New-energy park slated for former World Expo site

2012-11-17

English EastDay.com

A NEW-energy theme park displaying vintage cars and offering the chance to test drive electric vehicles will open next month at the former World Expo site.

The 2062 New-Energy Theme Park covers 50,000 square meters in the Pudong New Area and will open to the public on December 22, organizers said.

The park will be divided into five sections and feature solar and wind power generation technologies. There will also be biodiesel technologies on display along with exhibits contributed by leading domestic companies in the new energy field.

Admission will be free until the trial opening period ends on December 31.

Beginning on January 1, admission will be 30 yuan (US$4.81), said Gu Yue, a senior organizer of the park.

"Vintage cars consume a lot of energy. We hope to present the evolution of energy development with the display of vintage cars and we expect this to be a highlight of the exhibition," Gu said.

The name of the park, 2062, has a special meaning, organizers said.

"The Mayan Prophecy predicted the end of Earth in 2012, which is not possible. But will human beings change their lifestyles, explore new energies and find better modes of transportation 50 years after the 'doomsday?'" said Zhang Huchao, market manager of Shanghai Foremost Multimedia Co Ltd, which is in charge of the exhibition.

The park's opening is part of a post-Expo development blueprint, which aims to turn the site into a landmark area that incorporates business, exhibition and leisure functions, authorities said yesterday at the China International Travel Mart.

http://english.eastday.com/e/121117/u1a7000862.html

Shanghai issuing 20,000 free license plates for new energy cars

November 13 | By Tony Zhu

Shanghai's government has begun to release 20,000 free plates for energy-saving cars, a strong local push which may eventually affect the entire country’s new energy vehicle industry.

In addition, Shanghai will also grant 40,000 yuan per unit for the purchase of alternative energy cars. Coupled with the central government’s subsidy of up to 60,000 yuan and the license plate worth 60,000 yuan, a buyer of an energy-saving car in the city can enjoy a subsidy of as much as 160,000 yuan--about 75 percent of a premier alternative energy sedan.

The average price for a Shanghai car plate hit a record high of 66,425 yuan ($10,528) last month, up 25 percent from January.

Several other cities are also considering similar preferential policies. Guangdong officials have also mentioned plans to encourage greater new energy vehicle use in the province, including offering a green channel in plate auctions.

Over the first nine months of the year, a total of 6,982 new energy automobiles were sold in China, including 3,009 pure electric vehicles.

http://www.morningwhistle.com/html/2012/Auto_1113/215302.html

Govt offers incentives to electric car buyers

By He Wei in Shanghai ( China Daily)

11/6/12

China's first indigenous purely electric supermini car hit the market on Monday as part of agovernment-sponsored project to encourage the use of energy-saving vehicles.

Roewe E50 buyers in Shanghai could save around 100,000 yuan ($16,000), thanks togovernment subsidies and an upcoming local policy waiving license plate fees, according tocompany sources.

The E50, a purely electric vehicle, is the result of three years' research and development byShanghai Automotive Industry Corp, said Shen Ling, public relations manager of thecompany's new energy department.

The car applies advanced energy-saving and safety technologies to ensure zero emissions,she said.

Although the new model officially retails at 220,000-240,000 yuan, buyers may enjoy steepdiscounts as the government and automakers strive to promote new-energy vehicles.

Under a central government notice, a rebate of up to 60,000 yuan is offered on the purchaseprice to buyers of battery-powered cars, and the Shanghai municipal government is offering asubsidy of up to 40,000 yuan.

A move which could give the sector a further shot in the arm is a policy due to be unveiled bythe Shanghai authorities offering free license plates to owners of electric vehicles.

According to Shen, the decision, which is subject to the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission, is likely to be implemented "very soon".

Other than government incentives, auto manufacturers are seeking to drum up buyers' interestwith value-added services.

Meanwhile, SAIC is finalizing plans to offer discounts on group purchases by businesses, sheadded.

Shen said the company has set no sales targets for the new model. But SAIC chief engineerLing Tianjun said in August that it expects to sell 1,000 vehicles next year.

The launch of the car on the retail market will be a step forward for new-energy vehicles inChina, as the majority are currently owned by government bodies or used for publictransportation.

The average energy conversion rate of electric vehicles is 46 percent higher than conventionalcars, and they have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 68 percent, saidRaymond Tsang, a partner at Bain and Company.

Apart from purely battery-powered electric vehicles, hybrid cars, which run on a combination ofbatteries and conventional engines, are also popular as they are easier to operate, he said.

China's strategy to develop new energy cars has gained ground on many fronts, according toWang Tianwei, policy director of the policy coordination department of Jiading Auto City inShanghai.

On the policy front, the development of the electric vehicle industry has been a priority of theMinistry of Science and Technology for more than a decade.

On the regulatory front, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the NationalDevelopment and Reform Commission have issued at least 20 regulations over the pastdecade to regulate and promote the wider use of hybrid and electric vehicles.

The target was to make the country a world leader in electric vehicles by putting 500,000 onthe road by 2011.

