Xiamen, in Fujian province, has taken a series of measures to tackle environmental problems and improve its environmental monitoring facilities.

Air monitoring

Municipal (and higher level) air quality monitoring stations cover all six districts in Xiamen, with 14 municipal stations (eight of them newly built) and 4 national stations.

The air pollutant in Xiamen is a compound mainly composed of ozone, PM 2.5, and nitrogen dioxide, and is caused by haze from northern areas, automotive exhaust emissions, industrial pollution and dust from roads and construction sites.

Xiamen will complete a “super air monitoring station” by the end of 2014, which will integrate air monitoring, dust-haze analysis, and environment alerts.

New energy vehicles

Motor vehicles are a key factor leading to PM2.5, and nitrogen dioxide in the motor vehicle exhaust is a main ingredient of air pollution. Xiamen added 246 LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) buses in the first half of 2014, which makes up 71.3 percent of its newly operating buses.

Xiamen initiated its new energy bus pilot project this year, with the support of local governmental departments and corporations. Electronic buses are scheduled to come into operation in 2015.

Xiamen has built 25 gas stations (with 148 gas machines), 78 AC (Alternating Current) charging posts and 5 special stations for electronic buses.

Old car elimination

Xiamen plans to make obsolete 29,000 cars, which were licensed before 2005, by the end of 2015. The exhaust emissions from old cars are five to ten times those of new cars. The government has also called on the public to save electricity and take the public transit system instead of driving.