Baotou Zhongguan Environmental Protection Technology Development Co., Ltd. - Promising Prospects for Clean and Smart Heating

As an important component of energy consumption, the green restructuring of heating systems has become a key lever for achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in the building sector. In recent years, guided by the "dual carbon" goals, China's heating industry has ushered in unprecedented development opportunities. Supported by policies, technological innovation, and market drivers, heating is gradually shifting from traditional coal and gas-based systems to a new energy system featuring multi-energy complementarity and intelligent regulation, with the entire heating industry accelerating toward low-carbon and intelligent development.

■■ Industry Transformation is Imperative

According to data from the China District Heating Association, by the end of 2023, winter heating in northern China covered 15 provinces and municipalities and 500 million people, with a heating area reaching 17.5 billion square meters. Among these, centralized heating area amounted to 14.324 billion building square meters, and the total length of heating pipeline networks reached 626,900 kilometers.

The massive industrial scale has also brought continuous growth in energy consumption and carbon emissions. Statistics from the association show that between 2013 and 2023, China's centralized heating area increased by 61%, total heating energy consumption grew by 20%, and heating carbon emissions rose by 17.3%. Although energy efficiency has improved, the absolute growth still places enormous pressure on emission reduction, making industry transformation and upgrading urgently needed.

In fact, the heating industry harbors tremendous emission reduction potential. The "China Smart Heating Future Outlook" report calculated an account: for every 100 million tons of standard coal replaced by clean heating, approximately 260 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions can be correspondingly reduced.

　　However, traditional energy sources still dominate the heating system. According to Liu Rong, Vice Chairman of the China Urban Heating Association, combined heat and power generation currently accounts for 46% of the heating system, boilers account for 35%, while renewable energy and other clean energy heating only account for 19%. This energy structure not only drives up carbon emissions but also restricts the sustainable development of the industry.

　　At the same time, China's heating pipeline network system is extremely complex, with pipelines from different eras coexisting, large differences in regional climate conditions, diverse laying methods, and uneven technical standards and quality levels, all of which greatly increase the difficulty of system optimization and transformation.

　　■■ Technological Innovation Drives Development

　　Facing these challenges, the transformation of heating systems toward low-carbon and smart solutions has become an industry consensus. In recent years, the heating industry has actively promoted digitalization and intelligent technology innovation. According to statistics from the China Urban Heating Association, the smart heating market size has grown from less than 20 billion yuan in 2017 to 220 billion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 15%, making China the world's largest smart heating market.

　　Behind this rapid growth is the deep integration and innovative application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data with the traditional heating industry.

　　Dong Chongcheng, an expert in urban heating with the Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, pointed out that intelligent technology provides critical support for the green and low-carbon transformation of the heating industry. "Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power have inherent instability, and predicting their related data is a prerequisite for better utilizing these energy sources." Dong Chongcheng told China Energy News, "Currently, prediction technologies based on AI and big data can comprehensively analyze multi-source information such as meteorology and geology, significantly improving prediction accuracy and effectively supporting the stable application of renewable energy. Meanwhile, AI technology also helps significantly enhance the intelligence level of energy management, improve end-user energy experience, make the promotion of clean heating equipment more convenient, and enable green technology to truly benefit people's daily lives."

　　Technological innovation in the industry cannot be separated from strong policy support. In recent years, from the central government to local governments, clean heating development goals and requirements have been clearly defined, promoting the heating industry to achieve cleanliness and intelligence at the policy level. In 2024, the "Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Implementing Renewable Energy Substitution Actions" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments pointed out that it is necessary to economically and efficiently promote the diversified development and substitution of power generation, heating, gas production, and hydrogen production, and to promote the establishment of a heating system where renewable energy and traditional energy coordinate and complement each other with cascaded comprehensive utilization. The "2025 Energy Work Guiding Opinions" released by the National Energy Administration further clarified that it is necessary to expand the application of geothermal energy, biomass energy, solar energy and other renewable energy for heating. The "Notice on Carrying out Zero-Carbon Park Construction" newly released in July this year also emphasized the need to promote the clean and low-carbon transformation of heating systems in parks.

