By Wu Chong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-17 06:55 HANGZHOU: An international project has helped cut 1.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in China annually by encouraging township and village enterprises (TVEs) to adopt energy efficient technologies.

These “green” TVEs are mostly in the cement, brick, coking and metal casting sectors, which are estimated to be responsible for one-sixth of China’s total carbon emissions, said the project’s initiators with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The achievement was announced yesterday at an international forum on rural energy efficiency held in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province.

It was a successful demonstration of how TVEs in developing countries can transform from heavy polluting and energy consuming to clean and energy efficient roles, said Khalid Malik, UN resident coordinator in China.

UNDP statistics show that TVEs, which account for 30 percent of China’s gross domestic product, consume 30 to 50 percent more energy on average than State-owned enterprises using new technologies.

The $18.5 million project started with nine pilot sites in Shaanxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces, and spurred the replication in 118 TVEs nationwide, with 400 more expected to follow suit soon.

A number of clean technologies have been introduced to the industries through the project, as they help both lower costs and reduce pollution.

Zhejiang Shenhe Cement Co Ltd, one of the pilot sites, has reduced about 20,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year by building the country’s first waste heat power generation plant, which collects waste heat from the cement kiln to generate electricity for a second utilization.

Frank Pool, a New Zealand-based independent sustainable energy consultant, said that its success was attributed to a logical and realistic design, in which national and local governments, TVE bosses and an entrustment loan facility were able to interact coherently.

“The project identified that there are still large untapped energy efficiency potentials in the four TVE sectors in China,” he wrote in the final evaluation report for the project.

“In particular, there is a major challenge remaining to update the 100,000 brick kilns throughout China that provide 95 percent of local rural construction materials.”

Improving energy efficiency of TVEs is part of the job to promote rural energy efficiency, which remains one of the priorities the Chinese government is committed now and in the future to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, said Wei Chaoan, vice-minister of agriculture during the forum.

“Once the utilization of nitrogen fertilizer is improved by 1 percent, 2.5 million tons of coal equivalent will be saved,” he said.

(China Daily 05/17/2007 page3

農業部副部長危朝安１７日表示，“中國鄉鎮企業節能與溫室氣體減排項目”實施６年多來，通過對制磚、水泥、鑄造和煉焦企業進行節能技改，在鄉鎮企業的這４大高耗能行業建成８家示範企業，帶動了１００多家企業進行節能改造。

　　據統計，國內有１００多家企業成為這一項目的示範單位，這１００多家企業已形成了年節能能力４５．１萬噸標準煤，每年減少二氧化碳排放１１２．６萬噸

。

　　危朝安是在此間召開的鄉鎮企業節能減排與迴圈農業國際研討會上作上述表示的。這個項目於２００１年３月在全球環境基金７９９．２萬美元的資助下，由聯合國開發計劃署、聯合國工業發展組織和中國農業部共同實施，旨在幫助中國制磚、水泥、鑄造以及煉焦４個產業的鄉鎮企業擴大使用高效節能技術，減少溫室氣體排放。

　　“過去鄉鎮企業存在的能源環境問題就是能效低、能耗大、污染重。”中國鄉鎮企業節能與溫室氣體減排項目國家政策指導委員會秘書處高級主管王錫吾說。據統計，國內大約有２３００萬家鄉鎮企業，其產值佔國內生產總值的３０％。在這些鄉鎮企業中，制磚、鑄造、水泥、煉焦４個行業能耗佔整個鄉鎮企業能耗的５６％，二氧化碳排放量佔全國的六分之一。

　　據項目主任、農業部科技教育司巡視員白金明介紹，這個項目在運行機制上有重要的創新，一是將節能自願協議機制引入到鄉鎮企業，目前已有４３家鄉鎮企業與當地政府簽署了節能自願協議，就企業中長期的節能減排活動向政府作了明確的承諾，政府根據本地的實際情況在稅收、貼息、融資、研發等方面給予優惠政策。二是建立了高效的資金融合滾動機制，發揮了多方積極性，增強了持續發展能力。

　　記者採訪中了解到，這個項目支持建成了我國第一家“五級新型幹法水泥純低溫餘熱發電示範廠”，使新型幹法水泥企業真正實現能源梯度利用。截至目前，項目累計發電４３９２萬千瓦時，節約標煤１．６萬噸，減排二氧化碳４．２萬噸，目前全國已經建成和在建的新型幹法水泥純低溫餘熱發電示範廠９０余家企業。支持建成的我國第一家“清潔型熱回收焦爐餘熱發電廠”累計發電１．４３億千瓦時，減排二氧化碳１３．７萬噸