Environmental issues of China[环境问题]

[Andrew]

What if the pollution problem gets so bad that it not only slows economic growth but actually reverses it?

I think there should be much tougher laws and penalties for industries that pollute. Industry won't stop polluting because they feel morally responsible, all they care about is their profits. The only thing that will make them stop is the prospect of losing money.

[wigo]

生态输水让我国环境脆弱地区重现生机

http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2006...nt_5464326.htm

[hkskyline]

Biofuels seen as a luxury China cannot afford

BEIJING, Dec 12, 2006 (AFP) - China cannot afford to embark on industrial production of grain-derived biofuels because supplies of corn and other crops are needed to feed the country's 1.3 billion people, state media said Tuesday.

"It would be a disaster for us if we depend on a huge amount of corn and other grains for energy," said Zhai Huqu, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in comments quoted by the official China Daily.

China, which relies mostly on polluting energy sources like coal, has set a goal of producing about six million tons of cleaner-burning substitutes such as ethanol, which is derived from corn, by 2010 and 15 million tons by 2020.

But with prices of corn and other grains soaring as demand rises in China and arable land increasingly being swamped by development, top officials cast doubt on such goals.

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Zhigang said biofuels should only be produced once the supply of grain exceeded demand, the newspaper reported.

"The government will impose strict controls on any biofuel project using grain as the raw material," Zhu said.

Ethanol is the main biofuel produced in China, with output hitting 1.02 million tons last year. Corn accounted for 76 percent of the raw material, with wheat and sorghum providing the rest.

Prices of corn, soy and wheat have approached record highs in recent weeks as investors from China and globally seek to cash in on increasing demand in the world's most populous country for biofuel.

"We predict that agricultural products will be as hot as petroleum in the future," the China Daily quoted a dealer from the Dalian Commodity Exchange as saying last week.

The increases also are due to growing meat consumption in China, which requires the use of more grain as livestock feed, state media have said.

[gaoanyu]

I agree. They need to have tougher measures and punishments to those who severely pollute.

[hkth]

Not again!
Radio Television Hong Kong news:
Smog blankets northern China

[cnn]

中国河流仍然脏得很

[Kiss the Rain]

现在从卫星上看中国华北平原那里全是黄的,跟沙漠私的.

[teedenator]

China pollution crisis undermining growth-official
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-02 19:36

HONG KONG, Dec 2 - China faces an environmental crisis that threatens to wipe out much of the gains of three decades of economic growth, one of China's most outspoken environment officials said in comments published on Saturday.

"China is dangerously near a crisis. The country's enormous environmental debt will have to be paid one way or another," Pan Yue, deputy head of China's State Environmental Protection Administration, said in a letter to the South China Morning Post.

"(We must) begin paying this debt now ... rather than allowing it to accumulate and, ultimately, threaten to bankrupt us all," he added.

Beijing has admitted to some of the environmental degradation caused by three decades of pursuing rapid economic growth at almost any cost, but the picture it painted was still incomplete and China needed action, not rhetoric, Pan said.

Realistic estimates put environmental damage at 8 to 13 percent of China's national income each year, meaning the cost of pollution off-set almost all of China's economic gains since the late 1970s, he said.

The costs of pollution are being borne by ordinary Chinese.

"Scarcely anyone bothers to consider the environmental costs to -- or rights of -- the country's poor and powerless," Pan said.

A quarter of the population drink substandard water, a third of urbanites breathe badly polluted air and China has a major water pollution incident every two days on average, he added.

Pan urged the government to introduce legal mechanisms to make polluters pay and reward those who protect the environment.

He also called on Beijing to help unify the environmental watchdogs scattered across different sectors, and establish a system to monitor officials' performance in environmental as well as economic fields.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...ent_748951.htm

[teedenator]

Coal fuels China pollution crisis
(STANDARD) 11月 07日 星期二 03:30AM
China has seen a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade despite ratifying the Kyoto Protocol - and the situation will only worsen as coal remains its廣 告

main energy source.

The nation is the world's second- largest emitter of climate change gases after the United States and the world's largest coal burner. But as a developing country it is not obliged to reduce emissions under the protocol.

About 70 percent of China's energy comes from burning the fossil fuel and with hundreds more coal-fired power plants being built - often with old, heavy-polluting technology - the situation is only going to deteriorate.

China last year built 117 government-approved coal-fired power plants - a rate of roughly one every three days, according to official figures.

