In a bid to save energy and reduce emissions, Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, began fueling 2,785 traditional buses in the city with clean energy in the first half of the year.

Fueled by liquefied natural gas and electricity, the new buses are estimated to reduce carbon emissions by 20,175 tons and other harmful emissions by 4,102 tons, said an official of Guiyang Bus Group on July 3.

Since 2005, Guiyang Bus Group has been implementing a bus renovation plan which is divided into 3 phases. The first phase, which lasted from 2005 to 2012, managed to transform 2,227 gasoline buses into natural gas buses, reducing carbon emissions by 22,500 tons and other harmful emissions by 4,685 tons.

In the second phase, lasting from 2012 to 2013, 2,417 buses were refitted into liquefied natural gas or gas-electric hybrid vehicles, with a carbon emission reduction of 19,135 tons and 3,911 tons, respectively.

According to the plan, all public vehicles in Guiyang are expected to be converted to electric buses within five years, with zero harmful emissions, less noise and cheaper operational costs.

Li Hanyi contributed to this story.