Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (C) presides over a meeting on advancing the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

Chinese researchers found large amounts of hot dry rock (HDR) resources in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region equivalent to 22.8 billion tons of coal. 

Researchers from the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Coal Geology discovered more than 500 square kilometers of HDR resources above 5,000 meters underground in Matouying, Tangshan, Beijing-based newspaper Economic Daily reported Sunday. 

Energy from the HDR resources equals 22.8 billion tons of coal. They can be directly used in power generation, heat supplies and planting, the Economic Daily reported citing Zhang Guishuang, deputy director of the Hebei coal geology bureau.

"HDR resources have huge application prospects," Li Xuewen, director of the geological science and technology department of the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Coal Geology, told the Global Times on Monday.

HDR resources refer to heat energy contained in rocks buried between 3 to 10 kilometers underground. It is clean energy with the characteristics of large reserves, zero emissions, safe and a high utilization rate.

Other than the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, HDR is scattered in other parts of China as well. According to the Xinhua News Agency, researchers acquired HDR, with temperatures of 236 degrees Celsius, from 3,705 meters below Gonghe basin in Northwest China's Qinghai Province in 2017.

Experts estimated that the total amount of energy contained in HDR in the Earth's crust was roughly 30 times contained in petroleum, natural gas and coal. 

"Our next step is to establish research and development bases to carry out HDR technology studies for future commercial use of this resource," Li noted.

Experts believe that the resource discovered in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is shallow. Developing it will help optimize the energy structure, improve the atmospheric environment, and prevent pollution in the region, which is one of the most seriously polluted areas, the report said. 

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region topped the world in carbon emissions intensity due to massive emissions of pollutants from factories and vehicles, and the Chinese environmental protection authority said in January that PM2.5 pollutants will be closely monitored in 2019 in the region.