But Wang said the deadline has been extended to 2015 as a result of technological constraintsand a lack of policy coordination.

Battery performance remains the greatest threat to the credibility of electric vehicles inmotorists' eyes. Wang said Chinese companies still lag far behind their competitors in the Westin battery technology.

A study conducted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs saidChina holds just 1 percent of the total patent registrations for lithium ion batteries, while Japanowns 52 percent and the United States has 22 percent.

The other common concern is a lack of recharging stations, he said.

SAIC has set up 1,170 recharging stations in Shanghai, but most of those are in suburbanareas.

Tao Weishuo, a veteran motorist in Shanghai, said that despite all the incentives he was stillreluctant to buy an electric vehicle.

"The shortage of recharging stations in the city center would limit where I could drive. What'sthe point of owning a car if it fails to take me anywhere I want?"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-11/06/content_15881637.htm

Buy a new energy car and save 100,000 yuan

By Hu Xiaocen  |   2012-9-8
Shanghai Daily

CONSUMERS who buy fuel-saving and new energy cars in Shanghai can save around 100,000 yuan (US$15,760) in total, as the government plans to introduce more measures to boost the sales of such cars, officials said yesterday.

"China will expand the use of energy-saving cars," Wan Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, said in Beijing. "Other policies may include exemption for users from license plate auction and lottery."

Shanghai was named the country's first pilot city for electric vehicle development in April last year. 

"The Shanghai government will subsidize 40,000 yuan for each purchase of electronic car," Shou Ziqi, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, said. "And buyers can have specially numbered license plates for the cars, without going through the plate auction process."

The average price for a car plate in Shanghai surged to 62,559 yuan in August, 4,288 yuan more than in July.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/Metro/2012/09/08/Buy%2Ba%2Bnew%2Benergy%2Bcar%2Band%2Bsave%2B100000%2Byuan/

City moves to improve power use efficiency

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-9-13  

AUTHORITIES plan to implement a citywide program to save energy used by motorized equipment at local enterprises.

The effort was announced at a seminar yesterday by officials at the Shanghai Energy Conservation Service Center. 

The center will introduce energy-saving compressors and other solutions to local enterprises that use the equivalent of more than 5,000 tons of coal a year. Motorized equipment at the city's 800-odd enterprises account for 70 to 80 percent of local industrial energy use, the center said. 

City government has issued a series of policies to encourage enterprises to save energy. Among them, the incentive for every ton of coal-equivalent saved was increased from 200 yuan (US$29) to 300 yuan, and education was added on ways to save energy and protect the environment.

Qin Hongbo, official with the energy conservation service center, said small and medium-sized state and privately owned enterprises are falling behind big plants and those with overseas backgrounds in energy saving technology and equipment.

According to Markku Keloneva, business development manager optimizing products Asia of Atlas Copco, a Swedish industrial productivity solutions provider, Chinese companies need more education after purchasing energy-saving equipment.

"Equipment is only one aspect of an energy-saving project. Chinese enterprises should establish a whole package of energy-saving systems and receive professional guidance to ensure a long-term effect," he said.

Hair Group's Meng Jie said the company has saved 6 percent on power consumption since launching an advanced air compressor and energy monitoring system last year.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=373594&type=Metro

High-tech eye on energy use

By Dong Zhen  |   2008-9-4  |  

---

POWER-USE monitoring devices will be installed in all government offices and major public buildings in Shanghai in the next two years to cut energy consumption, officials said yesterday. 

The plan was unveiled yesterday as city officials signed contracts with scientists and engineers who will work on the latest 14 major research projects - the second batch of key scientific projects that is part of Shanghai's 11th Five-Year (2006-2010) Plan. The first batch of 24 projects was launched in May 2007. 

Scientists working on the projects are expected to provide critical technologies to be used in the construction of the city's major infrastructure systems, its environmental protection effort and future urban traffic network. 

A system to trace the use of power inside large buildings has been developed by a local science institute.

"The tracing system is expected to generate categorized outcomes of a building's power consumption, such as electricity used for air conditioning and lighting by the various departments inside," said an official with the Shanghai Construction and Transport Commission. Trial use of this technology has already begun inside a dozen large public buildings. 

As the technology gradually improves, authorities will install the monitoring systems in all local government office buildings and other structures that have floor areas exceeding 20,000 square meters. 

The results will provide data that will help authorities develop effective regulations and curb unnecessary power consumption, officials said. 

By 2010, the city hopes to reduce its annual power use by 20 percent. 

Large office buildings and shopping malls have become a major drain on China's electricity supply, using 10 to 20 times more power than residential buildings. 

Also under the city's R&D efforts, another project will focus on developing new technology to create effective models for Shanghai's villages to process their waste water. 

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=372546&type=Metro

CHECKING IN

Will Americans Accept Greener Hotel Rooms?

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

A room at the new Jane Hotel in the West Village in Manhattan is especially modest in size, but it does have a master key switch that helps reduce energy use.

