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China looks to Solar energy

A two- hour bus ride from beer capital; of a Tsingtao leads to Rizhao in Shandong province, a beautiful coastal city of three million inhabitants whose name means “shine” for good seasons. 

Tourists that arrive, Mayor Li Zhaoqian takes them to the roof of the Shanshui, (Mountain Water) hotel. At first glance the view could be that of any city: an endless expanse of apartment buildings stretching out in all direction. A closer look reveals rows of cylindrical solar collectors blanketing nearly every building. Unlike anywhere else in the world, more than 99-per-cent of the city centre’s residents relies on solar energy for their hot water. “It’s cheap, it’s convenient and it’s clean,” says Li.

On a tour of the city, Li a former engineering professor, points out boulevards lined with solar-powered street lamps. He enthuses over the methane-capturing abilities of the city’s waste-water treatment plants. With financial backing from the central government, Rizhao has pursued renewable energy schemes that have transformed the city into a model for green development throughout China.

Solar hot water is a small but important step in this direction. The push in Rizhao came 10-years-ago, when the city began giving tax breaks and preferential land allocation to factories that manufacture solar heaters. Since then, use of solar hot water has boomed throughout China, exceeding that of the rest world combined, and leading to a small offset of carbon emissions.

More than 35m homes now use the devices for hot water, which would otherwise comprise 12-20-per-cent of a household’s electricity bill. In villages around Dezhou, 300 kilometres north of Rizhao, thousands of people use public bathhouses fuelled by the sun. And in Kumming, the capital of Yunnan province, half of the city’s 4.7m residents use solar water heaters.

In 2006 $2.5bn worth of these devices were manufactured in China. Han Jiang-gong, general manager of Bejing Sunpu Solar, explains how they work. Each heater consists of about a dozen parallel glass tubes connected to a large water tank. Sunlight passes through the glass cylinders and heats black absorber tubes inside, which then transfers their heat to the tank. The least expensive units cost around $150, about the same as an electric water heater. “Right now the competition is very hot,” says Han, nothing that more than 2000 companies in China make these solar heaters.

Han’s company was one of the first. It was founded in the late 1980s with the aid from German aerospace engineers who had worked on the original design. Earlier in 2007, Sunpu Solar landed a contract for 45,000 tubes that will provide hot water, heating and possibly solar-based air conditioning for building use throughout the 2008 Olympics.

The success of the project, hinged on the city’s ability to clean up its runaway air pollution. Sunpu runs its own solar air-conditioning system, fuelled by a massive solar-collector array on its roof.

Back in Rizhao, all new buildings since 2002 have flames installed on their rooftops or walls and internal plumbing suitable for solar hot water, which has been heavily promoted. "I don’t like the word ‘propaganda’, but we did do a lot of education with area residents and in local schools on the important of using clean energy,” Li says.

Recently Jinan, the capital of Standong province, adopted similar requirements for new construction sites. In April 2007, Chen Deming, the vice-minister of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, said a similar policy would be announced for all of China. "More and more cities will adopt our policies,” says Li, who is now Chairman of the National People’s Congress.
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