China Uses Games to Showcase Gains in Energy Efficiency

By DAVID WINNING: July 17, 2008

BEIJING -- The Olympic Games in Beijing next month won't be just about showcasing athletic prowess. China is also promoting the strides it is making in energy efficiency.
Solar panels help power the National Indoor Stadium; advanced insulation ensures low heat transfer at other venues; and a near-zero-energy building produces almost all of its own heating and energy in Olympic Village.
But the jury is out on whether this technology can be transferred anytime soon to other parts of China, particularly the poorest cities in provinces like Guizhou, Qinghai or Gansu.
Part of the problem is cost.
In a country where concrete is the dominant building material and two-thirds of energy comes from coal, much of the technology on display is relatively unproven or too expensive to gain traction quickly.
"The Olympics may be a good venue to unveil some of the technologies that China has been developing, but I'm skeptical that it will precipitate a flowering of green technologies nationwide," said Damien Ma, a China analyst at Eurasia Group.
"Some of the technologies will take years to be viable nationwide and would require significant financial backing from the private sector and the state," he said, noting that China spends just a fraction of what developed countries do on research and development.
China, the second-largest energy consumer after the U.S., has embraced the need to boost energy efficiency and cut pollution as it worries about the environment and its reliance on foreign oil.
In 2005, it introduced the Renewable Energy Law as it set about diversifying its energy mix away from coal to promote clean technology.
Under the 11th Five-Year Plan, which covers 2006-10, China aims to cut energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20% and to lower pollution -- specifically sulfur dioxide -- by 10%.
But progress has been slow and the energy-efficiency target is in danger of slipping out of reach. In the first quarter, China's energy use per GDP unit fell 2.62% from a year earlier.
"I think at this point the central government is fully aware of the crippling effect [that] environmental degradation could have on China's economic growth over the next several decades, and top leaders are serious about remedying what they view as an unsustainable growth model," Mr. Ma said. "But implementation at the local level is key."
While the Olympics isn't the catalyst for China's push to become energy efficient, it has cast a spotlight on promising technologies.
China's National Indoor Stadium has a hidden system of 1,124 solar panels capable of producing 100 kilowatts of electricity a day. Even athletes showering in Olympic Village have reason to cheer solar power.
"The hot water in the rooms is provided by photothermo technology," said Ding Jianming, deputy chief engineer of Beijing 2008 Project Construction Headquarters Office.
In total, solar-power systems and networks to Game venues will have a capacity of more than 480 kilowatts.
But it isn't just solar power.
The National Indoor Stadium also has 19,000 square meters of glass that reduces heat loss and acts as a filter for ultraviolet rays.
According to the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, the new buildings incorporating energy-efficient techniques will save 75,000 tons of coal a year.
This is giving foreign companies, as well as Chinese competitors, a chance to demonstrate their energy-saving products and technology. German engineering conglomerate Siemens AG, for example, has supplied its Integrated Stadium Solution system for managing electric installations in the Water Cube, where swimming will be held.
Mark Ginsberg, a member of the board of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, said Olympic Village could provide lasting lessons for China on energy efficiency.
The U.S. has provided technical assistance for the 42 six-story buildings in the village to make them about 50% more efficient. These buildings, which will house 17,000 athletes, will be sold as luxury apartments after the Games.
At the heart of Olympic Village is a near-zero-energy building, a building that is so energy efficient it produces almost all of its own heating and energy. It does this by using photovoltaic cells, roof windmills and efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems.
"We are optimistic that as the techniques get into the marketplace, as people become more familiar with how we built these kinds of buildings, then the price will come down" and these buildings will increasingly be rolled out in China and elsewhere, Mr. Ginsberg said.
Write to David Winning at david.winning@dowjones.com