By FRED A. BERNSTEIN

Published: August 3, 2008

SEAN MacPHERSON, the New York hotelier, has been to Europedozens of times. And he knows that across the Continent, many hotel rooms have master switches that help reduce power use.

Enlarge This Image

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Put the cylinder into the slot, and the power comes on. Take out the cylinder on your way out, and the power goes off.

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Lisa Krantz for The New York Times

Siegfried Richter, general manager of the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio, in one of its bathrooms.

Enlarge This Image

Lisa Krantz for The New York Times

Water is saved by offering two flushing options for the toilet.

Usually, a guest inserts a card into a slot when entering the room to turn on the electricity. Removing the card (which doubles as the room key) on the way out the door shuts off the power.

It is an easy way to conserve energy. Yet it is almost never seen in the United States. Guests who are in a hurry — or simply don’t care about saving electricity — leave TVs, air-conditioners and lights on when there is no one in the room. Brian McGuinness, a vice president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, explained the mind-set of some travelers: “Part of being on the road means the ability to live a little more luxuriously than at home, and that means not having to turn off the lights and the TV.”

Mr. McGuinness added, “People say they want to be green, but they don’t want to compromise.” As a result, he said, “We don’t really know yet what it means to be green in the hospitality field.”

Last month, Starwood, which owns Westin and Sheraton Hotels, began a new “green” brand, called Element, which it bills as being eco-conscious and “kind to the environment,” with ample natural light, in-room recycling bins and faucet filters meant to reduce reliance on bottled water. But so far, Element hotels do not have master switches in their guest rooms.

Mr. McGuinness, the executive responsible for the Element brand, said that before building the hotels, the company surveyed potential customers about energy-saving features, including master switches.  “Some,” he recalled, “said they would suffer discomfort because they would get back to their room and it would be extremely hot.” Others, he said, “indicated that entering a dark room could be a safety issue.”

He said that future Element hotels might have a compromise master switch — one that controls the lights and the TV, while leaving the air-conditioning on.

Wen-I Chang, the developer of the Gaia Merced — a hotel being built in central Californiawith master switches — estimated the price of installing them at about $300 a room, or less than one-quarter of 1 percent of the cost of construction.

Raefer K. Wallis, a Canadian-born architect living in China, helped design a hotel inShanghai that is intended to be “carbon neutral.” That meant giving the hotel, called URBN, energy-saving features, including master switches. But in North America, he said, hoteliers think: “Why run the risk of losing a customer because a room needs a few minutes to cool while the air-conditioning kicks in? It’s better business just to run the A.C. and make sure the client comes back.” Mr. Wallis added, “North America just doesn’t have the culture of saving resources.” But Mr. MacPherson said he thinks the mood in this country is shifting.

He and his business partner, Eric Goode, didn’t install master switches at the Maritime Hotel, which opened in 2003, or the Bowery Hotel, which opened in 2007, both inManhattan, believing that customers were not ready for them. But at their low-priced Jane Hotel, which opened last month on Jane Street in the West Village, they took the plunge. At the Jane, the master switches are not controlled by key cards, which Mr. MacPherson said “seem impersonal and corporate.” “We wanted to do it in a more stylish way,” he added.

So Mr. MacPherson had a metal shop make small brass cylinders, which he attached to each of the Jane’s key chains. Place the cylinder into a slot near the door to your room, and the power goes on. Pull the cylinder out, and it goes off. Mr. MacPherson’s team rigged the switches, he said, from standard electrical parts. As recently as two years ago, he said, guests might have been put off by the enforced conservation. Now, Mr. MacPherson said: “The world has shifted. If you do the right thing, people pick up on it.”

Another device, also common in European hotels, raises similar issues. It saves a lot of water, but also forces guests to think about how they use resources. The device is a dual-flush toilet. Instead of one button to operate the toilet, there are two: one for a 0.8-gallon flush (for liquid waste) and one for 1.6 gallons (for solids). The toilets, which average just under one gallon per flush — as opposed to 7 gallons for some older toilets — are standard in much of the world. But in the United States, few hotels have installed them. Consumers expressed concern that the dual-flush toilets would not work, Mr. McGuinness said.

An American hotel that has tried the toilets, however, has reported no problems at all. In early 2007, Siegfried Richter, the manager of the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio, replaced more than 400 toilets in the hotel with dual-flush models. The idea came from the San Antonio Water System, which was looking for a hotel to serve as a model for its “kick the can” program to replace wasteful toilets. Mr. Richter jumped at the chance.

The toilets are made by the Australian manufacturer Caroma, and were installed as part of a project that also involved switching to low-flow showerheads. Since the change, water use at the hotel dropped by about a million gallons a month, according to Eddie Wilcut, conservation manager of the San Antonio Water System. Mr. Wilcut attributed about 60 percent of that savings to the toilets. The drop was so substantial that “the hotel thought its water meter was broken,” he said. According to Mr. Richter, there has not been a single customer complaint about the toilets.

