City orders: Think lean, green

Updated：2008-06-16 10:40 | Source：Shanghai Daily

THE Shanghai government yesterday urged its civil servants to think green in order to save energy.

Municipal officials are encouraged to wear casual attire in summer as well as switch off air-conditioners and lights during noon breaks or when leaving offices, according to a city statement.

The city has also called on government affiliates to save water by updating supply facilities, using rain water and setting up recycling systems.

Low-emission cars and ecologically friendly vehicles should replace luxury sedans for officials' business use, according to the statement. It urged civil servants to share cars or take public transport whenever possible when they are out on business.

"More energy saving and less paperwork" is the nub of the statement, which announced the introduction of an electronic business and office automation system to reduce the waste of paper and office products.

Cutting conferences, business trips and banquets will also save resources and money for the government, it said.

This year's energy conservation promotion week started yesterday, as resident representatives called on the city's more than five million households to act.

At a kick-off event at Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, the first volunteers received their city letters with tasks to supervise energy-saving progress.

Vice Mayor Ai Baojun said Shanghai still faces a task in boosting energy efficiency.

The city has targeted reducing energy consumption by 3.6 percent per unit of GDP this year. For the industrial sector, Shanghai aims to cut the energy use per unit of industrial added value by 6 percent.

The local government will tighten assessment on industrial firms' work on archiving energy efficiency and will stop giving supportive measures and approving new land use applications for state-owned companies failing appraisals.

The annual energy conservation promotion is a national initiative. China's revised energy conservation law is being promoted during the week.

Editor : Shi Taoyang