Beijing mountain district shifts to clean energy

Beijing's Yanqing District is on the front lines of the municipal campaign to phase out coal-fired heating as the mountainous district gears up to host international events.

The district's environment bureau said Tuesday that more than 2 million square meters of central heating space in Yanqing have been fueled by natural gas after coal-fired heating was phased out in late 2017.

With ample snow and mountainous terrain, Yanqing lies between Beijing's city proper and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province. The rural district is set to stage the Alpine skiing, bobsled and luge events for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and will be home to a national winter sports training base.

The 162-day Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition will open in Yanqing on April 29, 2019.

The two international events have accelerated the district's shift to clean energy. The bureau said that as central heating shifts to clean energy, the district cut 55,000 tonnes of coal consumption for the winter heating season.

It also helped 36 mountainous villages switch to clean energy for heating, while sending 77,000 tonnes of high-quality coal to make sure that villagers accustomed to coal heating do not have to buy substandard coal.

The bureau said that in 2017, it required 850 local companies to meet the city's demands and vacated 32,000 square meters of land. It also tightened emissions controls on heavy-duty diesel vehicles.

The average density of PM2.5 in Yanqing was 49 micrograms per cubic meter last year, down by 18.3 percent from 2016.