http://www.runnersworld.com/article/printer/1,7124,s6-240-488–12892-0,00.html
October 31, 2008
October 30, 2008
Wastewater Investment Encouraged in China
Several years back while working in the valuation industry, I learned just how attractive China’s water management/ waste management was to outside investment.
It was certainly an area that we all knew needed help, as some recent examples show, but at the time the deals were still few and far between. The statistics that 60-70% of water in China seemed to catalyze this process much at the time, but with the blooms in Wuxi, the numerous stories of contamination, and the government’s commitment to providing clean drinking water in many cities… they were left with little choice.
Statistics show 400 Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, “have inadequate water supplies,” California-based Cleantech Group says. 300 major Chinese cities reportedly lack wastewater facilities.
and to address these issues, the green channel for investment has been opened.
One of the newest projects is a treatment facility built by Germany’s Siemens Water Technologies, which provides 100,000 cubic metres of water daily. Siemens also signed an agreement with the city of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, to improve the water quality of Taihu Lake. Some 11 other provinces have announced plans to build 42 new wastewater plants.
France’s Suez Environnement will start a drinking water project in Chongqing, and an industrial water and wasterwater project in Changshou. U.S.-based ITT has won a contract for a cooling tower, wastewater treatment and the heating and air conditioning systems for LDK Solar in Xinyu.
In addition to the story above, here are some related studies I found:
October 29, 2008
Shanghai Farmer’s Market this Saturday
Just received this in my inbox. Glad to see the farmer markets are back!
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Dear Friends & Gourmands,
As every Saturday, we continue with our Saturday Organic Farmer’s Market and Brunch..
Also on Nov 1st,we will have a special “tapas” set menu dedicated to “Yunnan wild mushrooms and Truffles”.
Hope to see you enjoying…
Best, Denise
Threads of Yunnan
When looking for innovative social enterprises in China, one would not think to look at a corporate website, but in the case of the Threads of Yunnan that is exactly where I found one.
Supported by the Yunnan Danyun Business Affairs Consulting Company Ltd. , the Threads of Yunnan Project is one of those gems that you find and only wish there was more information on the project on the website, or that it had its own site.
Formed in 1999, this project started with a single village and has over the last 10 years developed out to include nearly 250 women who are apart of smaller groups (resembles a microfinance model less the money).
To ensure the ongoing growth of the program, members of Danyun make regular trips to the villages to assist in product development, training, and money management. which leads to potentially the most interesting part of the program – the women have created a fund of their own called the “folk bank” where:
where a certain number of women, usually six, commit to putting a part of their monthly earnings into a common pool. Each month a different woman gets to draw from the pool. At the end of six months, if there are six women in the group, each woman would have gotten an opportunity to draw from the pool
Their product catalog is here, but I recommend you contact them (threads_of_yunnan – at – pobox.com) to get the up to date version as their website does not appear to have been updated recently
to learn more, you can go to their website Threads of Yunnan
October 28, 2008
Ocean Friendly Sushi
While speaking at the 2008 Poptech conference, Carl Safina of the Blue Ocean Institute spoke about the impact we are having on the world’s fish stock.
In short, we are cleaning out the oceans.
While watching the speech, I was reminded of how a mine operates. you have a resource of value that is being sought, and to get to it you must extract a multiple of that resource.
Wrapping up his presentation he point out that while he himself is not looking to stop people from eating fish, he is looking to educate people about the conditions of fish that are eaten.
To that end, he has put together a guide called Ocean Friendly Sushi. Only 2 pages in length, the document has a lot of information packed into it about the fish you are eating and I suggest you take a look.
October 27, 2008
China’s True Cost of Coal
WWF, Greenpeace, and The Energy Foundation have just released the 74 page report The True Cost of Coal (PDF Here) that looks at the role of coal in China’s society.. and its toll on the society.
To introduce the topics of the report, Greenpeace has loaded the video below that runs through a number of the direct impacts the coal mining industry in Shanxi has on residents (houses falling in was a new one for me).
