Over 300 furnaces dismantled around Beijing
Xinhua, July 31, 2015 Adjust font size:
A total of 319 furnaces and 74 chimneys were dismantled in Beijing's neighboring province of Hebei on Friday, a move authorities say could reduce annual coal consumption by 210,000 tonnes.
The province has already removed nearly 700 furnaces so far this year in a bid to fight air pollution in the Chinese capital and its surrounding regions.
Along with the furnaces and chimneys dismantled on Friday will come a reduction of 430 tonnes of fumes, 2,380 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and 640 tonnes of nitrogen oxide, all major pollutants that help form the thick smog that blankets northern China in winter.
Authorities say they are also upgrading existing coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions and aim to cut coal use by 5 million tonnes.
On Friday morning, a decade-old chimney was dismantled in a university in the province, which burned 20,000 tonnes of coal for heating last year. Now the university has installed a solar heating system to replace coal.
The steel industry, which the province has relied on for much of its economic growth, has also been forced to shrink amid the ongoing battle against pollution. Endi