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This paper reports on work carried out as part of a joint UK–China study to identify the best way of harnessing the natural resources of Chongming County’s three islands in order to meet future energy demands in a cost-effective manner with minimum reliance on fossil fuels, consistent with the concept of a prestigious ecological island. Across the three Chongming islands, there are seven distinct zones, each with different functions, living styles and energy demand patterns – and thus different opportunities for deployment of renewable energy resources. Various biomass resources (from farming, forestry, municipal waste, and so on) and conversion technologies (e.g. gasification, anaerobic digestion) are evaluated and considered alongside wind, solar, tidal and geothermal options. Distributed energy features prominently in the proposed solution as this allows the most efficient use of both electricity and heat, as well as being suited to many renewable energy resources, which are naturally highly distributed. Compared with a conventional approach, the proposed solution offers carbon dioxide savings of 30%.