As China hurtles toward becoming a fully industrialized state and as-sumes its status as the factory of the world, the rest of the globe looks on to see how it can balance its responsibilities to the environment and its energy-hungry drive for economic growth. Environmen-tal bodies are slowly growing teeth and taking it into their own hands to reverse the environmental legacy that 20 years of steady economic growth has left behind. Poor air quality, a lack of renewable energy resources and water pollution are just a handful of problems that China is currently facing; yet there are early signs of change.
"The Suzhou Creek was so black in the 1960s and 1970s, it was like this black line that ran into the Huang Pu," recalls David Arthur, Regional Manager one of the largest environmental consul-tancy agencies in the world, Environ-mental Resource Management (ERM). "You couldn.t take a picture of it . it was that terrible. Since then they have intercepted the water so that It's a lot cleaner."
Suzhou Creek is just one example of how environmental damage can be successfully ameliorated. Indeed, by creating reed beds that naturally aerate the water and helping micro-organisms thrive by oxygenating the sediment, local bodies are hoping to restore the river to its original state. "Eventually they want to introduce some .sh into the river . at the moment there only about 3 or 4 varieties," enthuses Arthur, who is scheduled to speak at the upcoming Pollutec 2006. The March exhibition will be an opportunity for international experts to discuss some of the environ-mental problems China is facing and look towards forging sustainable solu-tions.
The Shanghai creek is just a small part of a larger project to purify China's polluted waterways, which are currently contaminated with untreated waste and domestic sewage. In the next few years, China will be investing a proposed RMB100 billion in wastewater plants. Cleaning up China's waterways, har-nessing the potential of wind farms and tapping untapped renewable resources are just some of the initiatives that the government has embarked on in recent years.
Feeding the giant
China produces the most steel, refrigera-tors and color televisions in the world, and manufactures two thirds of the world.s DVDs, shoes and microwaves. Indeed, it looks set to take over the US as the largest consumer of electricity in coming years. The giant needs to be fed, and the government hopes to quench its thirst with a new type of energy . renew-able, clean, green energy. Earlier this year, the government passed a renewable energy law, which outlined a plan to harness its natural resources. The government will look into the research and development of clean renewable resources, while local bodies will encourage individuals and businesses to utilize this green energy.
In September this year, Shanghai.s local government kicked off their "green power" project, which encourages firms to buy green electricity at a slightly higher price than normal electricity. So far, the city government has persuaded several local enterprises, in-cluding Baosteel, to exclusively buy Shang-hai.s "green" electricity. The extra money the enterprises pay for their electricity will be used to develop more green power sta-tions, as currently such supplies only con-stitute a small proportion of the city's total power supply.
As well as encouraging the use of the green power, the government.s nascent envi-ronmental body is also looking into creating eco-cities to tackle environmental problems and raise awareness of these new types of en-ergy. The British architectural firm Alsop is currently in the running to design an eco-city on Chongming Island which will rely solely on natural renewable resources for energy. The development will cover 8,800 hectares - roughly equivalent to New York.s Manhat-tan Island. and will house several million people. The first phase is expected to be com-pleted by 2010 in time for the World Expo. Alsop plans to use a combination of renewable resources such as power crops, solar and wind power to generate power for the city. "China doesn.t have a good track record, but there are all the signs that this is changing . they are really trying to encourage the use of renewable resources," says Alsop associate at Jeb Beresford.
Although China has a wealth of clean re-sources, the country.s renewable resources currently account for only two percent of China's total energy consumption. The most talked about green energy - wind power - is still largely undeveloped. China's wind power grew by 39 percent last year, yet it still has a long way to go. Estimates calculate that China is only using ten percent of what can be developed.
But the economic reality of using solely green power is just not feasible until the technology improves. Although there have been signi.cant advancements, more research and development in these areas will help to ease China's reliance on highly pollutant energy sources like coal. "The technology has improved so much over the past few years, nowadays one windmill can produce half a megawatt, whereas ten or .fteen years ago it could only produce a hundredth of that," says ERM.s Arthur. "If you have a wind farm with 100 windmills you can create 500 megawatts of energy . half the amount of a nuclear power station."
New solutions
Currently, China relies on coal for 58 percent of its energy re-quirements, but coal is a heavy pollutant. When coal is burned, it produces sulphur particles which combine with oxygen to create sulphur dioxide. Sulphur dioxide can be a major source of pollution when emitted in large quantities. Presently, respi-ratory and heart diseases are the leading cause of death within China, a .gure which is only properly appreciated when view-ing the poor air quality within China. A report by the World Health Organization in 1998 showed that seven of the ten most polluted cities within the world were in China. Researching and developing alternative energy resources is crucial - it will just take time to work out which ones contain the most potential.
One such untapped energy resource is methane, says Arthur. "methane is trapped in the seams of the coal - this is what causes so many of the coal mining accidents. Some companies are look-ing into extracting that methane," he says. Although most com-panies are in a research and development phase at the moment, Arthur thinks that coal bed extraction may not only become a no-table energy resource, but it may also make the lives of China's coal miners that much safer.
Many of China's environmental problems stem from its new position as a key exporter, which is putting significant strain on its natural re-sources. The knowledge garnered from the mistakes of other industrialized nations gives China a vantage point from which to evaluate the risks of its actions and, hope-fully, encourage temperance and a thought-ful attitude towards the harmful effects of its rapid industrialization. China's growth is one of the most watched stories of the burgeoning twenty-first century; with the enforcement of new laws that encourage en-vironmental protectionism and the develop-ment of alternative resources, the factory of the world will be a green one.
Reed is a world-leading organizer of trade and public shows with a portfolio of over 420 events, serving 49 industries in 18 key sectors and in 32 countries around the world.