Mr. Chang said the Kohler dual-flush toilets he chose for the Gaia at Merced added about $80 to the cost of each room, which he described as a small price to pay. Mr. Richter would like to see other hotels install the water-saving toilets. “We informed Hilton of our experience,” he said. “But I’m not an officer of the company,” he said, “nor do I have any great influence there.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/realestate/commercial/03sqft.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Shanghai residents see the light over energy
By Zhang Jun 2
007-9-29

AN Internet survey of 500 Shanghai people reveals most local residents are taking measures to conserve energy.But the same residents also are largely unaware of the government's energy-conservation policies.The survey was conducted in late August by Mytianhui.com, a city-based research provider, which also cooperates with Shanghai Daily.

Nearly 90 percent of the respondents said they have taken various steps to conserve energy, but 47 percent did not know the Chinese government has established laws to improve energy efficiency. The leading two popular residential measures are using energy-saving bulbs (73 percent of the respondents) and turning off computers completely instead of leaving them on stand-by (71 percent).

Sixty percent completely turn off televisions and 50 percent unplug air conditioners when not using them. The respondents believed that not using disposable products, setting air conditioners' temperature above 26 degrees Celsius in summer and using energy-saving bulbs are the most effective ways of saving energy.However, only one percent unplug microwave ovens and only six percent unplug sound systems when not in use.Z

hao Guotong, a city official and expert on energy efficiency, said:"The survey results show energy-saving should be promoted by economic policy instead of government-initiated education." He said the survey shows the local residents do much better than their US counterparts at conserving energy. One contributory cause is that utility fees account for a higher percentage of Chinese salaries than US salaries.

An average Shanghai family will consume up to 500 yuan (US$67) of power each month in summer, more than a fifth of the city's average salary this year. In the US, however, utilities cost far less than Shanghai, Zhao said.

In recent years, the Chinese government has issued a range of administrative regulations to cut energy consumption and maintain sustainable economic development, such as the architectural energy-saving standards.

Zhao suggests the government take the lead in implementing its regulations.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070929/article_332986.htm

A Tale of Two Cities: High-Profile Events Push China’s Urban Development
Ling Li – October 2, 2007


As Beijing counts down to the 2008 Summer Olympics, Shanghai, another modern city on China’s east coast, is gearing up for its own big event: the 2010 World Expo. This marks the first time that developing-country cities will host both high-level world events. Beijing and Shanghai hope the activities will help accelerate their urban development through infrastructure investments, environmental improvement, and public participation.

China’s booming economic growth has led to rapid industrialization and urbanization, as well as to associated damage to human health, natural resources, and the environment. Half of all Chinese people will live in cities by 2010, up from some 44 percent of the population in 2006. But air contamination, lagging environmental infrastructure, and the lack of effective pollution controls remain major challenges to China’s urban environment.

Beijing ploughed nearly 284 billion yuan (US$38 billion) into infrastructure development between 2002 and 2006, nearly double the level of the previous five years. As a result, the city’s rail-based public transportation network has been expanded, and the wastewater treatment rate in the downtown area has reached nearly 90 percent, up from only 42 percent in 2001. The rate of municipal solid waste treatment has increased as well, to some 97 percent. The average ‘green space’ coverage per Beijing resident is some 12 square meters, and the city’s overall green coverage is now nearly 50 percent.

The Olympic Games have become a major force driving Beijing’s economic development, spurring average annual growth of nearly 12 percent over the past five years. But whether such growth can be sustained after the Olympics remains a question, as industries such as tourism, restaurants, financial services, and real estate are expected to face a downturn. “Beijing should take the 2008 Olympic Games as a new start for its city development,” the local government noted in a report to China’s Communist Party. Over the next five years, Beijing aims to transition from a traditional, manufacturing-based economic structure to a new economic model comprising high-tech industry, cultural innovation, and modern services, agriculture, and manufacturing.

The World Expo in Shanghai will last for half a year, compared with the half-month Olympic gala in Beijing. With its theme of urban development (‘better city, better life’), the Expo will demonstrate cutting-edge technologies to improve urban living. “Shanghai is a city still under development, and we need to embrace new concepts for its future,” Vice Mayor Yang Xiong said in a media interview. “Meanwhile, as the host city for the Expo, Shanghai will attract visitors from all over the world, which will provide a great opportunity for Shanghai’s citizens’ economic and social development.”

Shanghai has been taking active measures to create a better urban living environment. These include implementing a 50-percent energy-efficiency standard in all new buildings, creating the world’s first “eco-city” with a minimal ecological footprint on Chongming Island, and launching 10 major citywide energy-saving projects, from renovating electrical devices and adopting “green” lighting to installing sulfur-removal and wastewater treatment equipment in coal-fired power plants. In 2006, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau invested 40 billion yuan (US$5.3 billion) to improve local environmental infrastructure, with the goal of boosting the municipal wastewater treatment rate above 75 percent and the solid waste treatment rate above 80 percent by 2010.

