse gas emissions. That's why we are so eager to develop renewable and clean energies."

He said the supply of renewable energies had increased by 60 percent from 2005 to 2008, but he did not give figures.

Despite the work being done in the area, many factors have been holding back the wide application of renewable power sources such as solar energy.

"Builders of most existing high-rises in big cities did not consider solar energy applications in advance and it is very difficult to equip an existing building with solar devices after it has been built," Huang Ming said.

Cost is another problem. "It does not cost much to have solar water heaters but it costs twice as much to build an entity like our office building," he said.

Qi Jianguo, an economic and environmental policy researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said, besides the cost, another weak point was the instability of power grids as solar generators could not produce energy at night.

"China still needs to work hard to update technologies in this field. And developed countries, which are leading research, should lend a hand," he said.

As one of its international efforts, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has chosen two Chinese cities, Shanghai and Baoding in northern Hebei Province, as pilot areas for low-carbon building.

The WWF will help the cities develop energy-efficient building experience and renewable energy applications suitable for conditions in China.