US and China Come Together on Renewable Energy, Electric Vehicles and Clean Coal

Beijing, China – President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao announced a far-reaching package of measures to strengthen cooperation between the United States and China on clean energy. Please see fact sheets (linked here) for additional details on each of the U.S-China clean energy announcements.

Here are elements of facts
1. U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The two Presidents announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center.

2. U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative. The two Presidents announced the launch of the U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative.

3. U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan. The two Presidents announced the launch of a new U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan. Under the new plan, the two countries will work together to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, industrial facilities, and consumer appliances.

4. U.S.-China Renewable Energy Partnership. The two Presidents announced the launch of a new U.S.-China Renewable Energy Partnership. Under the Partnership, the two countries will develop roadmaps for wide-spread renewable energy deployment in both countries.

5. 21st Century Coal. The two Presidents pledged to promote cooperation on cleaner uses of coal, including large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects. Through the new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, the two countries are launching a program of technical cooperation to bring teams of U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers together in developing clean coal and CCS technologies.

6. Shale Gas Initiative. The two Presidents announced the launch of a new U.S.-China Shale Gas Resource Initiative.

7. U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program. The two Presidents announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program. The program will leverage private sector resources for project development work in China across a broad array of clean energy projects, to the benefit of both nations. More than 22 companies are founding members of the program. The ECP will include collaborative projects on renewable energy, smart grid, clean transportation, green building, clean coal, combined heat and power, and energy efficiency.
Read full here www.mygreeneducation.com


EERE - The United States and China have announced a range of clean energy initiatives, including the establishment of a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. designed to boost joint research and development of clean energy technology, as well as energy efficiency and electric vehicle initiatives. Read more at DOE's EERE

China Syndrome... forsight is 20-20

Check out some stats from an China

• The world's largest consumer of coal, grain, fertilizer, cell phones, refrigerators, and televisions
• The leading importer of iron ore, steel, copper, tin, zinc, aluminum, and nickel
• The top producer of coal, steel, cement, and 10 kinds of metal
• The No. 1 importer of illegally logged wood
• The third-largest producer of cars after Japan and the United States; by 2015, it could be the world's largest car producer. By 2020, there could be 130 million cars on its roads, compared to 33 million now.

More:
• China uses half of the world's steel and concrete and will probably construct half of the world's new buildings over the next decade.
• China used 2.5 billion tons of coal in 2006, more than the next three highest-consuming nations -- Russia, India, and the United States -- combined.
• It has more than 2,000 coal-fired power plants and puts a new one into operation every 4 to 7 days.
• Between 2003 and 2006, worldwide coal consumption increased as much as it did in the 23 years before that. China was responsible for 90% of the increase.
• China became the world's top carbon dioxide emitter in 2006, overtaking the United States.
• More than 3/4 of China's forests have disappeared; 1/4 of the country's land mass is now desert.
• Until recently, China was losing a Rhode Island-sized parcel of land to desertification each year.
• 80% of the Himalayan glaciers that feed Chinese rivers could melt by 2035.
• In 2005, China's sulfur-dioxide emissions were nearly twice those of the United States.
• Acid rain caused by air pollution now affects 1/3 of China's land.
• Each year, at least 400,000 Chinese die prematurely of air-pollution-linked respiratory illnesses or diseases.
• Of the world's 20 most polluted cities, 16 are in China.
• Half of China's population -- 600 to 700 million people -- drinks water contaminated with human and animal waste. A billion tons of untreated sewage is dumped into the Yangtze each year.
• 4/5 of China's rivers are too polluted to support fish.
• Dust storms used to occur once a year. Now, they happen at least 20 times a year.
• Chinese dust storms can cause haziness and boost particulate matter in the United States, all the way over to Maine.
• Currently, up to 36 percent of man-made mercury emissions settling on America originated in Asia.
• Particulate matter from Asia accounts for nearly half of California's annual pollution limit.
• Environmental damage reportedly costs China 10 percent of its GDP. Pollution-related death and disability heath care costs alone are estimated at up to 4 percent of GDP.
• In 2005, there were 50,000 pollution-related disputes and protests in China.
• China's middle class is expected to jump from 100 million people today to 700 million people by 2020.

There's more in the original piece linked here.

Energy and how China is leapfrogging U.S. by decades

NextBigFuture The Unites States has various nuclear fission and nuclear fusion research projects like the National Ignition Facilities work towards laser fusion with the proposed Laser Inertial Fusion Engine (LIFE). The economic goal would be to get LIFE to about half of the current cost of nuclear power when the first commercial unit is delivered around 2025-2030. The cost is compared to the current nuclear reactor capital costs of $4000-10000 per Kilowatt for new build in the United States.

