Yujiapu, Central Business Zone in Binhai New Area
By Wu Ziran
This year marks the 10th year since implementing a national strategy of developing and opening up Tianjin Binhai New Area. Over the past decade, Binhai New Area (BNA) has made several innovations that have stimulated the economy through green development. It has explored a model of developing the economy and protecting the environment simultaneously and has continuously found new areas of economic growth so that the green economy can become the "new normal".
BNA supports cleaner production. This is developed to spur industrial upgrades, and make a proactive move to close down heavy-industry companies, suspend their operation, merge them with others or make them shift to different line of production. The area reduces energy consumption, pollution and emissions through adopting a "high-end, high-quality and high-tech" industrial methods. It has promoted a green transformation in the traditional manufacturing industry and built a green and low-carbon industrial system.
BNA spares no efforts in developing a circular economy - an industrial economy that avoids producing pollution and waste. Conforming with the rules of reducing, reusing and recycling, it adheres to integrating the whole picture and build eco-industrial parks, an eco-city and circular-economic chains. Companies are keen on making innovation. Businesses have started to conserve energy, improve efficiency and produce more cleanly. BNA has pilot enterprises for a circular economy, including a national level circular-economy pilot project in Tianjin Beijiang Power Station and Tianjin circular-economy pilot projects in Tianjin Changlu Hangu Saltern Co. Ltd., Tiantie Metallurgical Group Steel Plate Co. Ltd., Bluestar (Tianjin) Chemical Co. Ltd., Tianjin Kaiwei Chemical Co. Ltd., Tianjin Lianbo Chemical Co. Ltd., Tianjin Yunhai Yusen Tech-industry Co. Ltd., Tianjin Pharmaceutical Holdings Gencom Pharmacy Co. Ltd. and Tianjin Yuchuan Building Materials Co. Ltd. The area has established several demonstration parks, such as the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area and the Tianjin Harbor Economic Area, two national level circular-economy demonstration parks, and the city-level Tianjin Airport Economic Area. BNA has formed circular economy chains in over 20 areas, including aerospace, petrochemicals, equipment manufacturing, electronic information, bio-pharmaceuticals, modern metallurgy and food processing industries.
The area has increasingly improved its energy mix. It promotes solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, thermal systems and heat pump systems. Clean energy, such as wind and biomass power, is also promoted. It has gradually established a modern, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system, which mainly relies on combined heat and power and is supplemented by a regional heat source, with new and clean energy power being complemented.