Another major benefit—and challenge—of these two upcoming events for both Shanghai and Beijing is to improve citizens’ behavior. The Beijing Olympic Committee has launched several campaigns to encourage residents to improve their awareness of personal manners “for Olympic glory”—including not spitting on the road. Shanghai expects the World Expo to open the eyes of its citizens and to inspire innovation, particularly among the city’s youth.

China Watch is a joint initiative of the Worldwatch Institute and Beijing-based Global Environmental Institute (GEI) and is supported by the blue moon fund.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5383

Green buildings get green light
By Wu Jiayin
2007-9-27
Shanghai Daily

ALTHOUGH still at the initial stage, "green building" has a promising future in China.Green building refers to practices that promote occupant health and comfort while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. Although construction costs are usually higher for green buildings than for traditional energy-gobblers, the buildings save money in the long run because of reduced fuel costs.

A report by People's Daily at the end of 2004 pointed out that in China, of all the buildings in use (about 40 billion square meters) at that time, 99 percent were highly energy consuming. In 2002, China's buildings accounted for over a quarter of the country's energy consumption, according to Yang Fujia, chancellor of the University of Nottingham, England, and an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. And that figure is expected to increase to 40 percent by 2020 with the rapid development of the construction sector.

Recognizing this problem, the Chinese government first listed the goal of promoting green buildings and energy-saving buildings in the Outline of National Plan for Medium to Long-term Scientific and Technological Development (2006-2020) in 2005. Chen Yiming, director of the science and technology department promotion center of the Ministry of Construction, explained China's "green" policies at a conference on green building organized by McGraw-Hill Construction in Shanghai on September 13.

In response to the central government's regulation, many enterprises, especially real estate enterprises, are becoming active in the green building movement. Shanghai East Harbor Development Co Ltd, for example, is developing a green office building on the North Bund. It is based on the high standards of the US Green Building Council's LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) certification. According to Kenny H.C. Ko, president of Shanghai East Harbor Development Ltd, the building uses a geothermal heat pump system to tap the constant temperature of the earth as the main source of heating in winter and cooling in summer. Further, to save energy, the company turned down a proposal to make the building's exterior of glass. It also made a wise decision on the ratio of window space to wall space.

As to the part of exterior wall that is made of glass, the company requires energy-saving double-layer hollow glass. In addition, the building is equipped with energy-saving automatic switches, water taps and a rooftop rainwater drainage system. Zhejiang Zhongcheng Industry Co Ltd is now the owner of the largest public green building project in Zhejiang Province - the Jiaxing International China HK city. The project devotes 180,000 square meters of its 1.15 million square meters to an international marketplace for energy saving and environmental friendly building products and equipment. What's more, the site of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will be equipped with many of General Electric's energy-saving technologies such as a solar-powered lighting power and rainwater recycling system as well as a light-emitting diode system.

Although green building materials nowadays are somewhat more expensive than ordinary building materials, they help to conserve energy in the long run.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070927/article_332627.htm

Bund blackout sends powerful signal
www.chinaview.cn
2007-09-24

BEIJING, Sept. 24 -- Shanghai's Bund lost its dazzling shine for half an hour Sunday night when all landscape lighting outside the historical buildings went dark. But it wasn't an accident - the lights were switched off by state energy authorities to remind people what will happen if they don't save energy as a matter of course.

The message was spread across eight cities in China, including Beijing, Harbin, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing and Shenzhen. All turned off landscape lighting at scenic spots at 8 pm for 30 minutes. In Shanghai, nearly 100 buildings along the Huangpu River had their lights turned off. The amount of electricity saved this way was not big - estimated to be around 1,400 kilowatt-hours and worth about 1,200 yuan (US$158).

"I felt a big loss when all the lights were turned off as the buildings disappeared in the darkness," said Zhou Mengdi, a 15-year-old senior high school girl who is a member of her school's energy conservation association. Lighting along the Bund was turned off between 2003 and 2005, when the city was in the middle of a severe power shortage.

"This is just to let the public experience the impact of living without power and improve their energy-saving awareness," said Lan Yujun, secretary general of the city's energy conservation association. In total the city has around 20,000 kilowatts of landscape lighting, half of which is run by the landscape lighting management center.

The city plans to reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent per unit of gross domestic product compared with consumption in 2005, when it used energy equivalent to 1.03 tons of coal for generation of every 100,000 yuan in GDP.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/24/content_6781170.htm

Families keen to save energy

SHANGHAI:

Most families in the city are committed to saving energy, a survey conducted by local authorities has found. The Shanghai statistics bureau surveyed 1,000 families, 98.5 of which considered it necessary to save energy and said they tried to stick to the principle. Young families were found to have more appliances and said they used them frequently for convenience.

Nearly 90 percent of the surveyed families said they had installed energy-saving lamps, 31.9 percent had energy-saving appliances and 20.6 percent had water-saving appliances. The survey said 92.6 percent of respondents turned off lights after leaving the room, 83.8 percent tried to minimize the use of air conditioners, 88.9 percent avoided wasting water and 44.9 percent turned off computers and TVs when they were not in use. However, an investigation by the China Consumers' Association showed 40 percent of energy-saving lamps do not save power because they are poor quality.