China is already at $1500-2000 per kilowatt capital cost and the latest OECD estimate was for $1748/KW for overnight costs for a new CPR1000 reactor. China has announced plans to get the cost of CPR1000 reactors down by one third to about $1225/KW by the time they have built 50 of them. China will be building reactors for export after they get ahead of their domestic demand needs. Nuclear overnight capital costs from OECD estimates for the South Korea APR-1400 is US$ 1556/kW. China will be making its own version of the AP1000 and could get down to the $1100/kW range when they have built 50 of those. China could go from 3 cents per KWh to 2 cents per KWh. China's reactors will be cheaper than what the US has planned and China will have small modular units that are easily built in massive factories and exported. Detailed 8 page projected cost analysis for LIFE

China is planning to 50 and 100 or more units. The reactor build times are now at 5 years and are being reduced to 4 years and even 3 years. Even 1-2 year buils times could be possible for the pebble bed reactors. There is also research to extend nuclear plants to 80 or more years of operation by designing all parts to be replaceable.


China has discussed plans to build 60 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2020, 200 gigawatts by 2030 and 400 gigawatts by 2050. In 2050, China is estimated to need 1500 Gigawatts of electricity. 400 Gigawatts would be about 27% of total China electricity demand. China is raising its 2020 nuclear energy build target to 80-85 gigawatts. It is likely the 2030 and 2050 nuclear build targets will be raised as well especially if the construction prices improve as expected.

China is planning to build better and better breeder and high temperature reactors and better and better reprocessing facilities to close the fuel cycle.

The United States needs to get back to building things, get good at building what is possible today and having parallel efforts to develop better technology which can be integrated into future models. Trying to lob 20 year hail Mary technology passes is too prone to failures in funding and failures in execution and failures in research.

China is also not ignoring fusion or advanced nuclear fission and has active programs. The difference is that China plans to have things built within 5-10 years and then to iteratively make the next improved or more ambitious version.

Please read full at NextBigFuture

Environmentalists are Hypocritical about China's Nuclear, Wind and Solar Power

China is building the most new nuclear power of any country and should have about 40 gigawatts of nuclear power generating about 260 TWh. China's current 15 GW of nuclear power generates about 98 TWh.

China increased its solar PV target to 40 GW.

An MIT researcher estimates that 40 GW of solar PV power in China will generate about 50 TWh.

Some environmentalists will try to spin that China's nuclear power does not count because it is centrally planned. Then they say that China's solar power and wind power mean that solar power and wind have arrived even though solar and wind also are part of China's central energy plan.

The reality is that China is the single most important energy market in the world. The developing countries are where all of the economic growth is happening and where the vast majority of new energy generation is getting built. China counts for nuclear. China counts for wind and solar. So far, China has added more hydro power (like the Three Gorges dam)

The 40 GW of solar power is cheered by Cleantechnica and is proof that solar power has arrived.

Amory Lovins is a considered an energy expert by green environmentalists.

In 2008 Amory Lovins said - In 2006 distributed renewables alone got $56 billion of private risk capital while nuclear as usual got zero—it's only bought by central planners. Nuclear added less capacity than photovoltaics and a 10th of what wind power added. Even in China, which has ambitious nuclear goals, they already have seven times as much distributed renewable as nuclear capacity, and it's growing seven times faster.

NOTE- Lovins combines multiple lies (or more politely confusing spin). He classifies smaller natural gas power units as distributed micropower. Below you can see that nuclear power generation is about equal to wind and solar. So the growing seven times faster was kw and not kwh and some additional playing with numbers and definitions that do not represent reality.

China's power generation in 2012

China's generating capacity in 2012 was 4977.4 TWh, an increase of 5.2%
Hydro generating 864.1 TWh, an increase of 29.3%;
Thermal power (mainly coal) 3910.8 TWh up by 0.3%
Nuclear power 98.2 TWh, up by 12.6%
Wind power 100.4 TWh, up 35.5%
Solar power generation 3.5 TWh, up by 414%.

3676 kwh / year per capita power generation for about 40% in developed countries.

Read more from NBF

Saudi Arabia And China Team Up To Build A Gigantic New Oil Refinery – Is This The Beginning Of The End

The largest oil exporter in the Middle East has teamed up with the second largest consumer of oil in the world (China) to build a gigantic new oil refinery and the mainstream media in the United States has barely even noticed it.  This mammoth new refinery is scheduled to be fully operational in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu by 2014.  Over the past several years, China has sought to aggressively expand trade with Saudi Arabia, and China now actually imports more oil from Saudi Arabia than the United States does.  In February, China imported 1.39 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia.  That was 39 percent higher than last February.  So why is this important?  Well, back in 1973 the United States and Saudi Arabia agreed that all oil sold by Saudi Arabia would be denominated in U.S. dollars.  This petrodollar system was adopted by almost the entire world and it has had great benefits for the U.S. economy.  But if China becomes Saudi Arabia's most important trading partner, then why should Saudi Arabia continue to only sell oil in U.S. dollars?  And if the petrodollar system collapses, what is that going to mean for the U.S. economy?

