Page 384 - Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook

Energy Strategy for Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Chapter j 18 357

and implemented to assure energy security and environmental
protection.
iii. Facilitate central grid connections with on-site (e.g., distributed
energy) power generation.
iv. Use the “civic market” approach (public and private partnerships
where the “civic” or public has the majority controlling interest) to
create and implement plans.
v. Create short-term (3e5 years) incentives (see Glossary) that
encourage renewable energy generation now rather than fossil and
conventional power generation systems.
vi. Provide long-term incentives including contracts, grants, and
cofinancing for renewable energy generation.
vii. Seek “hybrid” or combined technologies that merge renewable
energy such as wind or solar with storage and delivery devices,
such as hydrogen and fuel cells.
viii. Encourage and collaborate with other infrastructures, especially
water, waste, transportation, and education.
ix. Focus on long-term goals, which should include a “hydrogen
economy” in the next 10e20 years or sooner, with demonstrations.
2. Develop advanced technologies, such as clean coal and coal mine
methane (CMM), as “transition” energy supply approaches.
a. Use underground coal gasification where feasible, in combination with
CO 2 sequestration in unmineable coal seams.
b. Employ CMM and ventilation air methane (VAM) technologies to
working mines, as a source of natural gas and as a mine safety
measure.
c. Search for opportunities to extract abandoned mine methane and coal
bed methane from virgin coal seams, and apply these where feasible.
d. Continue with construction of additional high-tech coal washing fa-
cilities, to remove excess ash, increase thermal content, and for
desulfurization processes.
e. For power generation alone, continue to seek the most efficient
technologies, e.g., supercritical fluidized bed combustion or integrated
coal gasification combined cycle.
f. Follow and develop potential new technologies such as direct carbon
fuel cells and integrated coal gasification fuel celldthese could be
important in the not too distant future.
3. Investigate the potential to build mine mouth polygeneration plants for
coal, producing town gas for cooking and heating. DME for heating and
transportation, and methanol and F-T liquids for transportation, with
electricity as a coproduct.
a. Design these plants with the ability to switch portions to hydrogen
production as fuel cells become cheaper and more accepted.