　　Taking Beijing as an example, according to Li Wei, Dean of the First Thermal Design Institute at Beijing Gas & Heating Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd., based on its own energy conservation and emission reduction goals, Beijing has clearly proposed to deeply carry out energy restructuring of heating systems. "According to the plan, in Beijing's newly built heating systems, renewable energy heating should account for 60%; before 2030, the overall proportion of renewable energy heating in Beijing should reach 15%." Li Wei told the China Energy News reporter that policy support has pointed out the direction for industrial development and provided clear expectations for enterprise innovation. "In recent years, it can be clearly felt that there are more and more renewable energy heating projects in Beijing, such as waste heat heating from data centers and shallow geothermal energy heating applications, which are being carried out in large numbers."

　　The China District Heating Association predicts that, driven by both technological innovation and policy support, the proportion of clean energy in the heating sector is expected to achieve substantial growth in the future, laying a solid foundation for building a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient heating system.

　　■■ Collaborative Cooperation to Build an Ecosystem

　　Looking ahead to the future development of the industry, the "China Smart Heating Future Outlook" report points out that the increase in heating area in northern towns, the accelerated construction of zero-carbon industrial parks, and the continuous growth of heating demand among residents in areas south of the Huai River and the Yangtze River Basin will become three major growth opportunities for China's heating market. It is estimated that by 2030, China's central heating area will reach 21.1 billion square meters, and heating energy efficiency per unit area can be improved by 29%. Among them, clean energy heating will account for over 50%, coal consumption will drop to below 20%, and heating energy consumption per unit building area will decrease by 6% compared to 2015.

　　The growing demand is not only a driving force for industry development, but also provides a broader market space for Chinese and foreign enterprises. At the recently held "China-Denmark Renewable Energy and Smart Heating Forum", experts and scholars from China and Denmark in the heating field conducted in-depth exchanges on the intelligent and low-carbon transformation of the heating industry.

　　Liu Rong, Vice Chairman of the China District Heating Association, pointed out that as an important part of building a new energy system, China's heating industry is ushering in a historic opportunity for comprehensive green transformation. Learning from the successful experience of Denmark and international enterprises has a positive effect on promoting the transformation and upgrading of China's heating industry towards intelligence and low-carbon development.

　　Allan Bertelsen, Industry Counsellor of the Royal Danish Embassy in China, also stated: "The cooperation between China and Denmark in the fields of renewable energy and smart heating is an important practice in the global response to climate change. Denmark's energy system is renowned for three core advantages: the widespread use of renewable energy, heating electrification and combined heat and power, and high energy efficiency, thereby ensuring energy supply security and achieving flexibility on both the supply and demand sides. In the areas of renewable energy and smart heating, Denmark and China have enormous potential for cooperation. Danish companies are willing to continue leveraging their clean energy technology advantages and work hand in hand with Chinese partners to promote the global green transition process."

　　During the forum, Danfoss, a Danish heating technology supplier, announced that a new production line has been officially put into operation at its flagship heating and hydronic balancing plant in Anshan, and that the plant will be developed into the company's flagship production base for heating products in the Asia-Pacific region.

　　Shi Jun, Vice President of Danfoss Climate Solutions China and General Manager of Heating & Hydronic Balancing Business China, stated that the key to the transformation of China's heating industry lies in achieving coordinated synergy across the entire "source-network-load-storage" chain, synergy between heating systems and power systems, and synergy between regulation and metering. "New smart heating takes energy conservation and carbon reduction, as well as enhancing heating security and assurance capabilities, as its main goals. By combining next-generation information technology with hydronic balancing, intelligent temperature control, efficient heat exchange, and variable frequency technology in heating systems, it achieves heating on demand and precise heating. This is precisely the area in which Danish heating companies represented by Danfoss excel."

Baotou Zhongguan Environmental Protection Technology Development Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise specializing in providing smart heating informatization products and services. The company is dedicated to the research, development, and application of energy-saving product technologies. It has independently developed a series of hardware and software products that can provide advanced fully integrated smart heating solutions for heating enterprises, solving problems such as uneven heating distribution and high energy consumption in heating systems, achieving dual economic and social benefits of heating balance and energy conservation, reduced carbon emissions, and fewer complaints.