On the morning of December 23, the huge "Tianfu Laboratory" light board was lit up in Building 12, Tianfu Haichuang Park by Xinglong Lake, Tianfu New Area. At 9:40, applause rang through the lobby on the first floor. The plaque of Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory was unveiled slowly, witnessed by relevant provincial and municipal leaders and academicians and experts in the field of carbon neutrality. After the opening of Tianfu Xinglong Lake Laboratory in June 2022, the Tianfu Laboratory system welcomed its new member — Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory.
"This not only marks a major advancement in the construction of Tianfu Laboratory but also provides a high-level innovation platform for building an important source of advanced green and low-carbon technology innovation in China," said Wu Qungang, Director-General of the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province.
How will Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory be developed? What layout has Sichuan made to solve the stranglehold problems in the field of carbon neutrality? What does the "+" mean in "carbon neutrality +"? An interview was made for answers to these questions.
Sichuan didn't aim at carbon neutrality in the initial direction of striving to build a national laboratory
Reasons to build the Laboratory
At the 5th Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, it was clearly proposed to boost China’s strength in strategic science and technology and improve the system of national laboratories. As a province with abundant science and education resources and military industries, Sichuan has the responsibility, ability, and confidence to build a national laboratory through the establishment of Tianfu Laboratory, and continue to boost the "Revitalization of Chip Industry" of the country and promote the scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.
Tianfu Laboratory was publicly mentioned for the first time at the 8th Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee held in December 2020. The meeting proposed to focus on aerospace science and technologies, life sciences, advanced nuclear energy, electronic information, and other competitive fields, and to accelerate the establishment of Tianfu Laboratory to boost the construction of the national laboratory.
"Carbon neutrality" was not included in the four directions initially proposed.
In February this year, the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province officially issued the notice on The Work Plan for the Establishment of Tianfu Laboratory, which puts forward clear requirements for the Laboratory in terms of its functional orientation, research direction, supporting units, leading teams, and planning layout. At the 9th Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee in June, it is clearly proposed to establish Tianfu Laboratory at a high level with a focus on electronic information, life sciences, ecological environment, and other fields. At the 10th Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee held not long ago, it proposed the competitive, green and low-carbon industries, and the development orientation of becoming "a destination of international consumption, a leading zone for reform and innovation of service industry, a demonstration zone for national industrial integration, and a pilot zone for expansion and opening-up of service industry", which requires to take Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory as the leader, focus on key generic technologies, strengthen scientific research, and form a scientific and technological innovation system that matches competitive, green and low-carbon advantageous industries.
Why is carbon neutrality added? Carbon neutrality is inseparable from current development needs.
The CPC Central Committee has made strategic decisions to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, providing fundamental guidelines and scientific guidance for promoting the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development.
"China is committed to achieving carbon neutrality from carbon peak in only 30 years," Liu Qingyou, President of Chengdu University of Technology, analyzed, "To achieve this goal, we must work under the guidance of scientific and technological innovation to overtake other countries."
At present, however, it is obvious that current technology can't satisfy the development needs. A report from the International Energy Agency shows that 50% of the key technologies in the global energy sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 are currently immature and unavailable, and require further research and development.
In an interview with reporters, Shi Bi, a Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) Academician, said that more efforts need to be made in scientific and technological innovation to achieve the dual carbon goals, but this process also brings great opportunities.
If Sichuan, a major province with abundant clean energy resources, can seize this opportunity, make full use of scientific and technological innovation capability and industrial foundation in related fields, and build a technology industrial chain for carbon neutrality, which is urgently needed by the country, through effective integration of enterprises, universities, research institutes, and government branches. In doing so, it can not only ensure the realization of the dual carbon goals, but also promote the development of a set of emerging industries, and take a leading position in the competition of green and low-carbon industries.
Zhang Yuanhang, CAE Academician and Director of the Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, said: "Achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality is a complex and systematic project. Low-carbon, zero-carbon, and negative-carbon technologies will be the key to the future global industrial revolution and technological competition." Based on major strategic layouts such as the realization of the national carbon neutrality goal and the construction of the ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory has formed a collaborative layout concerning the key core technologies of carbon neutrality, which features multiple disciplines and integration of industries, universities, research institutes, and investment. Through collaborative tackling and pioneering innovation, it will certainly play an important role in enhancing the competitiveness of regional innovation and leading carbon neutrality emerging industries.
High-level research direction is closely related to life, industry, and resource endowment
How will the Laboratory be developed
"If you ride a horse and hasten on, you will finally reach the city of Chang'an." At the inauguration ceremony, Academician Zhang Yuanhang quoted the famous line from Cen Shen, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, to highlight the importance of actions in pursuing a goal. We need to overcome difficulties in a down-to-earth manner to realize our vision of building the Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, so as to build a national leading source of carbon neutrality and technological innovation and an industrial development engine.
The technology roadmap
How to overcome difficulties? The top priority is to clarify the technology roadmap.
It is learned that the Laboratory focuses on zero-carbon energy, carbon neutrality, and geothermal energy and carbon fixation. In addition, eight cutting-edge research centers, including zero-carbon energy systems, polymer carbon neutrality, and geothermal resources development will be established; three major industrial areas of clean energy, environmental protection equipment, and green building materials will be empowered.