Those are very important questions, and they will be addressed later on in this article.  First of all, let's take a closer look at the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and China recently.

The following is how the deal was described in a recent China Daily article....

In what Riyadh calls "the largest expansion by any oil company in the world", Sinopec's deal on Saturday with Saudi oil giant Aramco will allow a major oil refinery to become operational in the Red Sea port of Yanbu by 2014.

The $8.5 billion joint venture, which covers an area of about 5.2 million square meters, is already under construction. It will process 400,000 barrels of heavy crude oil per day. Aramco will hold a 62.5 percent stake in the plant while Sinopec will own the remaining 37.5 percent.

At a time when the U.S. is actually losing refining capacity, this is a stunning development.

Yet the U.S. press has been largely silent about this.

Very curious.

But China is not just doing deals with Saudi Arabia.  China has also been striking deals with several other important oil producing nations.  The following comes from a recent article by Gregg Laskoski....

China's investment in oil infrastructure and refining capacity is unparalleled. And more importantly, it executes a consistent strategy of developing world-class refining facilities in partnership with OPEC suppliers. Such relationships mean economic leverage that could soon subordinate U.S. relations with the same countries.

Egypt is building its largest refinery ever with investment from China.

Shortly after the partnership with Egypt was announced, China signed a $23 billion agreement with Nigeria to construct three gasoline refineries and a fuel complex in Nigeria.

Essentially, China is running circles around the United States when it comes to locking up strategic oil supplies worldwide.

And all of these developments could have tremendous implications for the future of the petrodollar system.

.....So what happens if the petrodollar system collapses?

Well, for one thing the value of the U.S. dollar would plummet big time.

U.S. consumers would suddenly find that all of those "cheap imported goods" would rise in price dramatically as would the price of gasoline.

If you think the price of gas is high now, you just wait until the petrodollar system collapses.

In addition, there would be much less of a demand for U.S. government debt since countries would not have so many excess U.S. dollars lying around.

So needless to say, the U.S. government really needs the petrodollar system to continue.

Please read full and follow at:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/saudi-arabia-and-china-team-up-to-build-a-gigantic-new-oil-refinery-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-petrodollar

Will Greening China Leave America in the Red?

China's Growing Green Credentials make U.S. see red...

...China is pulling ahead of the US in terms of the green economy and is leaving our nation behind:

• China has cornered the global rare earth element market and is now increasingly also becoming the world's major manufacturer of the advanced technologies that depend on rare earth elements in order to function – technologies that are critical for a non-fossil fuel based economy. Advanced batteries, electric motors, super-conductors, critical electronic components such as resistors, capacitators and so forth depend on various rare earth elements and China is leveraging its preeminent position as a producer of rare earths to become a major manufacturer of all of these advanced green economy technologies.

• China is targeting more of its stimulus money to green economy initiatives than the US. It is directing 34% of its stimulus spending to green economy initiatives versus less than 20% for US stimulus spending.

• China has surged ahead of the US in solar PV manufacturing capacity and now has more than five times the installed production capacity.

• China has more than tripled its target for wind power capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2020, likely making it the world's fastest growing market for wind energy technology. It is aiming for an annual growth rate of 20% per year.

• China currently has 12 gigawatts of installed wind power, but that is set to grow to 20 gigawatts by next year. To put this in perspective this is around three times the projected increase in capacity (7GW) in the US for wind energy.

• Last year, China invested $35 billion in Smart Grid construction far out pacing US investment in upgrading its own aging and over taxed grid.

• China already is the biggest solar thermal market worldwide. Three out of four collectors are produced and installed there and its domestic market has grown at an average rate of 28% per year in recent years. To give an idea of the size of its domestic market the newly installed capacity in 2008 for solar heating systems was approximately 21 GWth; that is around 16 times greater than the European market as a whole and 130 times than new added solar heating capacity in the US.

• Premiere Hu has pledged before a world audience to rapidly reduce the Carbon intensity of China's economy and its total greenhouse gas emissions. While many did criticize the speech for its lack of specific numbers it is a very public commitment and China's rapid adoption of green technology and enforcement of strict efficiency standards backs it up.

• China already has strict fuel efficiency standards in place right now (in effect since 2008) They are: 43 mpg for cars and 21 mpg for heaver trucks. Compare that to the snail pace fuel efficiency track the US is on.

• China has abundant capital reserves to finance a transformation of its economy away from dependence on fossil energy.

Will the US be Left Behind as a Dirty Coal Country Unable to Compete in the Future Economy? Read full at greeneconomypost

PeakChina - The Three Chinas

Watts Up With That-  The choices we make about energy, the environment and climate will be limited by The Three Chinas.

