Cleaner Greener China

For those of you who are following the cleantech scene, then you will know that this week is the week for cleantech conferences in China.

First came the JUCCCE conference (which we covered), and today kicked off the US China Clean Tech Summit in Shanghai.  Hosted by Bay Area council, Yangtze Council, and Asia Society this conference is drawing the majority of its population and presentation from the west coast of the United States and will have a much more VC/ investment focus.

Early on, I can already tell this conference will be different.  Some 400 people packed into the Hyatt conference room (cold enough to refrigerate meat in) at 8 am to hear the key notes from Shui On Chairman Vincent Lo and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

There is a tangible difference in the air between what I just experienced in Beijing, and what is here and over the next few hours, I will be posting my notes.

Biggest dicernabel difference.. a lot more investors in the crowd, a lot fewer government officials.  Feeling a bit lopsided, where as JUCCCE felt more balanced in terms of stakeholders.  Only time will tell, and perhaps having more of an investment crowd will leave the politics behind and flush out the real hurdles.

so stay tuned, and if you would like to follow along, you can download the agenda here.

Wang Mengjie, Director of China Centre for Rural Energy Research and Training, in 2002 submitted the 4 page article Biogas Technology and Ecological Environment Development IN Rural Areas Of China (PDF Download Here) at the First International Conference on Ecological Sanitation

While not a technical paper, Wang gives some nice support for the use of biogas in China’s rural areas.

Included in this paper was one of the best illustrations of what a courtyard biogas system would look like (see above)

Yang Fuqiang, Energy Foundation Beijing

Problems

• air quality
• urban sprawl
• energy crisis
• fast urbanization
• land loss
• congestion
• equity
• climate change

… all connected to transportation

solutions:

• controlled city layout
• efficient mobility
• green buildings
• eco-footprint

comprehensive city pilots for sustainable urban transport system development include
- public transport
- pedestrian/ bicycle
- TDM and car restrictions

currently have 12 cities building BRT system

TOD (transportation oriented development) programs in Dalian, qingdao, TianJin, Shanghai, Shenzhen. Zhuhai

Marshall Towe, Better Place

Create a scalable, replicable, model for entirely eliminating a country’s dependence on oil

why:
climate change, energy security, trade imbalance, criteria performance, geopolitics, health benefits

who:
by 2030… Australia will have all electric cars

Better place solution:
- buy a car for 25,000 that is EV
- build the charge spot (capital cost of 250USD per spot)
- energy for network is done through renewable energy (wind )
- need 1000MW for 1 million cars
- battery exchange

selling km.. not cars. will swap batteries at 160,000km in 3 minute process

tangible benefits:
- driver expenditures decrease and vehicle affordability improves
- auto makers evolve beyond oil and thrive
- energy companies surge into new markets for renewable energy

Arthur Wang, McKinsey

- by 2030, CO2 emission from cars is set to be signiifacnt part of China footprint
- hybrid, compressed natural gas, gas with improvement, diesel with improvement, electric

issue becomes a energy security issue, and as oil prices increase the electric vehicles will become more attractive to consumers

Key challenges:
- high upfront cost
- insufficient recharging infrastructure
- gap in driving performance

Key questions:
- how quickly can battery manufactures improve performance of batteries
- how much will consumers pay, and are they will to sacrifice anything

A very quick presentation from the China Academy of Building Research

- US started 10 years before we did
- US is mainly market promoted/ China is top down
- US was driven by 3rd party assessments/ China is by government institutions

all true, but does that make it a legitimate reason not to be green?

David Hathaway, ICF - Opportunity in Green Operations

Let’s not forget about existing buildings

buildings are a practical target for reductions.. at cost effective matters

- challenges
addition of 2 billion suare meters
high growth likely
most policy on new build/ rather than on building operations
little focus on supporting exemplary performance

- every building (green or not) is an operating building once it is up… it has HVAC, electricity, etc.. so green, or not, every building can operate efficiently or poorly

Key questions:
- how to generate large scale action?
- what metric to use?
- What are the solutions?

Warren Smith - Venetian Macau

Venetian has 20,000 rooms planned for property in Macau
- current property is 2900 rooms - 2.3 billion

Areas of focus
- major water/ energy savings initiatives
- temp set point policy/ energy saving check lists
- water audit once a month
- time scheduling escalators
- energy audits
- time scheduling equipment for meeting, theatre, corridors
- ongoing chiller plant optimization
- lighting audit and optimization
- temperature control improvements for casino and meeting spaces

currently taking lessons from Venetian to retrofit Sands. Sands was opened in 2006 with little thought to energy efficiency…. but it paid itself back in 9 months

Stanley Yip - ARUP

- centralized heating / cooling/ power
- solar/ wind/ geothermal
- Looking for 20% + savings
- looking for 50% CO2 reduction
- 80% waste water usage
- 70% of waste recycled
Must learn to tackle
- by time building is fixed, it isn’t possible to go back upstream. need to go upstream first
- need to think about planning codes. Need government to put parameters in. today, the problem is that the codes are only suggested
- need to regulate the entire industry

renewable energy law was passed in 2006, and while the deadline has passed, there has been little action. Even in Beijing.

Planning process, land process, and institutional land mechanism

Energy Saving & Pollution reduction in Urumqi’s built environment

Intro to Urumqi
- pop of 3 million
- numerous ethnic groups
- 160-180 day heating

Serious pollution in winter (119 days of poor quality air)

integrated institutional supply-demand approach
1) reduce demand (building standards, logistics improvements, retrofits)
2) Reduce waste
3) Rationalize Institutions (consolidation, gas fired peaked only, upgrade & hydroically connect networks, eliminate small/ inefficient units
4) Renewable energy (wind)

Recent achievements
- new laws implementing new pollution and energy saving
- raised energy savings 65% since 2005
- CFL subsidy program

Still need:
- international cooperation and communication (currently working with GTZ, WB, Owens Corning)
- more promotion and education

equation for creating a climate for investment = solid value proposition + confidence in delivering committed returns

Stefano Negri, Sr. Expert, McKinsey
Gary Nieman, Owens Corning

Stefano Negri

-more than 350 million new urban residents by 2025
- more than 200 cities with 1 million inhabitant
- more than 50,000 new skyscrapers (2 Chicago every year)
- urban energy demand will more than double
- nearly 1 billion urban people

Pressure points:
- Land Development (urban sprawl, congestion, redundant infrastructure)
- Resources (water and energy, pollution)
- Economics (financial burden)
- Talent/ people

The answer is urban productivity:
-a model of growth that shifts focus from output to input
- how to do more than less

land
- dense cities is not enough, it needs to be compact.
- mixed use developments

resources
- incentivize energy and water efficient industrial equipment
establish/ enforce energy saving building codes
- increase control and emission standards

Economics
introduce productivity based performance systems on public service provision
increased transparency on city budgets/ spending

Talent
- partner with local companies to increase internship/ team work

Rob Watson - Founder & Chairman LEED Steering Committee

The laws of natural environment dictate (like chemistry) that if we violate the laws, death will be the result

“the earth has survived far worse insults than humans”… meteors, ice age, etc

The law of the earth is simple. you fit in or you get kicked out.

Energy demand is choice, not fate
- when you combine market mechanisms with regulatory, the imapct is much greater

Prerequisite for transformation
- minimum codes & standards
- design and construction enterprise
- materials and equipment

18th century thinking and 18th century solutions and 18th century results

Raqul Bunschoten
building and city infrastructure accounts for more than 40% of materials

Create urban incubators
- showcases for how things can be done
- highlight materials, talents, means for going forward

Creating tie between Xiamen and Taiwan to develop cross-straight city planning