The 200 families who earned most spent 1.6 times more on water, energy and gas than the 200 poorest. Family members whose main salary earners were aged under 35 spent 325 yuan ($43) on energy every month, 27 yuan more than those aged between 35 and 55, and 15 yuan more than those aged above 55.

In Shanghai, the average power consumption has doubled in the past 10 years, as living space has expanded and more electric appliances are being used. At the end of 2006, an average 100 families owned 175 air conditioners, 179 TV sets and 104 refrigerators. Ownership of hi-fis, computers and microwaves has also grown.

Source: China Daily

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/6257314.html

Port plans to use LNG as power source
By Yan Zhen 2007-9-6
Shanghai Daily News

THE city's Yangshan Deep-Water Port plans to use cold energy released during vaporization of liquefied natural gas for power generation and other industrial uses. The project is expected to save the city about 750 million kilowatts per hour, with a minimum value of 75 million yuan (US$9.9 million), after its first phase is completed in 2009, port managers told the city's top advisory body members yesterday. "It's a terrific project, not only because it's energy saving but most importantly, it complies with the global strategy of CO2 emission reduction and environmental protection," said Ren Xianzheng, senior port engineer. LNG, which is minus 162 degree Celsius under normal air pressure, sends out large amounts of cold energy when it is vaporized.

Average cold energy released by each ton of LNG reaches 830 kilojoules, equaling to about 240 kilowatts per hour, according to Gu Anzhong, low-temperature studies professor at Jiao Tong University.

However, common vaporization practice nowadays is to heat the liquid gas via heat exchange with ocean water. But that simply discharges the cold energy into oceans without being used.

Earlier this year, members of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference put forward a proposal calling on the city government to make use of possible LNG energy. Shanghai, which has signed an agreement with Malaysia for LNG imports, is building a liquefied gas receiving station with an annual capacity of six million tons at the eastern part of the Yangshan Deep-Water Port.

Once the LNG cold energy project works, low-temperature cold energy can be used for power generation without any fuel needed. It can be used in other industrial applications such as separating air into nitrogen and oxygen, desalinating seawater and making dry ice.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070906/article_330155.htm

Wind turbines a blow for clean power
Nicholas Ning
2007-9-4

SHANGHAI has started building 10 new wind powered turbines on Chongming Island increasing its use of clean energy. The turbines will have the largest per unit capacity in the city, with their 71-meter windmill blades producing 15,000 kilowatts, according to the Shanghai Electric Power Co. The city has built three wind energy farms with a combined capacity of 24,400kw, helping answer the central government's call for green energy.

There are already three wind turbines in Chongming which the city government plans to turn into a model ecologically balanced island. The new project is expected to offer an additional 30 million kilowatt-hours electricity every year, enough for about 20,000 households. That is the equivalent to the energy provided from 15,000 tons of coal, which, however, also produces 21,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

The company said companies and residents can apply to use the green electricity, which will be a little more expensive than normal. The city is relatively richer in wind energy resources than other renewable energies such as solar and biological energies but suitable areas for wind farms are limited. The long-term goal is to boost wind power capacity to one million kilowatts, accounting for about four percent of the local capacity from the current level of less than one percent by 2020.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070904/article_329837.htm

Energy audits to save power use in office towers
By Rachel Yan
ShanghaiDaily.com
2007-9-3

OFFICE buildings along downtown Huaihai Road will receive an energy consumption check by architectural and environmental protection professionals. They will also work out tailor-made energy-saving plans for individual buildings over the next six months. Luwan District government has teamed up with Shanghai Energy-Saving Inspection Center and Shanghai Research Institute of Building Sciences to offer energy checks for major power consumers. The first round of energy checks will cover office buildings such as Jiushi Renaissance Mansion, Lippo Plaza as well as district government buildings and an innovation industry park on Zhizaoju Road.

Professionals will collect information about the building's past electricity, gas and water bills, and carry out on-site inspections on devices such as elevators, air-conditioners and lighting to determine their energy consumption. Inspectors are expected to diagnose hidden power overuse problems and give detailed suggestions for improvement, district officials said. "As energy saving has topped the work agenda of the whole city, these energy checks for buildings could be an effective approach for us to have a clear idea of consumption," said Jin Qunle, an official with Luwan's economic commission.

Previously, companies could only learn about their energy consumption by studying their bills. Neither the companies nor the government could identify opportunities for saving energy, Jin explained. He added that the government would expand the checks to 65 industrial manufacturers which consume more than 400 tons of coal a year and companies with an annual coal consumption of 500 tons.