1. The Real China - One of the Chinas is very real and familiar. It has a population of 1.4 billion.

   China is developing quickly, trying to do in 50 years what America did in 100. As a result, they have doubled their energy use since 2000, becoming the largest energy user in the world.

   China's energy use may well double again by 2020. (The figures in the report did not match reality, but their estimate of 7.5% annual growth looks fairly okay).

   Coal currently provides 70% of China's energy. That may drop to 65% by 2020. It may not.

   If China doubles its energy use (to 200 quads) and 65% of it comes from coal, that will be 130 quadrillion BTUs generated from burning coal, in China, in 2020.

    China's coal plants are much dirtier than those used in the developed world.

2. The Second China - This very real China will be replicated by the natural growth of the human population to 8.5 billion by 2035, and 9.1 billion at its peak later this century. That's more than the entire population of China. As many of them will actually be born in China, and many more will form part of our third 'imaginary' China, it is appropriate to limit the Second China to the size of the real one.
3. The Third China - While China is developing quickly, so is the rest of the developing world. As countries develop, the people living in them get richer. They buy cars, appliances, computers, and begin to use more energy.

"Made in China" accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. Consumer Product Spending

Goods and services from China accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. personal consumption expenditures in 2010, of which less than half reflected the actual costs of Chinese imports. The rest went to U.S. businesses and workers transporting, selling, and marketing goods carrying the "Made in China" label. Although the fraction is higher when the imported content of goods made in the United States is considered, Chinese imports still make up only a small share of total U.S. consumer spending. This suggests that Chinese inflation will have little direct effect on U.S. consumer prices.

The United States is running a record trade deficit with China. This is no surprise, given the wide array of items in stores labeled “Made in China.” This Economic Letter examines what fraction of U.S. consumer spending goes for Chinese goods and what part of that fraction reflects the actual cost of imports from China. We perform a similar exercise to determine the foreign and domestic content of all U.S. imports...

Share of spending on “Made in China”

Although globalization is widely recognized these days, the U.S. economy actually remains relatively closed. The vast majority of goods and services sold in the United States is produced here. In 2010, imports were about 16% of U.S. GDP. Imports from China amounted to 2.5% of GDP.

Table 1
Import content of U.S. personal consumption expenditures by category

Table 1 shows our calculations of the import content of U.S. household consumption of goods and services. A total of 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on items made in the United States. This is largely because services, which make up about two-thirds of spending, are mainly produced locally. The market share of foreign goods is highest in durables, which include cars and electronics. Two-thirds of U.S. durables consumption goes for goods labeled “Made in the USA,” while the other third goes for goods made abroad.

...However, it does not seem that so far Chinese exporters are fully passing through their domestic inflation. In May 2011, prices of Chinese imports only increased 2.8% from May 2010. This is partly because a large share of Chinese production costs consists of imports from other countries. Xing and Detert (2010) demonstrate this by examining the production costs of an iPhone. In 2009, it cost about $179 in China to produce an iPhone, which sold in the United States for about $500. Thus, $179 of the U.S. retail cost consisted of Chinese imported content. However, only $6.50 was actually due to assembly costs in China. The other $172.50 reflected costs of parts produced in other countries, including $10.75 for parts made in the United States.

Figure 2 shows the share of U.S. PCE based on where goods were produced, taking into account intermediate goods production, and the domestic and foreign content of imports. Of the 2.7% of U.S. consumer purchases going to goods labeled “Made in China,” only 1.2% actually represents China-produced content. If we take into account imported intermediate goods, about 13.9% of U.S. consumer spending is attributable to imports, including 1.9% imported from China.

Read more from The U.S. Content of “Made in China”

China's Pollution Fighting Budget Will Have to Be Bigger than its Military Budget

China will spend $275 billion over the next five years improving air quality—roughly the same as the GDP of Hong Kong, and twice the size of the annual defence budget [40% of the defence budget over the same five years]. China is also spending to clean up water pollution. 

China plans to invest 2.3 trillion yuan ($375 billion) in energy saving and emission-reduction projects in the five years through 2015 to clean up its environment. This is about 54% of the projected $685 billion that China will spend on its military over 5 years. The plan, which has been approved by the State Council, is on top of a 1.85 trillion yuan investment in the renewable energy sector. Combined the energy saving and emission-reduction projects and the renewables buildup is $675 billion. China would benefit more by shifting military budget into pollution fighting. China has sufficient military and has nuclear and military to deter any attack and to meet basic military goals. China's pollution is harming its economy now and harming the health of everyone and killing upwards of 1 million people each year.

The health costs of air and water pollution in China amount to about 4.3 percent of its GDP. By adding the non-health impacts of pollution, which are estimated to be about 1.5 percent of GDP, the total cost of air and water pollution in China is about 5.8 percent of GDP.

China's economy will go from $8.5 trillion this year to about $12-20 trillion in 2018 (depending upon RMB currency appreciation). The cost to China will be $490 billion to 1.2 trillion in each of the years. It will be in the range of $3-5 trillion over the 5 year timeframe.

