Manufacturing going green to compete

A worker moves aluminum pipes in a construction materials market in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Manufacturing sector has been criticized for not being energy efficient. Photo: CFP

By Chen Xiaomin

Sustainable development and innovation are necessary for China's manufacturing industry to sharpen its competitive edge, said experts and officials on Monday.

"The financial crisis has resulted in a reshuffling of the industry. A great way for China's manufacturers to stand out is to save energy and reduce emissions,"Chen Jinya, president, Asia Pacific Region of Alcoa said at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Asian Manufacturing Association on Monday.

Energy conservation and emissions reduction do cost a lot in the short term. But in the long run, it will not only save a company and its money, but also makes it more competitive, Chen told the Global Times.

Chen said Alcoa, the world's largest integrated aluminum producer, replaced its coal-fired boilers with ones that run on natural gas. "Although we spent more than $1 million in the project, we saw returns after one and a half years."

Iceland, a country which pays particular attention to environmental protection, has allowed Alcoa to set up another plant because the company has agreed to help the island nation work on geothermal energy.

As global automakers develop energy efficient and new energy vehicles, China's engine makers also noted the importance of building environmentally-friendly engines to gain a foothold in the auto industry.

Qian Cheng, vice-president of Weichai Power, said sustainable development in China's automobile industry should focus on the oil consumption and carbon emissions of commercial vehicles, adding a normal heavy-duty truck consumes five times more oil per kilometer and emits 10 times more carbon than a normal sedan.

China, the world's second biggest oil consumer, released a plan in February to produce 500,000 new energy vehicles within the next three years.

An official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology highlighted the urgency of energy conservation and emissions reduction on a much wider scale.

"Energy conservation and emissions reduction are not only a major issue for industrial development, but an essential element to sustainable, healthy and rapid expansion of the national economy,"Gao Dongsheng, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said.

Industries account for more than 70 percent of China's total energy consumption, with chemical oxygen demand and sulfur dioxide taking up 40 percent and 85 percent respectively of its total emissions, according to the ministry.

Like sustainable development, innovation was also emphasized at the forum.

China is growing rapidly, but growth is not always evidence of innovation, said Edmund S. Phelps, the 2006 Nobel laureate in Economics.

"To achieve further advances in the method of production, (Chinese companies) will have to engage in more experimentation, and more imagination of their own, than they have before, not just copy,"remarked Phelps.
 

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