Beijing's iconic Olympic venue -- Bird's Nest -- might have been a little bit different from it is now if it were built today.

"I would choose to use solar film to power air-conditioners in the Bird's Nest instead of the current ground-source heat pump," said Ding Gao, an engineer of the landmark building.

Ding, director of the Building Energy Engineering Center of China Architecture Design and Research Group, said China's keen interest in low-carbon economy has boosted the development and implementation of "green" technology.

"Like the solar film. Its cost has dropped significantly over the past six years, which makes it possible to be widely used," Ding said at the First World Low Carbon and Eco-economy Conference and Technical Exposition in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province.

Many Chinese entrepreneurs and analysts agreed that low carbon development has gradually become a trend in China. The trend was propelled by Chinese leaders' committment to sustainable development.

President Hu Jintao in September told global leaders at the United Nations climate change summit that China will "step up efforts to develop a green economy, a low-carbon economy and a circular economy."

He promised that the country, the world's third largest economy, would endeavor to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by a "notable margin" by 2020 from the 2005 level.

This makes the toppling of many polluting chimneys inevitable.

"My company had been trying to change the image of a major energy consumption and polluting enterprise by resorting to envrionment-friendly technology," said Zhang Tingke, deputy manager of China Huaneng Group (CHNG), a major state-owned energy enterprises with installed capacity of more than 9,000 megawatt.

Zhang said all of CHNG's coal-fueled power plants will achieve desulphurization by the end of 2010.

"We are now restructuring the enterprise," he said. "The percentage of clean power including bio-energy and nuclear power has been on a rise. The installed capacity of clean energy would reach 33 percent by 2010."

Zhang's company is not just among the few that have followed the trend.

Li Yue, vice president of the China Mobile Communications Corporation, said his company reduced 11 percent of its total electricity consumption in 2008 compared to 2007.