In January 2013 the air of Beijing hit a level of toxicity 40 times above what the World Health Organization deems safe. A tenth of the country's farmland is poisoned with chemicals and heavy metals. Half of China's urban water supplies are unfit even to wash in, let alone drink. In the northern half of the country air pollution lops five-and-a-half years off the average life.

Read more Shared via feedly // published on Next Big Future // visit site

China's pollution goes global

Well, the Olympics have started - so has the "Great Wall of GreenWashing"

 

    More than 500,000 trees were planted in and around Olympic venues and on the Olympic green. There will be 500 alternative energy vehicles operating within the Olympic Village and some of the fans that attend the Olympic competitions in Beijing may ride to the events in one of the 1000 new Beijing public transportation vehicles that run on biodiesel.  The renewable energy vehicles being used at the Olympics include 20 hydrogen fuel cell, 55 electric and 25 hybrid passenger vehicles. In Qingdao, the Olympic Sailing Center, which was constructed at a cost of more than 11 million Yuan [US $1.6 million], uses solar power technology to operate the air conditioning system.

 

    As is so often the case in China, the Summer Olympics in Beijing present two contradictory views of China's environmental and energy stewardship. Will China's future development realize the promise of the enlightened environmental and energy infrastructure now on display at the Olympic venues as China’s pollution goes global?

 

    The Australian Financial Review last Friday in their Review section republished Jacques Leslie’s cover story in the February edition of Mother Jones entitled The Last Empire: China’s Pollution Problem Goes Global. It’s over 9000 words, but it’s well worth a look.

 

    Leslie tells of Mao’s assault on the environment when he launched the “backyard furnace” campaign. Some 90 million peasants set up mini steel smelters stripping 10% of China’s trees within a few months to fire them in order to produce unusable steel. Mao also launched the “Kill the Four Pests Campaign” resulting in the mass killing of sparrows followed by a great locust plague. The consequent harvest failure and famine saw between 30 and 50 million Chinese die, according to Leslie.

 

        Yet the Mao era’s ecological devastation pales next to that of China’s current industrialization. A fourth of the country is now desert. More than three-fourths of its forests have disappeared. Acid rain falls on a third of China’s landmass, tainting soil, water, and food. Excessive use of groundwater has caused land to sink in at least 96 Chinese cities, producing an estimated $12.9 billion in economic losses in Shanghai alone. Each year, uncontrollable underground fires, sometimes triggered by lightning and mining accidents, consume 200 million tons of coal, contributing massively to global warming. A miasma of lead, mercury, sulfur dioxide, and other elements of coal-burning and car exhaust hovers over most Chinese cities; of the world’s 20 most polluted cities, 16 are Chinese.

 

        The government estimates that 400,000 people die prematurely from respiratory illnesses each year, and health care costs for premature death and disability related to air pollution is estimated at up to 4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Four-fifths of the length of China’s rivers are too polluted for fish. Half the population—600 or 700 million people—drinks water contaminated with animal and human waste. Into Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze, the nation annually dumps a billion tons of untreated sewage; some scientists fear the river will die within a few years. Drained by cities and factories all over northern China, the Yellow River, whose cataclysmic floods earned it a reputation as the world’s most dangerous natural feature, now flows to its mouth feebly, if at all. China generates a third of the world’s garbage, most of which goes untreated. Meanwhile, roughly 70 percent of the world’s discarded computers and electronic equipment ends up in China, where it is scavenged for usable parts and then abandoned, polluting soil and groundwater with toxic metals.

 

    Robert Merkel told us last year of an environmental disaster that killed 750,000 Chinese. The Chinese government persuaded the World Bank to suppress the story because it could cause social unrest. It seems their fears were justified.

 

Please read  full by Big Gav

 

 

 

 

 

China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities — Safety Assessment

CRS...China’s naval modernization effort, which began in the 1990s, encompasses a broad array of weapon acquisition programs, including anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), submarines, and surface ships. China’s naval modernization effort also includes reforms and improvements in maintenance and logistics, naval doctrine, personnel quality, education, training, and exercises. Observers believe that the near-term focus of China’s military modernization effort has been to develop military options for addressing the situation with Taiwan. Consistent with this goal, observers believe that China wants its military to be capable of acting as a so-called anti-access force—a force that can deter U.S. intervention in a conflict involving Taiwan, or failing that, delay the arrival or reduce the effectiveness of intervening U.S. naval and air forces.

Observers believe that China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, is increasingly oriented toward pursuing additional goals, such as asserting or defending China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea; enforcing China’s view—a minority but growing view among world nations—that it has the right to regulate foreign military activities in its 200-mile maritime exclusive economic zone (EEZ); protecting China’s sea lines of communications; protecting and evacuating Chinese nationals in foreign countries; displacing U.S. influence in the Pacific; and asserting China’s status as a major world power.

