Cleaner Greener China: Clean Technology, Green Products, New Ideas, Clean China

While nearly all of the reports coming out of Beijing these days seem to be air quality related, it was good to see some of the efforts that were being made to solve the issues.

One of China’s first global brands, Haier’s business has evolved from simple dorm cooler refrigerators into a wide product portfolio. It was recently rumored to be tying up with Blackstone to buy the GE C&I group, and it was an official sponsor of the Beijing Games.

In the article Haier, green sponsor for Olympics, the China Daily writers take a look at the products Haier has brought to the games and what their greater “green” products look like.. and I was impressed.

All Haier’s products at the Olympic venues employ the latest energy efficiency technology that meets the highest international standards, claims company chairman Zhang Ruimin. These products, he claims, make the best use of renewable energy.

and to do this, they are doing things that I thought were pretty creative and dare I say it.. INNOVATIVE

“Some of them are the most competitive products in the global market in the use of leading environmentally friendly technologies, such as our solar powered air conditioners,” he says.

and

Seawater will replace the hydro fluorocarbons (HFC – which has been proven to be destroying the earth’s ozone layer) and act as a natural cooler for the air conditioners’ refrigerating works.

and these efforts were recently covered Greenpeace as well as part of their Olympic report, and it appears that while the products themselves are “greener”, their marketing has gone a bit beyond their programming as a recent chat with a member of the Greenpeace team highlights.

Haier is to be commended for showcasing HFC-free airconditioner prototypes, however, the majority of Haier’s airconditioners for Games venues still heavily rely on HFCs as refrigerants. Moreover, while Haier has provided Coca-Cola with HFC-free coolers, which can be seen all throughout Olympic venues, Haier has also provided a large fleet of  commercial coolers using HFCs for other sponsors who did not request Haier to supply HFC-free cooling technology.