Cleaner Production Based on Sustainable Development in Chinese Power Plants

Abstract

China's future energy requirement is expected to be predominantly fulfilled by coal from power plants. Therefore, reduction of environmental pollution and improved efficiency of energy utilization are critical and can be achieved through cleaner production (CP) practices. This study examined CP practices in power plants by qualitative and quantitative analyses using the Datang Changshan Thermal Power Plant in Jilin, China as an example. The quantitative evaluation demonstrated that proportions within the energy consumption index and the resource consumption index rapidly increased after CP implementation, whereas the qualitative evaluation indicated that the plant was clearly affected by the substantial improvement of the CP management index. The comprehensive evaluation index increased from 82.4 to 94.4 when the plant performed CP, which was an increase of 14.6%. CP can improve the level of sustainable development and help improve the grades attained by power plant enterprises. In this study, improvement countermeasures and primary CP practices are proposed for the Datang Changshan Thermal Power Plant, and results can be used as a reference for similar enterprises.