Beijing has initiated a number of projects using solar energy and recycled water for the 2008 Olympic Games, said an official with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee Tuesday.

According to Yu Xiaoxuan, environment director of the committee, a 6,000-square meter solar system funded partly by Italy is currently under construction. It will provide hot water for 16,000athletes and save 2,000 tons of coal a year.

Other projects including a heating and cooling project for a 410,000-square meter building that uses recycled water. It is the largest of its kind in China and is expected to save 6,000 tons of coal a year.

At the Sino-Italian environmental cooperation and Beijing green Olympic forum, Yu also said the Beijing Olympic village will have a 500-kilowatt solar power station and use motor vehicles that have zero or low emissions.

Three hundred low-emission engines have already been installed in Beijing buses.

Shi Hanmin, director of the Beijing environmental protection bureau, said the 2008 Olympic Games provides both environmental challenges and opportunities, adding that international cooperation is required to make the big event green.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2006)