According to Zhang Yuanhang, the area of zero-carbon energy mainly includes research on hydrogen energy, green natural gas, and green transportation technology; carbon neutrality involves such research as biomass zero-carbon utilization, zero-carbon fuel, and pollution reduction and carbon reduction; and geothermal energy and carbon fixation mainly study carbon fixation and ecological restoration, and development and utilization of geothermal energy. Industrial research and smart energy systematic platform of carbon neutrality will provide relevant "soft science" services.
CAE Academician Shi Bi revealed that carbon neutrality realizes the transformation from underground fossil resources to secondary surface resources by strengthening the utilization of biomass resources such as straw and waste polymers such as plastics and carbon dioxide.
Liu Qingyou, President of the Chengdu University of Technology, introduced that the Sichuan Basin has the largest recoverable hydrothermal geothermal resources in China, equivalent to about 544 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 32% of the large and medium-sized basins in China. There are more than 15,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the Sichuan Basin, with an average depth of 2,000-3,500 meters and a temperature of 80-130°C. They have good potential for heating and power generation and can make these wells profitable for geothermal energy development. "In addition, because the heat source comes from inside the earth, geothermal energy generation does not need additional fuel. Therefore, it can save a lot of fossil fuels and effectively reduce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide," added Liu Qingyou.
This also involves the construction of three large-scale science installations. "In oil and gas field development, the remaining large amount of oil and gas cannot be extracted with the existing technology, and there are still 20%-50% natural gas left in a large number of depleted gas fields in Sichuan," said Zhao Jinzhou, President of Southwest Petroleum University. In the research of zero-carbon energy, the scientific research team of Southwest Petroleum University is accelerating the in-situ hydrogen production and methane production from the remaining oil and gas underground. The key technical problem is to build large-scale science installations for in-situ hydrogen production and utilization of oil and gas. In addition, efforts are also needed in the research and construction of large-scale science installations for carbon neutrality and geothermal and carbon fixation.
Talent and operation mechanism
Leading talent is the key to breaking through cutting-edge science and core technologies. Currently, experts joining the Laboratory include He Kebin, Xu Weilin, Duo Ji, Shi Bi, Wang Yuzhong, and Wang Qi, which are all academicians of CAE; Lei Xianzhang, academician of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering; Pei Xiangjun, academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
As a new laboratory system, Tianfu Laboratory has gained much attention for its mechanism innovation.
It is learned from the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province that in order to encourage researchers to tackle cutting-edge problems and explore freely, Tianfu Laboratory has worked from the perspective of the whole chain of scientific research and technological innovation, technological innovation incentives, and application of innovative achievements. It has organically integrated scientific and technological innovation and institutional innovation in the operation mechanism, exploring the establishment of a selection mechanism for major tasks and uniting universities, institutes, and enterprises at home and abroad to jointly carry out technical research.
At the same time, the Laboratory will implement a double employment system, formulate a market-oriented salary system, and establish a diversified and open employment mechanism and a performance-centered personnel evaluation mechanism to establish a high-level management team. Efforts will also be made to implement a "negative list + lump sum system" and other fund management systems, and build a sound innovation system ecosystem, thus laying a solid foundation for the overall improvement of laboratory innovation efficiency.
What will be added after the "carbon neutrality +"?
According to The Work Plan for the Establishment of Tianfu Laboratory, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory should take "carbon neutrality +" as its core. This means that the Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory serves not only as an important strategic scientific and technological force in the field of national carbon neutrality and the source of advanced green and low-carbon technology innovation but also as an important empowerment platform for the agglomeration and development of green and low-carbon advantageous industries and an important technical support for the demonstration zone of park city to practice the new development philosophy.
In an interview, CAE Academician Shi Bi said that the development of the carbon neutrality industry requires collaboration among industries, universities, research institutes, and government branches to tackle key problems. Systematic planning and policy support are also needed as well. He suggested that Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory should be built into a command and coordination center for the development of carbon neutral industry. Efforts should be made to over difficulties in key technologies through collaboration and to build a technology integration and industrial chain to effectively support the rapid development of relevant emerging industries. "In addition, the integration of technology, finance, and capital should be promoted to encourage the application," added Shi Bi.
The "plus" (+) means not only the participation of industries but also the capital. Different from conventional laboratories, participants of the Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory not only have scientific research such as universities and institutes, but also many key enterprises, including State Power Investment Corporation, State Grid Corporation of China, Dongfang Electric Corporation, Tongwei Group, Haitian Water Group, Yuncong Technology, Chengdu Environmental Investment Group, and Tianfu Investment Group. In doing so, we can see the future technology application scenarios, seize opportunities for industrial cooperation and benefit from capital support.
Life scenes are also included in carbon neutrality +, meaning that innovation should empower low-carbon life.
Liu Renyuan, Secretary of the CPC Working Committee of Sichuan Tianfu New Area, said that Tianfu New Area will create a zero-carbon model, establish green and low-carbon production and life scenes, and accelerate the strategic adjustment of space, industries, transportation, and energy structure. By taking a series of actions to match and apply the Park City Index in the practice of reaching dual carbon goals, it will figure out a Tianfu Scheme for the sustainable development of future cities.
"Next, we will have a long journey to finish our construction of Tianfu Laboratory," said Wu Qungang, Director of the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province. In the future, it is necessary to continue the principle of "provincial overall planning", and local governments and enterprises should fulfill their responsibilities to keep pace with the times. Endeavors should be made to forge ahead and make progress steadily to create new models and new experiences. Efforts will be made to overcome difficulties and achieve breakthroughs to promote Tianfu Laboratory to play its due role in innovation and creation.
[By Xu lisha from Sichuan Daily ]
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