石炭を大量に燃やし続けている中国では相変わらず大気汚染等の環境悪化がものすごく、これでは2008年の北京オリンピックで各国選手が安全に競技できないとＩＯＣや世界保健機構(ＷＨＯ)から注意されているそうですが、このほど、米国エネルギー省の協力を得て本格的に環境改善に乗り出すようです。最大の問題は石炭の使用を削減することですが、燃料効率の改善、排ガス規制の強化、北京周辺のグリーンベルトの拡大（砂漠からの黄砂を減らすため）等々で、このために中国政府はオリンピックまでに170億～230億ドルを投入する計画だそうです。中国と米国はGreen Olympics Protocolを2004年に結んでおり、とりあえず１０の重点分野(天然ガス、クリーン・コール、燃料電池自動車のデモ、都市交通、大気汚染、光化学スモッグ対策等々）で技術協力を行うことにしている由。ＧＭ社はオリンピック開催中燃料電池バスの提供に合意しているとか。最も困難なのは勿論石炭使用の削減で、普通だと、首都圏の年間石炭消費量は3,360万トンにも達するところを、ＷＨＯの基準に合致するためには、半分以下の1,500万トンに減らす必要があるということで、果たしてそれだけ大幅な削減が可能かどうか、見ものです。

Beijing Cleans Air for 2008 Olympics with U.S. Help

(Efforts include major reductions in coal use, tough emission standards)

By Cheryl Pellerin
Washington File Staff Writer

<i>This article is one in a series
(http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/east_asia_pacific/china/us_china_trade_relatio
ons.html?id=nl20050316) on U.S.-China economic relations.

Washington -- The Department of Energy (DOE) is leading a U.S.
multi-agency team to help Beijing keep its promise to the International
Olympic Committee to achieve World Health Organization (WHO) standards for
urban air quality by 2008, in time for the Summer Olympics.

The city痴 strategy for meeting this goal depends on major reductions in
coal use, tougher fuel-quality and emissions standards and further
development of a protective greenbelt that separates north China from an
encroaching desert whose winds fill the city air with silt.

典he Chinese government intends to invest $17 billion to $23 billion for
the 2008 Summer Olympic Games,・said Lee Gebert, China desk officer in
DOE痴 Office of International Science and Technology Cooperation.

釘eijing wanted to improve its image and upgrade its infrastructure, and
they池e using the Olympics as a catalyst to do this,・she said.

In 2002, the vice mayor of Beijing and a top DOE official signed a
statement of intent to cooperate on clean energy technologies. DOE also
committed to provide technical assistance in energy and environmental
policy and planning for the 2008 Olympics. The 敵reen Olympics Protocol,・
an official agreement between DOE and Beijing, was signed in 2004.

The first U.S.-China Joint Working Group (JWG) for the Green Olympics
Protocol planning meeting took place in December 2002, with
representatives from China and from the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Federal Transit Administration, and the departments of Energy, State,
Commerce and Agriculture.

The JWG identified 10 areas for cooperation ・natural-gas technology;
combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP); clean coal; hydrogen and
fuel-cell vehicle demonstration; environmentally friendly buildings; urban
transportation; air quality; water quality; solar photovoltaics; and a
Beijing-Chicago Friendship Cities Initiative to promote local
environmental activities.

The JWG has met three times and established 10 teams, one to work in
each area of cooperation. U.S. companies participated in the third
meeting, held in Chicago in November 2004 at the DOE Argonne National
Laboratory.

展e indeed have a public-private partnership,・Gebert said, 殿nd we hope
to continue to do this kind of work ・helping industry deploy clean energy
technology for the Olympics and hopefully replicating the technology
throughout China.・

Gebert said a Hydrogen Park in the Olympic Village will demonstrate
hydrogen technology by operating five buses using Hythaneョ technology ・a
mix of hydrogen and natural gas.

General Motors has agreed to donate a zero-emissions electric bus to use
during the Olympics, she said.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the keystone of Beijing痴
commitment to reaching WHO urban air standards by 2008 is to reduce coal
consumption in the capital to 15 million metric tons yearly, in contrast
to an unconstrained consumption forecast of 33.6 million metric tons.

City officials plan to achieve this goal by substituting natural gas,
electricity and liquid petroleum gas for coal as a household heating and
cooking fuel. Other plans call for shutting down coking ovens in big
industrial plants and substituting natural gas for coal in some
electricity generation.

For example, the Chinese are very interested in CCHP technology, which
combines cooling, heat and power.

的t痴 a stand-alone system,・Gebert said, 斗ike bringing a small-scale
power plant into a building. You can provide electricity to a small
building -- for example, a hospital or supermarket -- using natural gas,
not coal, for cooling, heating and electricity, and you don稚 have to be
connected to the grid.・

Three buildings in Beijing might implement CCHP technology in time for
the Olympics, she said.

Solar photovoltaics -- converting sunlight into electricity ・will also
have a place in the Olympics. This technology will be used in the Olympic
Village to light street lamps and heat swimming pools.

The aggressive program of improvements to air and water quality,
transportation, energy production and more will probably be complete
before the Olympics, by 2007, Gebert said.