A combination picture shows the Tiananmen Gate where the portrait of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong is displayed on a sunny day (L) and a polluted day in Beijing. Picture takens November 17, 2014 (L) and January 15, 2015 (R). (Xinhua/Reuters)
BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Beijing intensifies its fight against air pollution as the 2022 Winter Olympics city-deciding vote will be take place in three months.
Cleaner heating system will be established in Beijing to control air pollution, the National Energy Administration (NEA) announced on Wednesday.
A trial project will utilize renewable energy sources such as wind power to supply heat, the NEA said.
Beijing has an increasing demand for electricity and heating, while its neighboring city Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province has abundant wind power resources. The two cities will work together on the trial project. Beijing and Zhangjiakou is pursuing a joint bid for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Useful experiences could be drawn from the northeastern Jilin Province and the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, where trial programs have been successful.
Using cleaner, renewable energy sources instead of coal to provide heating is key to transforming Beijing's energy structure and controlling air pollution, the NEA said.
Coal has always been the major energy source of heat for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and is a big cause of air pollution.
This month, Beijing shuttered a distinctive chimney, which soars 240 meters into the sky, on Chang'an Avenue in downtown Beijing, which belongs to Guohua Beijing Thermal Plant, once a major pillar in Beijing's heating system.
Beijing has renewed its pollution-fighting efforts, including closing a series of coal power plants, to bring back "APEC Blue" -- a phrase coined by Chinese netizens to describe the city's clear skies during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in November.
The efforts are badly needed in Beijing, a city frequently enveloped in acrid smog, particularly as the capital and Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province pursue a joint bid for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
According to official figures, the plant's closure will help slash Beijing's coal usage by 1.3 million tonnes, or 14 percent of Beijing's total goal for the year, and cut emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide and dust by 1,410 tonnes, 2,690 tonnes and 420 tonnes respectively.
Guohua is not the only thermal plant to fade into history. Its shutdown came a day after the closure of another 93-year-old thermal power plant run by Beijing Energy Investment Group in western Beijing. Of the four major coal-fired power plants in Beijing, three have been closed so far and the last is scheduled to be closed next year.
Acrid smog has caused public discontent in Beijing, prompting local authorities to take actions to prevent it from worsening, including closing high-polluting companies, banning substandard vehicles and increasing funding to fight pollution.
In 2014, Beijing shut down 392 companies that cause pollution, upgraded 116 types of environmental protection equipment and slashed 2.3 million tonnes of coal use by closing the Gaojing Thermal Power Plant, one of the four major coal-fired plants.
Meanwhile, regional cooperation is high on the agenda for Beijing authorities in tackling foul air.
Wang Anshun, Beijing's mayor, said at the China Development Forum 2015 that Beijing will map out a long-term plan to combat smog and air pollution with neighboring Tianjin Municipality and Hebei Province last month. Tianjin and Hebei have also been shrouded in smog in recent years.
Regional cooperation to fight pollution has also won support from the central government. The National Development and Reform Commission issued a circular stating that the central government will allocate a total of 1.5 billion yuan (241.5 million U.S. dollars) in funds to help six localities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Heibei, treat air pollution.
The IOC has sent an evaluation team to China in March and will select the host city of the 2022 Winter Games from either Beijing or Almaty, Kazakhstan, on July 31 in Kuala Lumpur.
