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Inefficient factories to be phased out

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-06-28 09:27

Shanghai will phase out businesses and projects that consume large amounts of energy or produce large amounts of pollution, said a report endorsed yesterday by the city's legislature.

Shanghai will keep close watch over energy-intensive and heavy-polluting industries and indicate in the city's development policies that such enterprises are not welcome, according to the report, which was presented by the municipal government and approved by the standing committee of the municipal people's congress.

Jiang Ping, deputy secretary of the Shanghai municipal government, said the city had been sticking to its pledge last year to reduce energy consumption, but there was still much to be done.

Jiang said that in order for the city to meet its 2010 target of cutting energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of industrial output by 20 percent, the municipal government has specified goals for every sector. For example, the manufacturing sector is to cut energy consumption by 30 percent, services by 15 percent and construction by 15 percent.

It has also published plans to restructure its industrial base and last year closed more than 640 enterprises with low output. More than 80 consulting companies have been set up to help businesses to find ways to save energy.

At the same time, more clean energy is being produced. This year, 2.65 billion cu m of natural gas will be pumped into Shanghai, 300 million more cubic meters than last year.

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And the city is building more energy-efficient buildings.

Some 29 million sq m of residential construction, and more than 6 million sq m of public buildings that conform to the new rules were built last year. More than 6 million old buildings were refurbished to meet the standards.

The temperature in government office buildings is to be kept above 26 C, and employees are encouraged not to wear suits.

But challenges remain.

In a survey of 111 major energy-consuming enterprises, nearly 70 percent said there were few options available to reduce their demand for energy.

Yu Dexiong, a deputy to the standing committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, said the percentage of buildings that meet the new energy-saving standards is low.

"Before 2006, it was only 10 percent," he said.

And only 10 percent of highrises clean their central air-conditioning systems regularly, a step that would save electricity.

The report proposed that stricter controls on energy consumption be adopted.

For example, it said that new projects should be evaluated according to their energy demand, and that low-output power plants and small cement and steel plants be closed.