Beijing Chaoyang sets annual goal for air quality

Beijing’s Chaoyang district will eliminate coal use and replace all its coal-fired boilers with low-nitrogen units by the end of 2017 to cut air pollution, local authorities said at the district’s two sessions.

Chaoyang district has weeded out 51,000 old high-emission motor vehicles this year, exceeding the expected number of 36,500. It has removed 252,000 old high-emission motor vehicles from roads since 2013, meeting the goal set by the city’s Five-Year Clean Air Action Plan (2013-2017) ahead of schedule.

The district will use clean energy like electricity and natural gas to replace coal to serve residents beyond the Fourth Ring Road in heating, cooking and other activities and weed out all the coal burning facilities in 2017.

Its 24 subdistricts, towns and 81 residential communities have taken steps to make themselves a coal-free zone this year.

Construction has started on five 110 kV transformer substations. A total of 213,000 households have replaced coal with clean energy. And others, who are not listed in this year’s plan, have started using high-quality coal instead of high-polluting coal.

According to the district’s Environmental Protection Bureau, a tailored plan was made to provide abundant power supply and effective equipment maintenance to ensure heating in winter for people involved in the transition from coal to electricity.

The plan designates the departments and persons in charge of power supply, indoor power lines, and heating equipment, the authorities said.

The district has banned all sales of coal within the Fourth Ring Road and made the area coal-free.

Low-nitrogen combustion technology will be applied to more boilers and the technological transformation will be completed by 2017. Efforts have been made to publicize the technology and the punishments for enterprises with excessive emissions of nitrogen oxide.

Statistics show that about 5,100 tons of boilers have undergone the transformation project.

In order to lower the PM2.5 density level, Chaoyang district will strengthen management of all dust-raising activities by technological, economic and law enforcement means.

Some portion of 113 bare lands has been sprayed by dust suppressants and then covered up. As of Dec 14, the average concentration of PM2.5 was around 71 micrograms per cubic meter, 11.3 percent lower than that of 2015.