Senior government official Li Zhonghai, senior official with the China Association for Standardization and member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said that solar power will be widely applied during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He said about 90% of all the hot water used in the Olympic village will be solar heated and 80 to 90% of street lights around the Olympic venues will also be solar powered.

About 40 million Chinese households, or 150 million Chinese people, now use solar energy in their daily lives.

According to the People’s Daily, China is the world’s biggest user of solar water heating. According to the newspaper following the implementation of the Renewable Energy Law in 2006, China’s solar heating market is valued at tens of billions of renminbi and has provided hundreds of thousand jobs.
Source: Beijing Review