With rising concerns over the environmental impacts from the nation's rapid industrialization, China is looking for assistance from environmental service providers in developed Western countries.
Germany, with its rich experience in environmental protection, is one of the countries that can offer useful aid.
Among the many German environmental service companies, Schneider Electrical and TUV SUD are becoming household names to many Chinese enterprises because their services bring not only social but also economic benefits.
Schneider Electrical is a global specialist in energy management.
Since it entered China in 1987, the company has reduced its clients' energy consumption by 30 percent by promoting "smart energy management" technologies and systems to many factories, infrastructure facilities as well as commercial and residential buildings.
"There is an exponential growth in the demand for smart energy management in China and worldwide," said Wang Jie, head of marketing at Schneider Electric China.
Wang explained how the system works using the company's Beijing headquarters as an example:
"In our headquarters in Beijing's Wangjing Science Park, every electric device is controlled by a computer. In the morning, the water boilers begin to heat at 7:45 am, the lighting system is turned on at 7:55 am and the central air conditioning system begins to work at 8 am. In this way we reduce about 30 percent of energy consumption."
While it continues to equip many commercial and residential buildings with intelligent systems, Schneider Electrical is also now offering nationwide "smart grid" services to China's State Grid.
In addition, Schneider Electrical's energy efficiency solutions and systems developed and produced in China have been exported to such regions as the Middle East, Africa and South America.
While Schneider helps enterprises reduce energy consumption and increase profits, TUV SUD is helping Chinese firms go global by offering its authoritative environmental certification.
"A company wanting to sell its products in Europe and the United States should first prove they can meet the local environmental and quality standards," said Zhang Jiming, a senior executive at TUV SUD China.
And he said a TUV certificate almost equals a passport to these overseas markets.
In 2011, the company earned a total revenue of 77.5 million euros ($98 million) offering certification and testing services to more than 1,000 Chinese enterprises, an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous year's revenue.
Energy management and environmental certification are fast-growing sectors in Beijing's service trade, with annual growth of more than 20 percent, according to the Beijing commission of commerce.
Source:english.sepa.gov