But even Beijing conceded the real number was much higher, with local and provincial governments building many unauthorized coal plants in an effort to ensure growth.

A report issued by the International Energy Agency in July said that every two years China was adding new electricity capacity equivalent to that of the total annual output of France or Canada.

Correspondingly, coal output has more than doubled since 1990, from one billion tonnes to a forecast 2.16 billion tonnes this year, according to government and industry figures.

The massive amount of extra pollutants being pumped into the atmosphere has had predictable short-term impacts on the environment.

China's coal burning has put five of the nation's cities in the top 10 of most polluted cities in the world, the International Energy Agency report said.

"Acid rain falls on one-third of China's territory and one-third of the urban population breathes heavily polluted air. Poor air quality imposes a welfare cost of between 3-8 percent of GDP," it said.

"China's power sector is the single largest culprit," responsible for an estimated 44 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 80 percent of nitrous oxide emissions, and 26 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, it said.

China has set goals for renewable energy to account for 16 percent of its overall energy production by 2020 and to increase energy efficiency per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent over the next four years.

But already there are signs that those targets are being missed, with energy per unit of GDP rising by 0.8 percent in the first half of the year, according to government figures. Even if the government were to meet its target of 16 percent for renewable energy, coal will remain overwhelmingly the biggest source of energy for China's population of 1.3 billion people.

"The Chinese government needs to correct their thinking on economic growth, they have to focus more on the environmental price they are paying for rapid economic growth," said Yang Ailun, a renewable energy expert with Greenpeace China. "We need to find other ways to decarbonize and still develop our economy. We can't burn so much fossil fuels."

Nevertheless, Bindu Lohani, head of sustainable development at the Asian Development Bank, said Beijing is well aware of the problems. "They know ... coal is very important to the energy mix, so now they are trying to find better ways to use coal and are seeking advanced technology that will result in a cleaner output," he said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/061106/318/1vv2e.html

[hp500hp]

Drought threatens 1.5 million in southwest China
POSTED: 0359 GMT (1159 HKT), February 26, 2007
Story Highlights
• Residents of densely populated area face limited water supplies
• Low water levels have left more than 10 ships stuck
• Southwest China still recovering from last summer's drought
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BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Drought in southwestern China is threatening the drinking water supplies of 1.5 million people and authorities are considering seeding clouds to make it rain, state media said on Tuesday.

The problem has been compounded by last summer's heat wave in the densely populated municipality of Chongqing, as water supplies have still not recovered, the Beijing News said.

More than 10 ships that ply the Yangtze River have been stranded by the low water levels, it added.

Some parts of Chongqing -- home to some 30 million people -- have started limiting water supplies to residents and are drilling new wells to find underground sources of water, the report said.

Last summer's drought was the worst to hit southwest China in more than a century, when temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 F), and about 18 million people faced drinking water shortages.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Whiteeclipse]

Problem solved!

China to build 21 desal plants for $465M

SHANDONG PROVINCE, CHINA — Shandong Province in eastern China, a region which often has a limited drinking water supply, will spend $465 million (3.6 billion yuan) to build 21 desalination plants over the next four years, a February 22 Xinhua story from the Water Environment Federation reported.

The plants combined will produce 37 billion gallons of water a year. Currently, the province has 16 desalination plants treating 8 million gallons per day, the story said.

The province has 1,879 miles (3,024 km) of coastline, the story said.

Desalination plants are needed in the province because current natural drinking water resources only meet 33 percent of the area's demand, according to the article.

[sequoia]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_5832020.htm

BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhua) -- China planted 5.23 million hectares of trees in 2006, bringing the country's forest acreage to 175 million hectares, said sources with the State Forestry Administration (SFA) on Sunday.

Last year, 375,200 hectares of trees were planted to help improve the environment in Beijing and Tianjin by protecting the two cities from sandstorms.

The country's forest coverage increased to 18.21 percent last year from 12 percent in 1981 when the top legislative body, the National People's Congress (NPC), passed a resolution calling for nationwide voluntary tree planting.

In urban areas, the forest coverage reached 32.54 percent last year, while public green areas had increased to 7.89 square meters per capita from 7.39 square meters in 2005.

In 2010, the forest coverage will reach 20 percent in China and 30 percent in 70 percent of its cities, said SFA spokesman Cao Qingyao.

[Adams3]

How are these trees planted? Is it like fields of trees similar to how people growing christmas trees for sale do it, or is it real forest with ecological diversity?

[Huhu]

There's a whole multi-page thread about the reforestation effort in China at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=360838

[wigo]

http://news.sohu.com/20070321/n248881177.shtml

北京调水吃今后花钱买

　　调水价格目前还未确定

　　本报讯(记者贾中山)近日在接受本报记者专访时，水利部水资源管理司司长高而坤透露，国家发改委、水利部、建设部等八部委正在联合制订《水资源综合规划》。年底前出台的该规划将明确跨省各河流的水源分配问题。在政府的监管下，包括北京在内的各个城市在跨流域调水时要“花钱买”。

　　高司长介绍说，从各国水资源管理经验看，运用市场机制的确是有效而可行的办法。

我国已经在黑河、黄河以及海河流域省市分别进行跨区域的水权分配，水权转让等试点。实践证明，运用市场机制和价格杠杆，对合理用水和节约用水起到了非常积极的作用。目前，国家发改委、水利部、建设部等8部委正联合制订《水资源综合规划》，该规划将进一步明确各地区在跨地区的河流水资源方面的权益分配问题。

　　过去北京从山西、北京调水，多是使用行政手段，今后就需要行政手段和经济手段相结合，北京需要水，就要花钱买。据悉，永定河流域包括河北和北京，每年约有40亿立方米的水资源。今后国家将核定河北和北京每年各自大约有多少水资源的使用量。至于调水的价格，高司长称目前还没有确定。但是在浙江一带，目前跨流域调水价格是每立方米3元左右。

　　高司长认为，水资源分配不会阻碍相关城市发展。按照黄河沿线各个省市报上来的数字，三条黄河的水资源也不够分配，但是实际分配后一直到现在，这些省市经济发展都很好。比如宁夏张掖，由过去大面积种植水稻转而种植耗水少的玉米，而且种植的是杂交玉米种子，当地农民的收入并没有减少。

　　北京人有望喝海水

　　预计抵京后每立方米淡化海水综合成本为4.5元

　　本报讯(记者贾中山)去年是北京遭遇的连续第八个干旱年。在100公里之外的渤海，就有丰富的海水资源。专家认为，将海水淡化后通过管道输送到北京，应该是北京解决水危机的措施之一。据悉，中海油公司计划筹建日产140万立方米的海水淡化工厂，目前正在做向北京市政供水的可行性调研报告。

　　国际脱盐协会理事、科技部膜与水处理专家郭有智在接受记者采访时称，过去海水淡化的成本比较高，近年来工程造价逐渐降低，淡化水价格也下降很快，一立方米水成本基本上低于5元钱。“海水淡化技术的核心是脱盐，要使海水经过一次处理就达到可以饮用的水平就需要脱盐率达到99.5％以上。目前全世界约有7家公司可以提供这种用于海水淡化的膜，我国杭州水处理中心、贵阳时代汇通膜科技有限公司也基本上能达到这一水平。如果沿海地区能够在电厂附近再建海水淡化厂，实现电水联产，淡化海水成本将低于4元。目前，浙江华能玉环电厂海水淡化出水价格就达到3.5元。”海水淡化后再加上钙化环节就能供人们直接饮用，然后通过管道就可以直接输送到北京的自来水厂了。加上管道的成本，预计抵达北京后每立方米淡化海水的综合成本为4.5元左右。北京完全可以将海水淡化作为第二水源。

　　据悉，国家发改委、财政部、国家海洋局等四部委2005年发布的《海水利用专项规划》指出:2010年我国海水淡化总量将达每天80万至100万立方米，2020年将提高到每天250万至300万立方米。规划还明确指出，对极度缺水、急需解决水危机的近海特大城市如北京等，除加强节水和建设必要的调水工程外，可以开展前期工作，适时论证利用海水的可能性和可行性，特别是大型海水淡化工程建设的可行性方案。

　　据悉，拥有国家液体分离膜中心、膜材料制造公司和数个工程公司的中国化工集团正在筹办国家最大的海水淡化公司。在唐山曹妃甸，中海油公司计划投资筹建我国最大的海水淡化厂，规划日产淡化140万立方米，除满足新首钢钢铁用水以及附近的石化、电力等工业用水外，还计划向北京市政供水。目前，新首钢施工已经用上淡化后的海水，通过管道向北京市政供水项目正在做可行性调研报告。

(责任编辑：赵健)

[Whiteeclipse]

China Set To Grow Forest The Size Of England For Biofuels

When China wants something, they go after it with gusto. In an effort to reduce dependence on foreign natural resources, the world's third-largest producer of ethanol has decided to grow a forest encompassing nearly 33 million acres; or roughly the size of England. Such a move will allow them to harvest more than 6 million tons of biodiesel every year. China's plant of choice? The Jatropha, also called the physic nut, which produces a non-edible oil for making candles and soap. From the article,

The jatropha trees can also provide wood fuel for a power plant with an installed capacity of 12 million kilowatts about two-thirds the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam project, the world’s biggest. This amount of bio-energy will account for 30 percent of the country’s renewable energy by 2010, according to the SFA.

It is expected that China will spend nearly $192 billion over the next 15 years on projects related to renewable energy sources. This forest of fuel is simply a piece of a puzzle that includes solar, wind, and hydro solutions. It's encouraging to see such developments from a country as quickly-growing and power-hungry as China. I just wonder if it's enough. To be sure, growing a forest of renewable energy sounds a lot better than growing corn. I wonder how long it will be before the U.S. decides a similar course.

http://www.greenoptions.com/blog/200...d_for_biofuels

[The Cebuano Exultor]

Wow! This is wonderful news!

This and that plan to flood part of Inner Mongolia would make China the most pro-active and most visionarily ambitious country in the world with regards to creating a more sustainable future for its people.

China is, indeed, a can-can country!

[AGUI]

Great solution!!!!!
TO be sure,it can reduce air pollution in our country greatly in the future ...
on the other hand,we should construct more and more solar powerstations in southwest of china,due to abundent solar resource in there.

[Kiss the Rain]

They'd make better use to stop the sand storm from advancing, every year it's getting worse.

[wigo]

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...ent_857002.htm

SHANGHAI - Physicist Shi Zhengrong spent the 1990s in an Australian lab studying solar power, a field he picked by chance. He expected to devote his life to science.

Still, Shi saw signs of a blossoming industry as Germany, Japan and other countries invested in cleaner power. Excited by a trip home that showed him China's rapid development, he startled friends by abruptly moving his wife and two Australian-born sons to his homeland in 2001 to launch a solar equipment company.

Four years later, Shi's confidence paid off when his Suntech Power Holdings Ltd. (尚德太阳能电力有限公司) went public on the New York Stock Exchange and investors snapped up shares, turning him into a billionaire. Last year, Shi ranked No. 7 on the Forbes magazine list of China's richest tycoons, with a $1.4 billion fortune.

Today, he has traded his research smock for blue business suits, a CEO's 63rd-floor corner office and a role advising the Chinese government on renewable energy policy.

"We believed the share price would go up, but not so quickly," said Shi, a 43-year-old with a boyish face, chuckling at what he says was a rise marked by lucky breaks and timing. "I never thought I would be a rich guy."

Shi is the leader of an emerging group of Chinese entrepreneurs who are striking it rich by meeting fast-growing demand in China and abroad for cleaner power.

They are getting a boost from China's efforts to curb environmental damage after two decades of breakneck growth that have left it with some of the world's most badly polluted air and water. Chinese leaders also are promoting renewable energy in hopes of reducing mounting dependence on imported oil, which they see as a strategic weakness.

"The technological prowess of China is growing a lot faster than people in the West reckon," said Andrew Wilkinson, co-manager of a fund at investment bank CLSA Emerging Markets that invests in Asian clean-energy industries.

Suntech's 3,500-strong work force at four sites in China produces photovoltaic cells, the delicate, hand-size black silicon panels that can transform sunlight into electricity.

At a time when China's leaders are trying to turn lumbering state companies into nimble global competitors, Suntech already goes head-to-head with Japanese and European rivals in foreign markets. Shi says all its technology comes from its own labs.

By last year, Suntech had risen to be the world's fourth-largest solar cell maker, according to an annual ranking by Photon International, an industry magazine. Japan's Sharp Corp. is the market leader and other competitors include Q-Cells AG of Germany, Kyocera Corp. of Japan and BP Solar, owned by British oil company BP PLC.

Worldwide, experts expect the industry's sales to grow by 20 percent to 40 percent annually in coming years.

Suntech's key markets are Germany, Japan and Spain, which subsidize renewable energy by requiring utilities to buy solar-generated power and to pay more for it than they would for electricity from oil or gas.

China accounted for just 10 percent of Suntech's 2006 sales of $599 million. The equipment is expensive enough that its use in the company's home market is limited to lighthouses, remote military posts and other sites far from power plants.

But Shi says the Chinese, US and other markets will grow quickly as governments respond to concern about global warming by rolling out clean-energy initiatives. Beijing has ordered Chinese utilities to generate at least 10 percent of their power from solar, wind, hydroelectric and other renewable sources by 2010, with the target rising after that.

Despite his science background, Shi talks like a tough-minded businessman, and people in the industry say he is an able entrepreneur who moves between East and West and the worlds of technology and finance. He shifts easily between English and Chinese, and broke off twice during a 30-minute interview to take rapid-fire calls on his cell phone, first in the Shanghainese dialect, then in Mandarin.

"He comes across as a strong CEO who has a strong vision for his company and the future of his industry," said David Edwards, an industry analyst for ThinkEquity Partners in San Francisco.

Shi is part of a generation who left China by the tens of thousands in the drab 1980s to study or work. They're now trickling back, lured by its booming economy's new opportunities.

He is part of a growing group of returnees who are benefiting from government support for technology and new protections for private business. A few, like Shi, have become super wealthy by selling shares in their ventures on foreign stock exchanges.

Shi works 10- to 12-hour days and spends eight months a year on the road in Europe, the United States or China. But he said he wants to devote more time to charity work, including an environmental education program that he launched with his wife.

Shi said he has little time to enjoy his wealth.

"I'm a scientist," Shi said. "My hobby is solving technical problems."

Shi arrived in Australia in 1988 to spend a year at the University of New South Wales after getting his Ph.D. in physics in China.

China had little to offer, so when Shi's fellowship ended, he hunted for a new post in Australia. A friend sent him to see Martin Green, a New South Wales professor and solar pioneer. With no background in the field, Shi talked his way into a job.

"I really got into solar power by chance," he said.

Shi took a job at a company formed to commercialize advances made by New South Wales researchers. He and his Chinese-born wife bought a house in Sydney. He became an Australian citizen in 1993, with no plans to return to China.

"I never thought this solar business could take off or become commercially viable," he said. "I thought I just needed to concentrate on my research and publish papers to do my job as a scientist."

But in the mid-1990s, Shi started visiting China regularly to lecture on solar power. Friends lobbied him to return to China.

At the same time, Shi was getting restless in Australia and wanted a new challenge. He made a snap decision after a two-week visit to China left him "really excited" about its potential.

"My life was too easy over there," he said. "I thought if I came back I could do something really good."

The government of Wuxi, a city on Shanghai's western outskirts with ambitions as a high-tech center, put up $6 million to finance Suntech, which started with 20 employees, and helped to land $5 million in research grants.

"A lot of scholars aren't successful (in business) because they don't have a sense of marketing and sales," Shi said. "From the beginning, we had a very strong sense, whatever we do we have to make money as soon as possible, because there is no money for us to burn."

Suntech's main 120,000-square-foot factory is still in Wuxi, though Shi bought out his state backers before the IPO with the help of private investors led by Goldman Sachs.

At the Wuxi factory, technicians in green Suntech uniforms, surgical masks and hair nets turn 4-inch silicon discs into solar cells.

The cells are coated with power-producing films and sandwiched between sheets of glass in groups of 72 to form solar panels, each capable of generating 175 watts of power. That is too little to power three typical 60-watt light bulbs, but Suntech notes that it will light many more energy-saving bulbs.

Production is growing so fast that just two years after the factory opened in a special high-tech zone, Suntech is building a new one the same size a block away.

Shi said Suntech's goal is to develop superior technology, not just rely on China's low labor costs. But he said lower prices for skills and equipment will give the company an edge by making its $20 million annual research budget go further. A technical college graduate can be hired for 2,000 yuan ($250) a month.

Shi said that as technology improves, Suntech hopes to be able to cut prices within five years from the current $3.50 per solar panel to $2.50 - a level that he said would compete with traditional power in California, a big potential market.

Other Chinese companies are springing up to supply solar equipment, wind turbines and pollution-control technology. A Chinese law that took effect Jan. 1 - Shi helped to draft it - requires local authorities to favor renewable energy. The government has ordered power plants and factories to start complying with long-ignored emissions standards.

Those initiatives will create opportunities in industries ranging from wind turbines and nuclear power plants to pollution control and raising crops needed to produce ethanol and other clean-burning fuels, said Jing Ulrich, chairwoman of China equities for JP Morgan.

"It's so huge," Ulrich said, "no one can estimate the scale."