Holding the Olympics in Beijing will generate large amounts of greenhouse gases but there are ways to effectively minimize the impact, a team of Chinese researchers has said.

The government's plan to have vehicles stay off roads every other day according to even- and odd-numbered license plates will be one of the most effective ways to counter the emissions, they said.

The team is made up of researchers from the Energy Research Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, Tsinghua University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Administrative Center for China's Agenda 21.

The team has estimated the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that will be discharged during the Games and how much the emissions will be reduced using countermeasures.

In a report released on Friday, the team said the Olympics will generate the equivalent of 1.18 million tons of CO2, including 980,000 tons from transportation used by spectators in the capital, 100,000 tons from the operations of sport venues, 80,000 tons from athletes' activities and 20,000 tons from torch relay activities.

The team, led by Xu Huaqing, director of the Energy Research Institute, said the introduction of license plate system could save 850,000 tons of emissions - about 70 percent of the total - over the period.

Other CO2-saving measures will include using hybrid and electric-powered coaches in Olympic areas, which could help save 20,000 tons of emissions.

Renewable energy such as solar and wind power will save 1,000 tons of CO2 emissions.

Xu said, however, that the figures are just primary research results and require further study.

(China Daily April 26, 2008)