Please read more from source:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33153.pdf

Recycling Chaos In U.S. As China Bans 'Foreign Waste'

The U.S. exports about one-third of its recycling, and nearly half goes to China. For decades, China has used recyclables from around the world to supply its manufacturing boom. But this summer it declared that this "foreign waste" includes too many other nonrecyclable materials that are "dirty," even "hazardous." In a filing with the World Trade Organization the country listed 24 kinds of solid wastes it would ban "to protect China's environmental interests and people's health."

The complete ban takes effect Jan. 1, but already some Chinese importers have not had their licenses renewed. That is leaving U.S. recycling companies scrambling to adapt.

"It has no value ... It's garbage."

Rogue Waste Systems in southern Oregon collects recycling from curbside bins, and manager Scott Fowler says there are always nonrecyclables mixed in. As mounds of goods are compressed into 1-ton bales, he points out some: a roll of linoleum, gas cans, a briefcase, a surprising number of knitted sweaters. Plus, there are the frozen food cartons and plastic bags that many people think are recyclable but are not.

For decades, China has sorted through all this and used the recycled goods to propel its manufacturing boom. Now it no longer wants to, so the materials sits here with no place to go.

"It just keeps coming and coming and coming," says Rogue employee Laura Leebrick. In the warehouse, she is dwarfed by stacks of orphaned recycling bales. Outside, employee parking spaces have been taken over by compressed cubes of sour cream containers, broken wine bottles and junk mail.

And what are recyclables with nowhere to go?

"Right now, by definition, that material out there is garbage," she says. "It has no value. There is no demand for it in the marketplace. It's garbage."

For now, Rogue Waste says it has no choice but to take all of this recycling to the local landfill. More than a dozen Oregon companies have asked regulators whether they can send recyclable materials to landfills, and that number may grow if they can't find someplace else that wants them.

At Pioneer Recycling in Portland, owner Steve Frank is shopping for new buyers outside of China.

"I've personally moved material to different countries in an effort to keep material flowing," he says.

Without Chinese buyers, Frank says U.S. recycling companies are playing a game of musical chairs, and the music stops when China's ban on waste imports fully kicks in.

"The rest of the world cannot make up that gap," he said. "That's where we have what I call a bit of chaos going on."

Adina Adler, a senior director with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, says China's new standards are nearly impossible to meet. The group is trying to persuade China to walk back its demanding target for how clean our recycling exports need to be. But Adler doesn't think China's decision is all bad.

"What China's move is doing is probably ushering in a new era of recycling," she says.

Read on at:  https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/568797388/recycling-chaos-in-u-s-as-china-bans-foreign-waste

China Doubles Down on Nuclear Power - IEEE Spectrum

China's surging economy runs mostly on coal, which slakes four-fifths of the country's thirst for electricity. And all over China, the consequences of that dependence are apparent: Its major cities are swathed in deadly smog, regional blackouts ensue when coal trains bog down on clogged rail networks, and coal mining routinely kills more than 2000 people a year. China desperately needs alternatives to coal-fired power.

So Beijing has launched an aggressive plan to decarbonize China's economy by pushing nuclear and renewable energy to 15 percent of energy consumption by 2020, up from 9.5 percent last year. Nuclear generating capacity would rise to over 80 gigawatts from the 11.3 GW currently in place. As a result, analysts expect China to meet its environmental goal for 2020: to reduce carbon emissions per yuan of economic output by 40 percent compared with 2005 levels.

To meet its nuclear numbers, China has embarked on the world's biggest reactor building program. Beijing has standardized its nuclear juggernaut around two pressurized water reactor designs: the Chinese/French CPR-1000, designed in the 1990s, and Westinghouse Electric's AP1000, designed in the 2000s. The country is turning both types out at high speed. According to the World Nuclear Association, 14 reactors were operating as of September, and 26 more were under construction. China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has said that 100 reactors may be feeding the grid by 2020. "They are not just building nuclear power plants. They are building an entire industry," says Chi-Jen Yang, a technology policy expert at Duke University's Center on Global Change.

Nevertheless, the Fukushima disaster has highlighted the risks of the nation's aggressive nuclear build-out. In Fukushima's wake Chinese leaders put new reactor projects on hold while they reviewed the safety of existing ones. Officials concerned by a potential shortfall of trained reactor operators and inspectors suggested trimming China's 2020 goal for more than 80 GW nuclear capacity by 10 GW or so. Experts also worry that corrupt management of the build-out could affect the safety of China's reactors. 

As Yang puts it: "If everything is done well, the risks should be low. But we don't know if everything is done correctly."

Read on and comment at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/nuclear/china-doubles-down-on-nuclear-power

IEEE Spectrum Editor's Note: This is part of the IEEE Spectrum special report:Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Power. 

