SOLAR ENERGY

    China accounts for more than half of the world's solar-heated water use and half of the world's annual production of solar water heating systems, according to the NDRC. As of 2006, the coverage of solar water heaters in China hit 100 million square meters, benefiting about 200 million people. Coverage is projected to reach 150 million sq m in 2010.

    China will use solar power extensively during the coming Olympics, according to Li Zhonghai, a senior official with the China Association for Standardization. He said that 90 percent of the hot water used in the Olympic village would be solar-heated and 80 percent to 90 percent of the street lights around the Olympic venues would be solar-powered.

    BIO-ENERGY

    China had built 21.75 million household biogas facilities by the end of 2006, amid efforts to promote clean energy use and improve rural energy efficiency, according to Kou Jianping, director of the energy and ecology division of the Ministry of Agriculture.

    These facilities could produce 8.5 billion cubic meters of biogas annually, equivalent to saving about 13.3 million tons of standard coal or preserving 4.5 million hectares of woodland.

    Kou said that China was actively promoting straw as solid and gas energy, as well as supporting power generation with straw, to better utilize energy resources in rural areas.

    By 2020, about 300 million rural people will use biogas as their main fuel, when China will use 10 million tons of bio-ethanol and 2 million tons of bio-diesel to replace 10 million tons of oil annually, according to the NDRC plan.