Cleaner Greener China

There have been a ton of articles in the past week on the effectiveness of the pollution measures that were put in place prior to the Olympics.

According to Science Daily’s coverage:

During the two months when restrictions were in place, the levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — a noxious gas resulting from fossil fuel combustion (primarily in cars, trucks, and power plants) — plunged nearly 50 percent. Likewise, levels of carbon monoxide (CO) fell about 20 percent.

For me, there are a few lessons here:
1) If we want to improve the conditions - we can
2) There are costs to improving the questions - and we will all be willing to pay the costs at some point
3) All it takes is a little leadership, and a little public support, to make the changes

Until then, these findings matter little in reality.  Beijing put lipstick on the pig for a couple of months as a drastic measure, and while there have certainly been improvements made and investments approved, the fact is that things are back to normal and the air quality for Beijing’s residents is the same now as it was 1 year ago.

Policies and Issues air pollution, environment

When investing into one of China’s many investment zones, waste and its disposal is an issue for many.

From the perspective of the investor, being able to dispose of ones waste properly needs to be considered, and knowing this many zones have set up groups to do this for them. the problem is, as the recent article Sludge disposal, a headache for waste water treatment plants suggest, is that those in charge of waste disposal don’t always know what to do with it.

Later the group found the driver who was responsible for removing the sludge and went to the sludge-dumping site – a garbage pit. The driver said it’s the third place he has found in the last two years. The environmental protection agency of nearby Mancheng County reported they once found the driver dumping sludge into their river.

So, for a quick and easy sell, I would encourage anyone who has experience in sludge disposal to put together a pitch that directly targets this group as well as the investment zones. They are dealing with the same problems, they are open to the assistance, and it is clear that the assistance is needed.

Greener Products environment, waste, water

Policies and Issues pollution, water

In what looks to be a very quick turnaround in planning, the North south water diversion project that was just last week being pushed off, is now being pushed forward.

The difficulty of the task, and the questionable logic behind the project, are well summed in the article:

The huge project consists of eastern, middle and western routes. The eastern and middle routes are already under construction. The western route, meant to replenish the Yellow River with water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze through tunnels in the high mountains of western China, is still at the planning stage.

The Project’s statistics showed that a total 45.67 billion yuan of investment have been earmarked for the huge water project by the end of November, and 22.39 billion yuan had already been spent, with 4.16 billion yuan on the eastern route and 18.23 billion yuan on the middle route.

which is in essence taking water and moving it to Beijing:

According to the project office, about one billion cubic meters of water could be diverted to Beijing annually, when that part of the huge project is completed in 2010.

Perhaps now is a good time to once again highlight the article Beijing gets population size warning where the authors point out that the capital’s resources are not only stretched, but are being used in a very poor and inefficient manner, and better planning and management is needed to ensure the long term viability of Beijing.

Uncategorized water

Greener People, Policies and Issues

While attending the recent GIGA fair at URBN hotel, Live Green’s table proved to be one of the more popular one with attendees.

Exhibiting their green lifestyle products, Live Green’s site offers shoppers a range of greener products for the home - towels, chopsticks, stuffed animals, coffee, games, and clothing.

Through their very well designed website (Chinese only), you can look through the various items and place orders.  the prices are reasonable, and it seems as if it only takes 2 days for delivery.

Greener Companies, Greener Products, Uncategorized

In perhaps one of the easiest, and most transferable technologies, that I have seen in a while, Boon Edam has recently installed a revolving door generation product that I would say is ripe for China.

According to the Boon Edam press release, installing the door inside a train station with a capacity of 8500:

The TQM revolving door will help primarily to save the carefully generated and conserved energy. A calculation was made for this particular situation that indicated an energy saving of around 4600 kWh per year, a considerable saving compared to a conventional sliding entrance.

It is an inexpensive piece of equipment, that is probably at a similar cost structure to an revolving that is automatic, and in my mind that means that commercial and retail developers could find these very attractive.

With higher levels of traffic, the amount of power could be increased, and surely with technology advances that would come through manufacturing at scale the efficiency rating would increase as well.

Greener Products building materials

Ying Jia pulls together a very well written post on China’s water issues in her post China is Drying Up…Quickly.

One of the basic needs for human life, China’s water assets suffered under the effects of hyerdevelopment, and as we have covered on a number of occasions, the issue of water is now coming to the forefront.

Where I like this article is that she has tied in so many of the factors that are impacting China’s water, and as one fo the few who has taken the time to mention the role of agricultural runoff, I commend her research.

Greener People water

In their report Prepared to ride the Green Dragon?, authors argue that firms with cleaner greener solutions are missing China’s market potential by sitting on the sideline.

According to the report:

companies with environment friendly solutions are looking at market possibilities ranging from between USD$1.5 (€1.1) and USD$1.9 (€1.4) trillion to be invested in China in the period up to 2020.

and while other countries (including my own) cut back on their investments:

investments in China are expected to increase this quarter to US$3.5 billion and further strengthening China’s wind sector.

So, what keeps firms from pulling the trigger and moving into China?

Simply put, what we are seeing is a natural extension of the last 15 years of firms fearful of entering China.

For investors, it is really a lack of knowledge and an abundance of war stories that create a psychological barrier to the deals in China.  those that come to China join the standard tour group that includes a trip to the Bund for cocktails, a trip to Wuxi to see Suntech, perhaps join one of a half dozen cleantech conferences, and then off to the next destination.  They fail to make it to Xinjiang to see the wind farms in action,  to Qingdao to learn about the algae blooms that impacted the coastline this summer, to the fields of Jiangsu to learn about China’s agricultural practices, onto the sites of any one of a thousand residential construction sites to learn about the market for building materials, or to the industrial centers of Guangdong to learn about the potential market for industrial equipments.

For those looking to sell into China, or manufacture in China, the fear/ knowledge base is different.  The fear is primarily related to the lose of IP, and a lack of knowledge of how to take the first steps.  this barriers are perhaps easier to overcome with good advisers, but the hurdles are still real, and the first step to overcoming those hurdles is to gain access to information on China (may I suggest All Roads Lead to China), the market for cleantech, and the relevant regulations.

Either way, as the report suggest, the barriers for investment/ manufacturing in China can be overcome and should be overcome.  Firms should make sure to structure themselves properly, and to invest full in their platform when entering through a full tech and service team in country as well.

Download the full report here

Greener Products cleantech, investment

With the memories of tainted milk, eggs, and chicken still fresh in the minds of citizens in China, citizens in their role as consumers are beginning to catalyze the organics market.

One of the newest entrants I have been introduced to is Tongchu Organics.

According to the site, their farm in Fengxian (south Shanghai):

is about 60,000 sq. m of land which contains 2 green houses (5,000 sq. m) and 90 plastic greenhouses (20,000 sq. m) to carry out cultivation by focusing on soil, water and farming methods.

With a full online menu to select from, and decent prices (some farms are getting expensive), I am planning to add them to my O farm trip later this month.

Greener Products food, organic