Chart of the day: China is now world’s No. 1 manufacturer... in 2011 China clearly overtook the U.S.

The United Nations updated its National Accounts Main Aggregates Database today with data for 2011.  The chart above compares the annual manufacturing output of the US and China from 1970 to 2011 measured in current US dollars.  Before 2004, the United Nations only reported “Mining, Manufacturing and Utilities” for China, so the comparison above is for that measure of manufacturing in both countries, rather than just “manufacturing.”

In 2010, the manufacturing output of both countries was almost exactly equal, with China at $2.373 trillion and the US at $2.365 trillion.  But in 2011, China’s manufacturing output surged by 23% while manufacturing output in the U.S. only increased by 2.8%.  That brought China’s manufacturing output last year to more than $2.9 trillion, which was almost half a trillion dollars (and 20%) more manufacturing output than the $2.43 trillion of manufacturing output that was produced in the U.S. last year.

Looking at just manufacturing (without mining and utilities) in 2011, China’s factories produced $2.34 trillion of output, which was 23% higher than factory output in the US at $1.9 trillion.

Bottom Line: In 2010 the U.S. and China produced roughly the same amount of manufacturing output, but in 2011 China clearly overtook the U.S. to become the world’s largest manufacturer.  America’s long reign as the world’s No. 1 manufacturer has finally come to an end.  I’ll provide more charts and analysis on the new updated database in subsequent posts.

Please read full and follow at:

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/12/chart-of-the-day-china-is-now-worlds-no-1-manufacturer/

China cracking down more on imported trash

China says it won't take any more foreign garbage

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - China notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday that it would stop accepting shipments of rubbish such as waste plastic and paper as part of a campaign against "foreign garbage".

 

The import ban, which will enter into force by the end of 2017, will also cover slag from steelmaking, and many kinds of waste wool, ash, cotton and yarn.

 

"We found that large amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials. This polluted China's environment seriously," China's WTO filing said.

 

"To protect China's environmental interests and people's health, we urgently adjust the imported solid wastes list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly polluted."

 

China is a major importer of waste. Last year it imported 7.3 million tonnes of waste plastics, valued at $3.7 billion, accounting for 56 percent of world imports.

 

Apart from Hong Kong, the biggest sources of that plastic waste were Japan and the United States, which accounted for roughly 10 percent of the volume each, according to data from the International Trade Centre, a United Nations-WTO joint venture.

 

The same two countries are also the main sources of scrap paper going to China each year, accounting for half of the almost $1 billion business between them.

 

China's speedy industrial development has seen it struggling to regulate waste disposal, leading to toxic waterways and cities blanketed in smog.

 

China plans to conduct a nationwide survey of pollution sources, and has urged local authorities to speed things up by launching local investigations by the end of July, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Monday.

Original article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-environment-idUSKBN1A31JI 

China To Overtake US In Science In Two Years

"China is set to overtake America in scientific output as soon as 2013 — far earlier than expected. Chinese research spending has grown by 20% per year since 1999, now reaching over $100bn, and as many as 1.5 million science and engineering students graduated from Chinese universities in 2006. 'I think this is positive, of great benefit, though some might see it as a threat and it does serve as a wake-up call for us not to become complacent,' said Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith. However, the report points out that a growing volume of research publications does not necessarily mean an increase in quality."


China's Miracle Demystified - As a late-comer to this modernization process in 1949, China had the advantage of backwardness. To innovate, China did not have to invent the technology or industry by doing R&D. It could borrow technology, industries and institutions from the advanced countries with low risk and costs. East Asian economies, including Japan and the four small dragons as well as China after the transition in 1979, all tapped into this advantage.

—World Bank

China's miracle raises the following five questions.

1. What was behind China's extraordinary performance?
2. Why Did China Fail before the Transition in 1979?
3. Why Didn't Other Transition Economies Perform Equally Well?
4. What Costs Did China Pay for Its Success?
5. Can Other Developing Countries Replicate the Miracle?

Image credit smbc

China’s Ma Jun on the Fight To Clean up Beijing’s Dirty Air by Christina Larson: Yale Environment 360

Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun played an important role in a recent successful effort to force the government to more strictly monitor air pollution in Beijing. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, he talks about the daunting challenges of China’s anti-pollution battle and how social media is helping lead the fight to improve the nation’s air.

On a rare Beijing blue-sky day in late March, Ma Jun, one of China’s leading environmentalists, sat down to discuss a small but important victory: On January 6, China’s government announced that it would begin releasing previously unavailable daily readings of fine particulate pollution — called “PM 2.5” because the particles are less than 2.5 microns in diameter — in Beijing.

Although small in size, such pollution is especially detrimental to human health because the particles are minute enough to burrow into the lungs and bloodstream. Air pollution is hardly a new issue in China’s capital — remember the near-daily news broadcasts about smoggy skies in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics — but in the past year, public concern over urban air pollution in China has clearly reached a new level.

