Beijing, China

An estimated 4.6 million overseas visitors and 96 million domestic tourists will converge on Beijing next year to see the Summer 2008 Olympic games. Under the glare of global media exposure, Beijing wants to shed its industrial image and present itself as a leader in promoting environmentally sound municipal practices.

In a massive campaign to "paint the town green," Beijing is spending at least $5.4 billion to improve air and water quality, wastewater treatment, solid waste disposal and noise control.

As the epicenter of attention, the Olympic Village has been designed from the ground up to spotlight the great eco-leap forward. All competition sites have been required to use green construction materials and adopt technologies that conserve water, energy and reduce waste.

As the torch-bearer in fluid technology, ITT has been selected to supply several major Olympic facilities with the most energy-efficient water supply, drainage and climate control systems.

Inside Olympic Stadium — dubbed the "Bird's Nest" because of its grid-like appearance — ITT pumps made at our facility in Nanjing will keep athletes and spectators cool. The pumps control the hydraulic pressure of the stadium's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system. A special heat-transfer mechanism enhances the system's capabilities, maximizes energy efficiency and controls operation noise.

Buildings springing up all over the city, including some 130 new hotels for the visitor influx, are winning green certification by choosing eco-friendly materials, technologies and managerial systems. ITT is a key supplier of fluid technology solutions for some of the most architecturally dazzling of these structures.

As the centerpiece of "Beijing Manhattan" — some 300 skyscrapers jutting up from the Central Business District — the new CCTV (China Central Television) headquarters will be the second biggest building in the world after the Pentagon. ITT beat out 10 other bidders to provide its energy-saving air-conditioning circulation pumps for this astounding engineering feat that features two colossal towers leaning toward each other at an angle that appears to defy gravity.

Just next door in Beijing's tallest building, the Yintai Center, ITT air-conditioning and fire-control systems employ the company's patented Hydrovar frequency converters, which incorporate a microprocessor to reduce energy consumption by up to 70 percent by automatically starting or stopping the pumps to meet water demand.

In Beijing's western portion, not far from the Forbidden City, ITT is providing water-control systems to two upscale office buildings, an exclusive residential complex and the Ritz-Carlton and Westin Hotels. Rushing to make the Olympic start date, crews working on these five-star hotels, as well as the Olympic Stadium and CCTV headquarters, relied on our Flygt brand drainage and dewatering pumps, featuring high motor efficiency and lower energy consumption, to keep the construction sites dry by removing groundwater so work could progress on an accelerated schedule.

Long after the Olympic torch is extinguished, ITT wants to keep contributing to the greening of Beijing through its expertise in energy and water efficiency. The president of ITT China, Bill Taylor, has made it a clear-cut goal. "ITT is committed to helping Beijing develop into one of the foremost environmentally conscious cities in the world."