The district government has also started to replace street lighting across Huaihai Road with energy-saving bulbs. That could cut the area's electricity consumption by 90 percent, officials said.The district has set a target to reduce energy consumption by 4.4 percent by December, higher than the city target.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200709/20070903/article_329625.htm

Expo to Show Urban Best Practices
Cities from across the globe are vying to bring a slice of their local life to the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/222811.htm

A 15-hectare zone, called the Urban Best Practices Area has been set aside at the Expo, where, for the first time in the event's history, a number of cities will show off cutting-edge architecture and design concepts. The Bureau of Shanghai Expo Coordination announced on Friday that the selection process for cities vying to take part would be extended by a further five months to January 31 next year.

So far, 13 cities, including Liverpool, Zurich, Madrid and Sao Paulo, have filed formal applications to take part in the zone on the west bank of the Huangpu River, said the bureau. In addition, a further 58 cities or regions have approached the organizer for information and 26 have held discussions with Expo organizers, the bureau said. Selected cities will create blocks including real urban scenes with housing, streets and waterways.

The cities will also show how they are striving to protect historically important architecture and safeguard the environment. Zhou Hanmin, deputy director of the coordination bureau, said that cities showing how they are using clean energy or working to create a more comfortable living environment may be preferred. "I believe the development of Shanghai exactly reflects the transition from the use of traditional energy to environmentally friendly energy, and the conservation of local styles in traditional buildings while making them more comfortable to live in," he said.

An international selection committee will review all the proposals and have the final say, but the bureau did not say when the finalists would be announced. A total of 163 countries and international organizations have so far confirmed their participation in the 2010 Expo.
(China Daily September 1, 2007)

China builds another gas pipeline to fuel energy-thirsty east
www.chinaview.cn
2007-09-01

BEIJING, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday afternoon launched a gas pipeline that runs from the southwestern inland of Sichuan to coastal Shanghai, another "energy artery" to fuel the booming but energy-insufficient east following the grand West-East gas project. The 1,700-km pipeline is expected to channel 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Puguang field in Sichuan Province to the central and eastern regions that cover Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghai.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said the project will serve as another "energy artery" of the country in addition to the West-East gas pipeline, which runs more than 4,000 kilometers from northwesternmost Xinjiang to Shanghai and began operation in 2004. Zeng said the project offers an opportunity for the country's west, which boasts rich resources but lags far behind the east in economic growth, to tap its advantage in resources for development.

If things go well, the project, with an investment of 62.7 billion yuan (8.25 billion U.S. dollars), will start to channel gas to Shanghai at the beginning of 2010, according to Chen Deming, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). When the project is completed, the clean energy resource is expected to help reduce carbon dioxide emission by tens of millions of tons annually, said Chen.

Proven reserves of the Puguang gas field may reach 430 billion cubic meters by the end of this year, said He Shenghou, an official with the China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec). China's proven reserve of natural gas has totaled 2.66 trillion cubic meters. The gas-rich country has been promoting the use of natural gas to improve energy buildup and cut air pollution.

Under an NDRC proposal on natural gas development, China aims to increase its natural gas pipeline to 4.4 trillion kilometers by 2010 to satisfy surging demand. Although China's natural gas output would reach 94 billion cubic meters in 2010 from 58.6 billion in 2006, the country would still need imports to fill a gap of 16 billion cubic meters a year, according to the China Business News.

In Shanghai, demand of natural gas has soared from four million cubic meters in 2003 to 1.9 billion in 2005. With the operation of the West-East gas pipeline, 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas is channeled to Shanghai from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang every year.

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) has decided to build a second West-East pipeline to carry gas imported from Central Asia to the Pearl River and Yangtze River deltas. Construction will begin in 2008 and gas supply in 2010. The designed annual production volume will be 30 billion cubic meters.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/01/content_6641812.htm

Shanghai's booming subway

Mitchell Landsberg
Los Angeles Times
August 25, 2007
Shanghai

In 1990, four years after Los Angeles broke ground on its Red Line subway, Shanghai began to build a subway system too.

Los Angeles was one of the richest cities in the world, with an extensive freeway network, top-notch engineers and serious congestion problems. Shanghai was poor, a decaying post-colonial metropolis shaking off decades of economic stagnation. Its streets were congested too -- with bicycles.

Most Los Angeles residents know the story of what happened to the Red Line, which was designed to carry passengers from Downtown to the sea but hasn't quite gotten there. Only recently have planning discussions seriously revived to add a rail line extending farther west.

Shanghai? It is well on its way to building the largest urban rail mass transit system in the world. You can't walk very far in a straight line in Shanghai these days without coming across construction of a new subway line or station. Already, Shanghai has opened five subway lines and 95 stations serving 2 million people a day, and as many as six more lines are scheduled to open in the next couple of years. Sometime in the next decade, its subway system probably will surpass the world's largest and busiest systems, those in New York, Moscow and Tokyo.

In fact, transit experts say, only one thing short of a cataclysmic disaster could conceivably prevent Shanghai from winding up with the world's largest subway system. That is the very real possibility that another Chinese city -- specifically, Guangzhou, Beijing or Chongqing -- could build an even larger system. In all, 36 Chinese cities are in the midst of building rail-based public transit systems, said Zhang Jianwei, president of Bombardier China, the Chinese arm of the Canadian company that has supplied rail cars to a number of Chinese cities.

