The Binhu district of Wuxi got an award recently for its energy-conservation performance of last year, along with two companies.

The district managed to cut energy consumption in 2013 by just over 5 percent per GDP, or 1.52 percentage points above its goal, putting it in first place in the city of Wuxi.

At the same time, the Wuxi Simian Textile Co saved 5 million kilowatt hours of electricity, bring costs down by 3.25 million yuan ($520,000), by improving its spinning frames and air-conditioning system.

And, Wuxi’s Urban Environment and Sanitation Co tried out some new techniques for sintered bricks using dirt from waterworks and construction, producing nearly 5 million sintered bricks out of 3.5 tons of waste, saving clay, and avoiding further pollution. It is also working on a project that will generate 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity, using 4 million cubic meters of methane gas, instead of just letting it out as exhaust.

Edited by Lin Hong and Roger Bradshaw