In addition to being one of the largest silk producers in the city of Hangzhou, High Fashion (China) Co Ltd has been responding to the government's call to conserve energy in the heavily industrialized province of Zhejiang.

Founded in 1973, the company - which has registered capital of more than 650 million yuan (70.7 million euros) and a workforce of more than 5,000 people at its Hangzhou production facilities - manufactures a wide range of silk and other textile products, mainly for export to the United States and Europe.

"We do not only want to be No 1 in silk, but also a champion in the national drive to save energy and protect the environment," says Qi Yaolin, manager of the company's newly established public utility department, while taking a visitor on a tour of a recently installed solar-heating system.

High Fashion has invested in excess of 700 million yuan in recent years on what Qi enthusiastically describes as "environment-friendly, energy-saving and technologically advanced" equipment to "be in the vanguard" of the nation's efforts to fight energy wastage and industrial pollution.

At the core of the company's "green" energy facilities is a solar-heating system which has 13,000 square meters of solar panels on the factory roofs, the largest single paneled area in Asia. The panels can collect enough energy daily to heat water to 55 C for use in the printing and dying of fabrics.

"A total investment of 12 million yuan on the solar heating system will meet the daily hot-water requirement of 1,300 tons," Qi says. By eliminating its old coal-fired furnace, he says, the company has saved more than 800,000 yuan in water bills every year and greatly cut the emission of harmful gases.

Qi and his team have created their own method of saving energy in the production process by using a gas-water separation concept.

Last month, a steam trap was installed on the end of an ordinary steam iron to collect moisture and recycle the water for use in heating systems and other machines.

"The improvements cost 60,000 yuan, but they are expected to save more than 500 tons of water and around 80,000 yuan every month," says Qi.

The method of washing clothes has been updated in the company's workshops as well.