With public attention growing on China’s air quality, clean air technologies and products regarding air pollution control are in a booming developmental period. Among the numerous clean air technologies and products bring developed, which are the better choice in terms of environmental benefits, economic benefits and technology performance? This is a common question faced by technology-demanding companies, investment organizations and policy makers. Also, many local and foreign technical enterprises, who have an advantage on relative technologies, are looking for an objective and acknowledged technology assessment to give credit to their products and technologies, in order to increase their competitive advantage and create a bigger market share.
What Bluetech clean air technology assessment can do?
● Objective and scientific assessment of the technology with demonstration of its advantages.
● Help those in demand find the technology and product that meets their specific need.
● Help policy makers target the best technical solution for policy implementation.
To meet with the above requirements and support the assessment and optimization of the advanced clean air technology the Innovation Centre for Clean-air Solutions (The CAAC Secretariat) designed and carried out the Bluetech clean air technology assessment (hereinafter referred to as Bluetech technology assessment), combined with Bluetech Award, which shows the systematic application of the assessment. The assessment mainly applies to the following categories: end-of-pipe emissions, environmental monitoring, mobile-source pollution prevention and control, air pollution purification and personal protection, clean energy and renewable energy, energy efficiency and other sectors. The assessment mainly involves the assessment applicant, technology assessment institution, assessment experts and test and analytical institution, etc.
Bluetech technology assessment is a tool that supports the relevant performance of the clean air technology with systematic assessment. It uses real-world application results as the core basis of evaluation, adopts and combines methods such as document review, technical analysis, expert review, on-site surveillance, and laboratory testing, etc, and eventually tackles the environmental benefit, technical performance and economic feasibility of these technologies.
To guarantee the objectivity and professionalism of the assessment, Innovation Center for Clean-air Solutions has organized experts to edit the following documents:
● The Outline of Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment
● Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment: Methods and Procedure
● Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment: Technical Performance
● Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment: Environmental Benefit
● Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment: Economic Cost
The assessment methodology specifies the principal process, operational and quality control requirements at different stages, as well as the technical performance, environmental benefit and economic cost. The technology assessment team has developed standards to fit a variety of technology categories to help relevant players compare features between different technologies.
The assessment methodology sets the requirement of developing an expert assessment team, including industry experts, environmental technology experts, process control experts, and analysis and test experts, which can provide sufficient professional support for the assessment process.
An assessment report will be produced for each evaluated technology. With the approval of the assessment applicant, an abbreviated assessment report will be completed and released by different channels such as the Blutech website.
Core features of the Bluetech technology assessment:
● Uses real-world application results as the core basis of evaluation
● Comprehensively evaluates the breakthrough potential of the technology through environmental, technical, and economic indicators.
● Standardizes evaluation protocols using the same frameworks, processes and requirements to control data quality
● Integrates several analysis and evaluation processes in one holistic system, including document review, technical analysis, expert review, on-site surveillance, and laboratory testing
● Leverages a wide range of evaluation standards to cater to different types of technologies
● Support from technical experts throughout the assessment process.
The Bluetech technology assessment conducts a comprehensive assessment focusing on the technical performance, environmental benefits and economic cost. Furthermore, the assessment standard of specific technical categories and specific technology assessment plan will be draught according to the key parameters of each category and the characteristics of each technology. The assessment should comply with the above two documents. The following is the major framework of the assessment content:
According to Bluetech Clean Air Technology Assessment: Methods and Procedure, the assessment process is made up of two parts, the preliminary assessment module and the detailed assessment module.
Potential applicants for technology assessment should apply to the assessment executor and provide the necessary information and technical parameters of the technology or product. The assessment executor will decide which category it stands for, whether it meets the assessment requirements and eventually whether to carry out the assessment based on the provided information. The applicant can decide whether to conduct the detailed assessment according to the results of the preliminary assessment.
Preliminary assessment is mainly a rapid assessment method based on the performance parameters of the technology and product provided by the applicant. The main process includes document review, technical analysis, expert review, on-site surveillance, and laboratory testing.
According to the assessment standards of the specific technical category, the assessment is based on the maximum data availability, combined with in-field research certification and supplementary data from necessary laboratory tests in order to conduct a comprehensive and objective technical performance assessment. The main process includes document review, technical analysis, expert review, on-site surveillance, and laboratory testing.
During the technology assessment, the assessment team developed assessment procedures that are tailored to many types of technologies and their features. Based on the assessment results, the analysis report will be completed.
The outcome of the assessment includes:
● the assessment standard of specific technical categories
● specific technology assessment plan
● assessment report: the analysis and summary of the technical performance instead of a quality certificate of the technology or product
● open access: all the assessment projects should be put on record, and the abbreviated report as well as the assessment result will be available depending on the applicant’s will.
