Solar panels cap the streetlights in Baoding, China's self-proclaimed Clean Energy (News - Alert) City, also known nationwide as Clean Energy Valley. Tiny wind turbines twirl atop public buildings. The school curriculum includes lesson plans on “green living.”

The 4.72-square-mile city of Baoding – 90 miles southwest of Beijing in the flat farmlands of the of Hebei province – was approved as a National Development Zone in 1992 and is one of the 53 national-level development zones in China. In 2002, the Baoding High-Tech Development Zone began developing a renewable energy industry. In 2003, Baoding was recognized by the National Ministry of Science and Technology as the first and only industrial base for development of China’s new energy sector.

In the scramble to profit from demand for clean energy, this city is promoting itself as a manufacturing center for solar, wind, and other renewable energy gear by transforming into a living showcase of environmental technology.

Thus, while in many cities in China, traffic signal lamps are powered by alternating current, in Baoding, 110 signal lamps are equipped with special caps that are actually solar panels – used to convert solar energy into electrical energy, ensuring the daily operation of signal lamps.

Liu Tao, an official in the department of traffic administration in Baoding, said “The usage of solar signal lamps changes the way of powering and it is energy saving. Moreover, it saves our infrastructure construction because we don’t have to bury cables for powering anymore.”

Chief engineer with the street lamp administration, Zhao Wanzeng, agreed, “An ordinary street lamp, if it works for 10 hours a day, will require 3 KWH. The electricity cost of street lamps was over 15 million yuan or nearly $2 million [before we implemented this program]. The cost will be reduced greatly with the application of solar lamps and other energy saving apparatus.”

Today, Baoding has two government research labs and 170 companies that produce clean power equipment. They include Zhonghang Huiteng Windpower Equipment Co., one of the biggest makers of wind turbine blades; Yingli Solar a leading solar energy company; San Miguel Corp., a diversified power and utility player; China Guodian Corp ., one of the largest state-owned power generation groups; and Mitsubishi Electric, the division of the company that makes HVAC and energy systems. Other fields targeted by Baoding for development include batteries and power transmission.

Baoding's clean energy companies had 45 billion yuan ($7 billion) in revenue last year, according to the city government. It says the local industry should grow by 30 percent a year through 2016.

The Chinese government says it wants at least 15 percent of the country's power to come from renewable sources by 2020. It is spending heavily on grants and other aid to propel technology development. Chinese utility companies are required to install wind turbines and Beijing has promised to pay part of the cost of solar equipment – a strategy that is driving the rapid growth of Baoding and other supply centers. New buildings are required to use solar-powered water heaters.

China already is the world's biggest producer of solar and wind equipment. Yingli and other Chinese solar suppliers have long competed in global markets because their equipment was too expensive for domestic use. Chinese makers of wind gear are only starting to expand abroad but some domestic producers already are among the world's biggest due to their vast home market.

“The Chinese government is very supportive of the green market,” said Liansheng Miao, Yingli's founder and chairman. In a sign of high-level endorsement, Yingli received a 36 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) line of credit last year from state-owned China Development Bank.

A wind turbine factory owned by China Guodian Corp., a government-owned utility, expects to sell 1,100 units this year, nearly double 2009's level of 600, said the factory's deputy general manager, Wang Hongbin. Wang said all of his factory's output of 1.5-megawatt turbines was sold in China, but Guodian also has announced plans to expand to the United States by supplying units for a power project in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Production definitely will increase,” Wang said, standing beside rows of 130-foot-long (40-meter-long) turbine blades in wooden cradles outside the factory, awaiting delivery to power companies.

Baoding's city government launched a joint effort with the environmental group WWF in 2008 to share information on city planning and technology, and to develop environmental education programs. “All citizens in Baoding will be taught about `green living',” he said, “starting with elementary school students.”

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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell