From Stanford University: a forum for sharing news and commentary related to energy and environment issues in China. Resources and end-uses. Drivers of demand and changing trends. Social and environmental impacts.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Saving China's Capital ... from itself
China Transportation Briefing: How to Save China’s Capital?
http://thecityfix.com/blog/china-transportation-briefing-how-to-save-china%E2%80%99s-capital
"In February 2012, the number of cars in Beijing exceeded 5 million. Given the problematic levels of traffic congestion and air pollution in the Chinese capital, few people hailed the milestone as an 'achievement.'"
The article cites congestion and air pollution among the hazards of the situation, and then suggests a few potential fixes.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
More on Hukou (household registration)
"The hukou, a small red passbook, contains key information on every family, including marriages, divorces, births, and deaths, as well as the city or village to which each person belongs. What comes attached to the hukou [pronounced hoo - ko] are benefits including health care, a pension, and free education for one’s children. These benefits are only available if a Chinese citizen lives where he or she is registered. Not having a hukou for where one lives makes it more difficult to get a driver’s license, buy a house, or purchase a car."You may live and work in Beijing, but without an urban hukou, you and your children won't have access to the services and benefits provided by the municipality. According to the article, there are four ways of obtaining an urban hukou for out-of-towners:
1. Employment. For example, "6,000 hukou were given to Beijing companies last year." [The city's current population is about 19.6 million.]It's interesting to note that household registration may actually be holding back the formation of a larger middle class in China's cities, a phenomenon which normally springs from -- and contributes to -- economic growth. Experts find that it influences consumer patterns (less consumption, more savings), restricts the mobility of labor markets (somewhat worrisome, given the country's aging demographics), and often keeps families apart (parents stay in the city, while kids go back to the countryside).
2. Black Market. "Buying one on the black market can cost ¥150,000" [Over US$23,000]
3. Inheritance. "If one or both of your parents were born in Shanghai or another big city, you're in luck!"
4. Marriage. "You can get the same hukou as your spouse, but have to drop your original registration."
The issue is ripe for reform, and the State Council "announced plans to make it easier for rural migrants to obtain a city hukou" last month. However, "this doesn't mean the hukou system will be swiftly dismantled: Authorities fear that would trigger a nationwide flood of migrants into the biggest cities and raise the prospect of mass unrest. Providing social welfare benefits to new urban residents will also be costly."
Also see the piece in Caixin magazine advocating a major overhaul of household registrations (http://english.caixin.com/2012-03-08/100365919.html).
Air Pollution in China and Factors Constraining China's Economic Growth
Monday, March 19, 2012
Doubts Raised Over China Hydro Project in Nepal
Here's the link.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304724404577291311760939638.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Great NYT Article to Complement "Ghost Towns"
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Ghost towns in Inner Mongolia
Ordos: The biggest ghost town in China http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17390729
"In Inner Mongolia a new city stands largely empty. This city, Ordos, suggests that the great Chinese building boom, which did so much to fuel the country's astonishing economic growth" could be drawing to a close.Chinese developers continue to open up new tracts of land and build infrastructure -- the cranes are everywhere! -- but the question is whether anyone is moving in when these projects are completed, especially in middle-of-nowhere places like Ordos. In our visit, we definitely saw the large blocks of empty apartment buildings described in this article, even as construction continued to sprout everywhere, pushing up against the dry dusty outskirts of town. Our experience in the hotel was indicative of Ordos' mode of development: the showers didn't drain properly, flooding the bathrooms whenever they were used; students encountered seedy behavior in shady corners; and the lobby was dominated by banners welcoming a mining conference, the industry that's pumping money into this region.
Many local governments "seem to have become dependent on the proceeds of big land sales to developer" and may have an incentive to encourage still more construction, to keep the cycle going on -- and revenues rolling in -- as long as possible. "Western financial experts who fear a bursting of the Chinese real estate bubble point out that the Chinese economy is more dependent on house building than the United States economy was, before the sub-prime lending bubble burst in 2007." On the other hand, "Chinese economic commentators seem much less concerned" and are "still confident that the technocrats in Beijing...will soon be able to balance supply and demand in the housing market."
In many Chinese cities, the wealthy actually buy multiple apartments as a form of investment, since building prices keep rising. Real estate can also seem safer than stocks -- for example, a physical development may be less subject to the revelations of fraud that periodically pop up for listed companies in China (sigh). Someone from NRDC mentioned that some municipal authorities stumbled upon estimates of unoccupied luxury apartments because a certain proportion of flats would have energy bills that were always zero, month after month, demonstrating that no one lived there. (Which is a little ironic, because many ordinary people are still having difficulty affording a place in the big cities.) So whether there's a bubble or not, the housing market still has imbalances that need to be resolved.
It's just that continuing to feed the construction boom in Inner Mongolia may not be the solution. Here's another great feature in Foreign Policy magazine on the topic:
China's High-Growth Ghost Towns
Visiting the eerily vacant epicenter of unsustainable progress, far out in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/18/chinas_high_growth_ghost_towns
UPDATE: Al Jazeera English had a video today referencing the building boom as well.
CLP Castle Peak report on Exxon to sell
Switching to Green Energy
Polluted air will kill more people than dirty water
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/321335
Chevron Betting on China's LNG Market
Amid U.S.-China Energy Tension, "Clean Coal" Spurs Teamwork
This fun National Geographic article explains some of China’s CCS research advantages, such as large budgets and an efficient "engineering and science machine," as well as the growing competition between US and Chinese CCS methods. For example, the Huaneng gasifier (outside Shanghai) illustrates some improvements over US models by consuming less water, gasifying inputs twice, and separating out purer CO2. On the bright side, US and Chinese CCS researchers are collaborating, and hopefully there will be cross-fertilization of CCS research.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/12/120213-us-china-teamwork-on-clean-coal/
-Khalial
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Amid U.S.-China Energy Tension, "Clean Coal" Spurs Teamwork
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/12/120213-us-china-teamwork-on-clean-coal/
- Michelle
China's energy base seeks transformation
This article notes that China currently "exports" Inner Mongolia's coal to other parts of the country for processing and use. However, the government has plans to make the region an "energy base", which would help them use the resources more efficiently and export higher-value products. The topics in this article relate to issues raised in both the Coal/Electric Power and Transportation sessions of CEE176F.
Currently, over 60% of the coal from Inner Mongolia is transported over land routes, which is difficult and costly. (In fact, the article mentions the epic September 2010 traffic jam that the Transportation group brought up, and cites these diesel-power coal trucks as a primary cause of the holdup.) Both the central government and the leaders of Inner Mongolia would love to develop processing and generation infrastructure within the region, so they could instead export higher-value products, particularly coal made from diesel. If the authors of this article are correct, we can expect to see higher-value products, and not just raw coal, coming out of Inner Mongolia in the coming years.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/business/2012-03/14/content_14832821.htm
Nuclear Power "Problems"
China looks to increase shale gas production
Dispute arises over over China's claim to petroleum assets offshore in the South China Sea
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-03-16/vietnam-says-cnooc-s-south-china-sea-bids-violate-territory
Sichuan Basin Shale Gas Well Test indicates promise
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=115866
China/US Trade War and Rare Earth Metals
The Obama Administration, the EU, and Japan plan to bring a new WTO trade case against China for their export restrictions on rare earth metals. Obama is also considering another potential WTO trade case complaining against anti-dumping and countervailing duties China imposed last year on US auto exports. This was supposedly in retaliation for previous US trading curbs.
In summary, it sounds like the "coming" trade war is already in full swing.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/13/us-usa-china-trade-idUSBRE82C02220120313
Friday, March 16, 2012
More on eco-cities in China
I thought I'd post two articles I found that discuss the eco-village of Huangbaiyu, as well as the urban/rural divide in China in general. When we brainstormed some over-arching themes for the documentary on Thursday, we identified a couple that seem to resonate with these articles. One important one was "How does this technology impact Chinese citizens from various backgrounds?" Another one we brainstormed is the dichotomy of "Rhetoric versus reality."
http://www.counterpunch.org/
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/
Good luck on finals!
Sara
Thursday, March 15, 2012
China Road and AP Article on Ethnic Tensions in Hong Kong
A story about how a inefficienty insitituation mechanism encourages the development of renewable energy
China plans to use tiered power pricing for residential power consumptions
During the NPC and CPPCC, Chinese government declare that they plans to use tiered power price to instead of the uniform rates for residential electricity users. Currently, the electricity price to consumers is far lower than the marginal cost of power generation. Many projects have been implemented for commercial and industrial consumers. However, because the consumption of residential consumers only takes a small proportion of the total electricity consumption, there is no particular policy for residential consumption management. This is the first national-wide particular management for reducing residential energy consumption.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/china-power-idUSL4E8E80MR20120308
"The Complexities of the U.S. Decision on Chinese Solar Panel Imports"
The Department of Commerce is set to issue a verdict next week on the trade petition filed by SolarWorld. The petition calls for imposing import tariffs on Chinese solar panels because, as SolarWorld and its partners allege, Chinese officials are using subsidies and dumping to artificially lower solar panel export prices. Many solar companies, however, fear that the imposition of such a tariff would destroy profit margins and slow industry growth, among other impacts.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/03/china_solar_panels.html
China Politics: Regional Leader Ousted
Apple Refutes allegations of Pollution
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/09/02/china.apple.pollution/index.html
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
30-Story Chinese Hotel Constructed in 15 Days
My group presentation a couple of weeks ago on the topic of commercial and residential buildings showed a video about a 30-story hotel built in 15 days in Changsha, China. This article from the LA Times further explains the project. Presently in the US we cannot construct a building so quickly because risk is a major concern to us. We require many more inspections and checks along the way. Also, we do not do construction at night because that can be risky as well. In China, there are fewer regulations allowing them to complete such large projects in a fraction of the normal time. This particular building has green systems in the design, including low flush toilets, efficient lighting systems, and less concrete in construction, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions due to the cement.
-Marielle Price
Sunday, March 11, 2012
China urges Myanmar to restart $3.6B dam project
This article gives an interesting glimpse into how China's ambitious plans for hydro are affecting its regional relationships. Capitalizing on the ample water resources in the rest of Southeast Asia would be great for China - but can China navigate the political hurdles necessary to secure these resources? At least in the case of Myanmar, this is proving more difficult than expected.
For the full article, read here: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2012/03/10/china_urges_myanmar_to_restart_36b_dam_project/
Solar Panel Sales Seen Dropping First Time in Decade in the World, but Chinese Demand will help make up for the losses worldwide
To read more, this article can be found here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/solar-panel-sales-seen-dropping-first-time-in-decade-feeding-glut-energy.html
Friday, March 9, 2012
China energy plan more favorable for nuclear
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/markets-ratings-chinaenergyplan-idUSWNA181720120307
Thursday, March 8, 2012
China to roll out tiered residential power pricing
China plans tiered power pricing for homes in H1 -paper
- Reuters
A government official was reported to have said that China is planning to begin a tiered power pricing program for residential power users in an effort to ease tight power supplies. Peng Sen, deputy director of NDRC, reported that a proposal for charging higher tariffs on power to heavy users has been approved by the State Council. "Experts" say that as residential users account for a relatively small amount total consumption this will do little to "ease power producers' pain."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/china-power-idUSL4E8E80MR20120308
~Ryan Triolo
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
China reveals 25tn cu meters of shale gas
- Ryan Triolo
Why EV's are not a good idea right now for china..
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/es100520c
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Trucks Power China's Economy, at a Suffocating Cost
Chinese use Google+ to 'Occupy Obama'
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/03/china-google-obama.html
Monday, March 5, 2012
China Foothold in U.S. Energy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204883304577223083067806776.html
China Still Plans To Meet 2015 Carbon Emission and Energy Intensity Goals, Replace "Outdated Capacity" in Electricity and Industry
Chinese officials also reiterated their longer-term efforts in shuttering "outdated" power generation facilities (largely coal) as well as less efficient plants in the steel, construction and petrochemical industries.
Link from Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/china-says-it-will-meet-five-year-carbon-goal-after-2011-misses.html
Sunday, March 4, 2012
China Greenhouse Gas Emissions Set to Rise Well Past U.S.
The article can be found in Scientific American online
China still targeting heavy-metal polluters
In the first two months of 2012, four incidences of lead poisoning were reported in Guangdong and Henan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Over the past 2 years, more than 1,000 enterprises were closed down because of heavy metal pollution.
Unfortunately, the article remains blur on the measures taken to tackle this issue.
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-03/04/content_14749231.htm