Bus Rapid Transit. With the automobile designated a “pillar industry” to spur economic growth, China’s congested streets are turning into parking lots. Mayors are beginning to prioritize cost-effective mass transit solutions. CSEP grantees introduced the concept of bus rapid transit (BRT)—exclusive-lane buses that move station-to-station with subway efficiency but at a mere 5 percent of subway costs—during our 2001 PAC meeting with a speech by the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enriqué Peñalosa. Today, Beijing and Hangzhou have completed China’s first two BRT corridors; Beijing’s links Tiananmen Square to the southern suburbs, and two more Beijing corridors are planned. Construction is underway in two more cities, and 16 more are in advanced planning.
Appliance Efficiency. Just new air conditioners added this year in China will absorb the output of the massive Three Gorges Dam. National appliance standards, including more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners, lighting, TVs, and other consumer appliances, are on track to save 10 percent of all residential electricity in 2010, obviating the need for 36 large coal-fired power plants. Grantees developed all these standards, and are developing several more aiming at securing the largest carbon dioxide savings first.
Appliance standards and labels from four major appliances will save 11.5% of all residential electricity in 2020.
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryBuilding Codes. The Ministry of Construction, issued China’s first national commercial building code, effective July 1, 2005, which was developed by grantees. If fully implemented, by 2020 the code could reduce global warming pollution by 180 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, obviating the need for 28 large (1,000-MW) coal plants. To create good models for nationwide implementation, grantees are piloting code enforcement in six cities; progress of the pilots has been faster and better than anticipated.
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