What explains this sudden frenzy of infrastructural one- upmanship? It's simple, experts say. China's economy is booming. Its people are moving from the countryside into cities as part of the greatest human migration in history. Car ownership is growing explosively. And the government has decided that it needs to do something about congestion before its busiest cities grind to a standstill.

China seems little hindered by the pressures that plague transit projects in the West. Financial woes sandbagged New York's Second Avenue subway for about 80 years until ground was broken this spring. L.A.'s subway system, whose westward march was halted at Western Avenue in 1996, has been constricted by environmental, political and financial pressures.

In China, labor is cheap, the land belongs to the government, air pollution is the primary environmental concern, and political pressure moves largely in one direction -- from the Communist Party leadership on down. "If the government wants to do something, even if the conditions are not ready for it, it will be done," said Zheng Shiling, an influential Chinese architect who teaches at Tongji University in Shanghai.

At the risk of only slight oversimplification, the system works like this: Planners draw subway lines on a map. Party officials approve them. Construction begins. If anything is in the way, it is moved. If they need to, Chinese planners "just move 10,000 people out of the way," said Lee Schipper, a transport planner who has worked with several Chinese cities in his role as director of research for EMBARQ, a Washington-based transportation think tank. "They don't have hearings."

Schipper recalled consulting with one Chinese metropolis whose ancient city wall stood in the way of a transportation project. "One of the members of the People's Committee said, 'Oh, I know how we'll solve the problem. We'll move the historic wall.' " It was, he said, as if a planner in Washington proposed moving the Potomac River to make way for construction.

Yu Jifong understands all this from personal experience. For 25 years, the bubbly Shanghai native lived in an apartment that sat on the site of a future subway station, part of what will be Shanghai's 10th subway line. Not long ago, she got notice that she would have to move. Last month, she was settling into a new apartment miles away from the old one, in a new development housing more than 1,100 families displaced by the construction of Line 10. Many others accepted compensation that would help them buy apartments elsewhere.

What is striking in Shanghai is how few people seem to mind this upheaval, in part because the city has dramatically improved the compensation it provides to dislocated people and businesses, and in part because residents seem to accept the idea that the subway represents the greater good for the city.

City to control energy consumption in retail sector
13/8/2007
Katia Deng
Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai is planning to carry out a series of energy saving projects in the retail sector, according to the Shanghai Economic Committee. The city aims to complete the renovation of energy saving equipment and cut energy consumption per 10,000-yuan of gross domestic product by 15 percent in 2010.

Malls covering more than 5,000 square meters and restaurants covering more than 3,000 square meters will use energy-saving lights, air conditioners, refrigeration equipment and automatic lifts in the next few years. The movement requires shopping malls to stop selling high energy-consuming air conditioners and refrigerators, and to promote energy-saving products.

The economic committee also asked retailers to control power consumption on neon lights and advertising lamps. It also wants retailers to follow the policy of setting indoor temperatures at 26 degrees Celsius in the summer and 20 to 21 degrees during the winter.

Energy, emission under review in construction
By Zhang Jun
ShanghaiDaily.com
2007-8-24

CHINA will monitor the amount of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission of constructions in 15 major cities, including Shanghai, before 2010. An official with the Ministry of Construction made the announcement yesterday. The project will help the Chinese government gain a clearer understanding of construction-related energy consumption before it undertakes further conservation measures. "The lack of scientific statistics is a key drawback of our energy conservation works," Han Aixing, chief director of the ministry's science and technology department, said in Shanghai at a Sino-German seminar on energy efficiency in buildings. He said many Western countries have detailed statistics on energy consumption in buildings. The city of New York, for example, has worked out the amount of carbon dioxide produced by downtown buildings.

According to the plan, the government will be in charge of measuring the overall amount of energy consumption - mainly power and natural gas - of various types of constructions, such as office buildings, shopping malls, hotels and residential complexes. Besides Shanghai, other cities in the plan include Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. China has set a goal of reducing energy consumption by 20 percent by the end of 2010 compared with 2005.

The amount of energy consumed in buildings accounts for nearly 50 percent of that total, Han said. However, China's statistics on energy consumption in buildings is mostly based on guesswork. And there are many loopholes during the process of administrative approvals for new buildings. He said many building owners cheat the government by showing false figures on energy efficiency.

At the seminar, China and Germany co-issued a pamphlet of technical standards to make Chinese buildings more energy efficient. The standards cover temperature limits on summer cooling, the thickness of exterior walls and the layout and material of windows. Felicitas Kraus, head of Energy Efficiency in Buildings of the Germany Energy Agency, said: "Building owners in Germany have to show a certificate of energy efficiency for their buildings." She said most German tenants prefer buildings of better energy efficiency, even if they cost more. She also said the German government has favorable policies to encourage the construction of energy-efficient buildings, such as low-interest loans and subsidies.