With the New Year having just gone, Ma Chunguang, General Manager of Shenzhen Yihua Xinneng Technology Development Co., Ltd., was extremely busy at work. When I arrived at his newly decorated office at Nanshan Science Park for an interview, he was introducing a newly developed digital energy-saving testing system to his clients.
Energy saving becomes the new engine for corporate growth
“Just like an instrument to test blood pressure, this system may test whether an enterprise has high energy consumption and whether an enterprise should save energy or not.” Said Ma Chunguang. After testing, they will prepare a complete set of energy-saving plans for the tested enterprise to assist it in saving energy. The number of enterprises asking them to provide energy-saving services is increasing every day. They are recruiting to establish branch offices all over the country so as to fight for the domestic market.
Behind the surge in business at Yihua Xinneng we can see a pleasing situation in which more and more companies in Shenzhen are attaching importance to energy conservation. Shenzhen Donghua Holiday Inn has invested RMB 2 million in an energy-saving reconstruction project. The project involved the use of an automatic frequency conversion control system for the pump unit of the central air-conditioning, escalator phase-control energy-saving devices, energy-saving lighting lamps in the public areas and administrative office building, and recovery of waste heat from the central air-conditioning. After the renovation, the inn will save 300,000 kW of electricity and 82,000 liters of fuel oil every year, saving about RMB 500,000. Energy conservation reduces operating costs, and the saved money will be used to improve customer services. This is one of the important ways to keep the enterprise growing in response to the financial crisis.
Epson Engineering (Shenzhen) Ltd is a benchmark enterprise that has been awarded the title of advanced energy saving enterprise for successive years. In its “Year-end Evaluation and Reporting Statement on Waste Reduction Actions in Shenzhen”, the average payback period of 11 investment projects was 2.66 years. Energy conservation and emissions reduction has not only given the enterprise a good reputation as being socially responsible, but has also brought considerable financial gain, presenting a new way to speed up the transformation of the growth mode of the enterprise.
Innovation is the new drive for resource saving
In addition to the attractive income, one of the important reasons why the energy-saving industry has suddenly risen in Shenzhen is that close cooperation between energy-saving enterprises and their clients has speed up technical innovation.
Weaving and dyeing enterprises are characterized by high energy consumption and pollution. Many weaving and dyeing enterprises are shut down because they cannot meet environmental protection standards. This problem also exists in Shenzhen. The Shenzhen Weaving Association and Shenzhen Trade Industry Bureau promote advanced bio-enzyme dyeing technology in Shenzhen’s weaving and dyeing industry. Trials were first conducted in Shenzhen Liangyi Industry Co., Ltd and Dayi Company of Shenzhen Diye Group. The trials indicate that such technology can save 50-70% of water, electricity and gas consumption, and largely reduce COD and wastewater discharge. Considerable results have been achieved in energy conservation, emissions reduction, consumption reduction and income increase. If this technology were to be implemented throughout the whole city, it could conserve 1,000,000 tones of water and 1,600,000 kW of electricity every year.
Technical innovation is not just manifested in traditional high-energy consumption industries. It is closely related to people’s everyday lives. With the popularity of automobiles, the car washing industry has become a polluting industry that wastes water. The environmentally friendly car wash technology jointly launched by Shenzhen hi-tech enterprises and the leading car wash enterprise Helunguang Company is very popular. Computer-controlled intelligent identification technology is adopted to profile cars coming into the wash. The amount of water used is a mere 20% of a traditional car wash, and the wash time is shortened from 15 minutes to 3 minutes. If this technology were to be implemented throughout the whole city, it would save the equivalent of a medium-sized reservoir each year. Helunguang plans to invest RMB 300 million to establish about 300 environmentally friendly car wash outlets in Shenzhen to put the car wash industry on the path to sustainable development and resource saving.
Financing helps industries to rise suddenly
 “We are not short of money. Investment institutions, banks and the government provide a high level of support for the energy-saving industry. Shenzhen’s energy-saving industry is experiencing its best period for development.” Said Ma Chunguang. A good environment for investment and financing is also an important reason for the sudden rise of Shenzhen’s energy-saving industry.
Yihua Xinneng is funded and established by several classmates from a Tsinghua MBA class. At the beginning, it was just an “idea” for a business. But this “idea” fits in with the mood for energy saving in Shenzhen, and is supported by many parties including investors. This allowed the enterprise to get a good start.
In addition to private capital, the government and the banks prefer the energy-saving industry. A laundry plant in Nanshan District was in difficulty wanted to prevent pollution caused by laundry soap but lacked the funds to do so. After finding out that process changes would not only prevent pollution but also lead to an increase in profitability, the Shenzhen Branch of the Industrial Bank offered the plant a loan of ten million Yuan to help the plant renovate with environmentally friendly technology . As a result, the plant grew rapidly, establishing affiliates in cities like Nanjing. Moreover, their business mode was picked out by risk investors, and the company is currently preparing to go public.
It is known that the green credit business launched by Shenzhen’s financial institutions support projects covering urban landfill power generation, comprehensive utilization of solar energy, municipal street light energy conservation renovation, supermarket energy conservation renovation, comprehensive energy conservation of central air-conditioning, integrated building intelligent system renovation, chilled water storage with large temperature difference, hydrothermal pumps of big hotels, recovery of waste heat in power plants and slurry drying. It has played a very important role in promoting the development of Shenzhen’s energy-saving industry. The Government of Shenzhen provides a huge amount of special funds to support energy conservation and emissions reduction every year, playing a leading role in the rapid rise of the energy-saving industry. (Source: Shenzhen News Web)