Author: Text by Li Honglin , Translation by Xin Xing, Proofread by Du Juan
From August 6th to 7th, the First Forum on Development Strategy for Science and Technology in Tibet was held at Lhasa. Scholars from Chinese Academy of Sciences and a number of well-known domestic experts and scholars made speeches in the forum. Doctor Qin Wei, the Director of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, was invited to attend the meeting and gave a keynote speech as one of the experts.
Director Qin Wei made the report with the title of "using Tibet's featured resources, guaranteeing Tibet's healthy and fast development", which mainly focused on four aspects: energy and human civilization, Tibet's featured resources, the usage base of Tibet's featured resources and renewable energy technologies. The report pointed out that Tibet Autonomous Region was vast and has many great mountains and rivers. The unique advantages made the Tibet owned the best renewable energy. Solar: annual sunshine time of about 3000 hours and annual radiation of 185 kcal/cm2 are the most in the country; Geothermal energy: there are nearly 700 geothermal sites in Tibet and the total geothermal energy is 276.28×104 kJ/s, equivalent to 3 million tce/a and 800 MW for electricity generation; Hydro energy: Tibet, called as the cistern of the Asia, is the third pole of the world. It is the headstream of the main rivers in southern and eastern Asia and has 660 billion m3 water resource, which makes the hydropower resource no less than 200 million kW. The water resource in Tibet is 29% of the whole country and the technical exploitable amount is 140 million KW, which is 20% of the whole country and also the most in the country; Biomass energy: the total resource is about 1.28 billion tons, possessing a very promising prospect of development and utilization.
The report also pointed out that the original state of energy utilization, the backward energy technology and the severe waste of energy limited the development of Tibet and improvement of life quality. These facts manifested in four aspects: (1) The large amount supply of primary energy cannot support and improve the living level and working condition of Tibetan; (2) The renewable energy resource is highly influenced by seasons, which induces the energy supply is unstable and unreliable; (3) Tibet’s backward economic makes it hard to solve the energy supply problem with the featured resource on its own; (4) The dispersion of the farmers and herders requires the energy equipment is flexible. It needs sufficient policies and new energy facilities to change the consciousness of energy utilization and the lifestyle of using the fuel-wood and dung as the main energy supply.
The report proposed the policy of “Addressing local requirements by utilizing local advantageous resources” for the sustainable development of Tibet. First, construct multiple forms of energy with complementary advantages according to local conditions. Uneven distribution of energy species in Tibetan Plateau makes it necessary to develop multiple forms of energy to complement each other. In order to construct perennial running system of energy supply with effective safeguard, small-scale and micro-scale hydropower station should be developed actively, as well as bio-energy and solar energy in a planned way in the area with high forest coverage, the area of returning farmland to forestry and the protected natural area. However, the complementary use of solar energy, geothermal energy and biomass energy is important for the arid and high altitude area. For the relative centralized city, large-scale hydropower, wind power and solar energy should be used.
Second, change the habit of life, concentrate the people and speed up the process of urbanization. Tibet has a vast territory with sparse population, and the people are nomads who are used to work in large areas. These features make it hard to construct the energy supply system intensively. Only by the way of concentrating the people can we use the high-tech and the regional characteristic resources to solve the problem of energy supply and improve the living level and working condition for Tibetan people.
Third, adjust the structure of rural energy consumption; support the development of the renewable energy. The government should encourage famers and herdsmen to change the ideas, to give up the daily habit of using energy and to use the modern clean and efficient energy.
Forth, attract investment and promote the use of advanced technology. For the sake of the development of local industry, the government should attract various investments into Tibet with the resource and the policy, forming the professional technology clusters for engineering installation and maintenance.
At Last, the report emphasized the fundamental way to speed up the development of Tibet and improve the living level of Tibetan was taking advantage of Tibetan special resources such as the ample renewable energy and changing the structure of Tibetan energy utilization.
It was reported that the theme of this forum was using science and technology to support the leap-forward development of Tibet. It was intended to assemble the well-known scholars and experts to participate actively in the science and technology corporations and exchanges of the plateau area, with an aim to promote the science and technology development of Tibet and enhance the innovative, comprehensive and sustainable development capacities. During the two days of this forum, the related experts and the department officers of Tibet Autonomous Region had an extensive and in-depth discussion. The discussion was about the problems of Tibet's ecological security barrier protection and construction, development and utilization of the special resources, construction and service of technology information and the current challenges and strategies of Tibet’s development, etc.
