All five power plants in Beijing are set to slash emissions in a
bid to clean up the skies in time for the Olympic Games in August, local media have
reported.
The power plants, fueled mainly by coal, together provide a
third of Beijing's electricity and all of its thermal energy.
Local media said the Huaneng Beijing Thermal Power Plant, 15 km
east of downtown Beijing, has put in place a nitrogen oxide
reduction system that will reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by
75 percent, or 10,000 tons a year.
Nitrogen oxides are found mainly in industrial waste and car
emissions.
Environmental experts told China Daily that nitrogen
oxide density is not a major factor in the country's air quality
indexes, but Beijing authorities seem determined to clean up the
capital's skies so that athletes can breathe easy during the
Games.
"It is a great move to focus on nitrogen oxides, which we
formerly ignored," Yang Fuqiang, chief representative of the United
States-based Energy Foundation in Beijing, said.
"We used to tackle only sulfur dioxide and particles in the air.
Focusing on nitrogen oxide emissions from industrial plants, a
major source of pollution, is both an effective and an economical
strategy," he said.
The Huaneng plant, which is located just 1 km from residential
areas, provides about 10 percent of Beijing's daily electricity and
is also the city's largest supplier of thermal energy.
The capital's four other plants will also curb their nitrogen
oxide emissions over the coming months, local newspapers
reported.
All five plants reduced sulfur dioxide emissions, a major air
pollutant, last year.
Beijing authorities are expected to limit emissions within a 500
km radius of the city this year.
The designers of the Huaneng plant told China Daily they have
been working on 13 environment projects in the vicinity of the
capital, including Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality.
Two-thirds of Beijing's electricity comes from neighboring
regions, including Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region.
Beijing will almost definitely reduce the number of vehicles on
its roads and suspend production at coal-burning power plants about
two months before the start of the Games.
More than 1,000 gas stations in Beijing are also reportedly
being retrofitted to curb petroleum vaporization, while stricter
fuel standards were adopted on Tuesday in line with the Euro IV
standard.
Zhu Jimin, chairman of Beijing's steel giant Shougang, said in
October the company is willing to halt production for three months
this summer.
However, officials from chemical and power plants in Beijing
said they have no plans to shut down the plants for the Games.
"Certainly we support government plans to clean up the air
because the Olympics is an exceptional event," Ma Chenghua, a
senior manager with Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical Co, said.
"However, although Beijing can afford to stop steel production,
it can't do without the gasoline needed to keep the city
operating."
(China Daily January 3, 2008)
