Photo: COWI

China plans to save energy 

There is a huge number of obstacles to be overcome before the Chinese will be ready to save energy heating their homes. Not the least among these is that they will soon have to pay for their heating themselves, and that district heating plants have not only to become more efficient but also to record their fuel consumption.

"There is currently no incentive for the Chinese to save on heat as they are accustomed to the system whereby their employers pay workers' heating bills."

This is the view of COWI project manager Svend Erik Mikkelsen, who is involved in a project funded by the World Bank and the city council of Beijing, with the remit of getting the Chinese to reduce energy for heating.

Photo: COWI
Energy audits determined where waste was occurring in both buildings and boiler plants.


Mapping heating consumption

In conjunction with the Heating Energy Conservation Centre (HEEC) in Beijing – which is helping the local authorities to implement energy projects – COWI will assist in determining how much energy is being consumed and how best to reduce it.

"Beijing has a well developed district heating network with large combined heat and power plants and many smaller scale boiler plants which are predominantly fuelled by coal. The problem is that the plants neither know how much coal they use, nor do they use that fuel efficiently. So we need to help them get a grip on that, for example by means of new technologies," reports Svend Erik Mikkelsen.

The project is due to run until April 2008. Activities so far have included working with people at a local level to conduct energy audits to ascertain where energy is being wasted in both buildings and boiler plants.

Publicity campaigns are unknown in China

An additional task is to launch a publicity campaign using brochures that explain, among other things, that the citizens of Beijing must expect at some point to have to foot the bill for their heating themselves, as they already do for their electricity. It also gives good advice on how individuals can implement energy-saving measures at home.

Useful feedback

The campaign will be small to start with but as Svend Erik Mikkelsen remarks: "The Chinese are not used to this kind of publicity campaign. The feedback will provide the basis not only for a major campaign but also for our overall recommendations for how the HECC energy centre can carry on the work of persuading people to cut down on energy for heating."

By Kathrine Schmeicel, kats@cowi.dk
Published: 26.04.2007