I will be taking the time to read this report later this week and offering more thoughts, and I highly recommend you take the time as well. I have read a number of Greenpeace’s reports, and all the “save the world” aside, their reports are some of the best researched I have seen in China.. and very informative.
UPDATE: Shortly after posting this, I received another report entitled Can China’s coal industry be
reconciled with the environment? (h/t East Asia Forum). Written by Xunpeng Shi,
The central thesis of Shi’s paper is that, due to a decreasing trend of “pollution emissions” per unit of coal in China, the coal industry can “harmonise with the environment”. This seems to suggest that due to the improving emission intensity of China’s coal industry, there will eventually come a point where its emissions are not damaging to the environment.
GM Pushing Green and Gas Guzzling Cars in China
It is rare that a firm would look to build its brand in China as a firm pushing for greener solutions, while at the same time look to backdoor its dirty products. But it appears that GM has done just that.
In its media workshop October 20 in Beijing. According to one account:
to share its world-leading technologies in sustainable biofuels with China. The workshop reinforces GM’s new energy strategy centered on energy security and diversity and supports China’s sustainable development of automotive energy and transportation systems. GM believes sustainable bio-fuels are the most feasible near-term solution among all alternative energy sources with the potential to displace petroleum.
Then on the following day, it showed off its zero-oil/ zero-pollution/hydrogen-fuel cell car the Chevrolet Equinox, and committed to bringing more environmentally friendly vehicles to the market.
4 days later though, the San jose Mercury reported that GM would be shipping China-bound Buicks, Cadillacs, including the ultra bling, ultra fuel consuming, Cadillac Escalade.
an Interesting example of how a firm can commit itself publicy to a policy of social responsibility and bringing solutions to the table, while at the same time acting in the exact oppostie manner.
October 25, 2008
Baoding (China) Hotel Installs Solar Panels
There are few sources of clean energy more discussed than solar, but as we recently highlighted, solar energy in China has faced a lot of hurdles.
Put into operation last week, this project could offer some hope as more and more firms are looking to put panels into operation.
However, before jumping to conclusions, I would be interested to know if the hotel is off the grid and storing energy in batteries, or is able to put energy onto the grid. I would also be curious to know what (if any) tax breaks, loans, or other incentives were given to the group to put the panels on.. or if this was an organic decision.
Getting Paid for Going Green in Beijing
Daid Masters of Fair Home has an interesting article this week that highlights a program to pay business to reduce their pollution.
According to the article:
Authorities in the Chinese capital are offering companies up to 2.3 million yuan ($340,000) in bonuses in an attempt to clean up the dirty air in the city.
The Finance Bureau of Beijing said the bonuses are intended to stimulate environmentally friendly economies, helping them to replace big polluters.
Offering incentives is not a new approach by any means, but to see this program come online does peak my interest as there are currently schemes in place to help businesses buy equipment that will reduce pollution and/ or increase efficiencies (scrubbers, water filtration, etc).
However, when looking at the fact that they are focused on small scale cement and paper producers though seems odd. the article says that they big savings are there, and whlie I would certainly agree that the big problems are most likely found there, I would have hoped that these incentives would have been focused on large producers first to prove the case… and then develop the case for large producers (who have greened themselves) to work with smaller producers.
Alternatively, by encouraging the development of large firms through M&A, and then working with these firms throughout the process to improve, that would potentially provide a much better solution as well.
October 24, 2008
UN Report On China’s Infrastructure for Food Safety
Following my post last week, the UN released the 30 page report Advancing Food Safety in China. PDF Here
Primarily written in response to, and as a study of, the recent milk contamination cases, this paper is an excellent guide for those who are looking to understand more about the regulatory environment, the agencies, and the processes that monitor food quality and addresses problems that arise.
With the highline being: China has made a lot of progress over the last 5 years, but it still has a long way to go, the authors have taken a very logical approach: