In a joint Chinese-US initiative, diesel vehicles in Beijing
will be retrofitted to reduce emissions.
The demonstration project will test the feasibility of
retrofitting diesel fleets in Beijing with advanced emissions
control technology and cleaner fuel.
If effective, the practice will be promoted across the country
to improve air quality, Chinese and US environment officials said
Wednesday after signing up to the project's work plan.
The project is a part of the clear air and energy cooperation
strategy between the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) and US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Also signed yesterday between SEPA and EPA was a general plan on
vehicle emissions control and transportation issues.
This lists areas of Sino-US collaboration such as fuel quality,
heavy-duty diesel retrofits, technologies for vehicles in use and
short-term priorities?like the Beijing demonstration
project.
A joint committee of experts will work out the details of the
Beijing project, said Pan Shuda, chief engineer of the Beijing
Municipal Environmental Protection Administration.
Issues such as how many and what type of vehicles will be
refitted and how long the project will last have yet to be decided
by the committee.
Through the project, China may benefit from and be able to adopt
some technical expertise from the US, said Margo Tsirigotis Oge,
director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
Xie Shaodong from the Department of Environmental Science at Peking University said diesel
vehicles emit less gaseous pollutants such as carbon monoxide and
boast greater power than gasoline-driven vehicles.
However, they let out more inhalable particulates than gasoline
vehicles, he said. These are the leading air pollutants in the
capital.
Xie said under current technical levels, diesel vehicles should
not be promoted in large numbers in the country.
About 6 percent of vehicles running in Beijing, some 140,000,
are diesel ones. Among Beijing's 17,000 buses, 6,500 are
diesel-powered.
Beijing will host the Olympic Games in 2008 and has promised
that air quality in the city will be as good as that in developed
countries during the Games.
Beijing?is likely to adopt the Euro III emissions standard
by 2005, said Zhang Lijun, head of SEPA's Pollution Control
Division in early July, as it was announced that Euro II had come
into force across China.
Beijing, which has the largest number of vehicles on its
roadways in the country, began implementing the Euro II standard at
the beginning of last year.
(China Daily November 18, 2004)