Ma Jun — the former journalist, author, and founder of the leading Beijing-based nonprofit Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs — thinks the timing of the growing alarm is no coincidence. In an interview with Yale Environment 360 contributor Christina Larson, he said that one reason air pollution has recently become such a pressing public issue is because of the concurrent rise of social-media platforms in China — especially the microblogging sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. While public demonstrations organized by citizens are in most cases illegal in China, microblogging sites have provided a new kind of public forum — a way to share information, quickly. An avid Weibo user himself, Ma Jun explains how new media has been a positive force for environmental-data transparency in China and why stricter government air pollution monitoring is a significant step in the long struggle to clean up up China’s air.

Please continue reading by christina larson:

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/chinas_ma_jun_on_the_fight_to_clean_up_beijings_dirty_air/2515/

Via @AirResources California and Shenzhen, China, sign agreement to cooperate on fighting climate change

Memorandum of Understanding signed at the launch of Shenzhen's cap and trade program - China's first carbon trading system

SHENZHEN, CHINA - Moving to further strengthen California's ties with China, California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols and Director of the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission Xu Anliang signed a memorandum of understanding today in Shenzhen that will expand cooperation at the subnational level to tackle global climate change.

 

The agreement builds on the significant diplomatic and business exchanges between California and China over the past year and a half, including the Governor's Trade and Investment Mission to China in April – which featured a visit to Shenzhen and Governor Brown's meetings with President Xi Jinping earlier this month and last February .

Under today's agreement, California and Shenzhen have agreed to work together to share policy design and early experiences from their climate trading programs, in order to build strong, stable and growing markets for clean energy technology and greenhouse gas emission reductions.

 

Chairman Nichols was invited by the Mayor of Shenzhen to participate in the inauguration today of China's first Emissions Trading System (ETS).  The event, which represents an important milestone in China's efforts to combat climate change, included a national conference attended by China's national leaders on climate change, including Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Minister Xie Zhenhua.  Leaders of the seven provinces and cities hosting China's first ETS pilots also attended this conference, together representing over 200 million Chinese residents.

  

"Congratulations to Shenzhen for taking this important step forward today," said Nichols at the inauguration ceremony.  "We are pleased to work with you in the effort to combat global climate change. The actions of states, provinces, and cities are creating a foundation that national and international action can spring from. We are blazing the trail."

The collaboration will focus on building effective systems for data gathering, emissions verification, market monitoring, compliance and enforcement.  Additionally, California and Shenzhen agree to monitor and share the best available climate and pollution-related science and research.  The goal is to use the data to identify and evaluate additional policies, including performance standards, and to support low-carbon economic growth and reduce toxic air pollution...

Please read full from: http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/newsrelease.php?id=445

Why China’s Insatiable Appetite For Coal Has Likely Peaked

China's run as the world's most voracious consumer of coal may be coming to an end.

A recent report from Greenpeace found that China's coal consumption declined in the first half of this year and new Chinese government data suggests that the country's coal imports have dropped. Estimates indicate that by the end of the year, China's coal imports could be 8 percent below 2013 levels.

China imported 18.86 million tonnes of coal in August, thelowest level since September 2012.

Part of the reduced demand is due to a slowing Chinese economy. After years of double-digit growth rates, China's GDP expanded by just 7.7 percent in 2013, and it couldstruggle to hit its 7.5 percent target this year. Some analysts are predicting an average growth rate of only 6 percent in the next few years.

But a lower GDP growth rate is only part of the reason. As the Sierra Club's Justin Guay points out, China may be beginning to "decouple" its growth from coal consumption. In other words, China's economy could continue to expand even while its coal consumption drops – something unthinkable not long ago.

That's due in large part to China's declared "war on pollution,"announced earlier this year.

Years of increasingly choking smog have sparked public anger and even led to protests. In 2013, a government survey of 74 Chinese cities found that all had pollution levels that exceeded levels the World Health Organization deems safe.

"We will resolutely declare war against pollution as we declared war against poverty," Premier Li Keqiang said in March. The plan calls for the closure of old and dirty steel, cement, and coal plants: An estimated 1,725 small-scale dirty coal plants are expected to be shuttered. The government also declared it would spend $275 billion in the next three years to reduce pollution.

China has also set up environmental courts, instituted fines for offenders of environmental standards, granted non-governmental organizations the right to sue polluters, and now requires the nation's largest factories to disclose pollution data to the public.

Please read full and follow at: 
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Coal/Why-Chinas-Insatiable-Appetite-For-Coal-Has-Likely-Peaked.html

China: Chinese urged to widely adopt Responsible Care

This article is brought to us by Plastics News China about the Chinese chemical industry and regulation

TIANJIN, CHINA (Sept. 18, 2012) — China’s chemical industry needs to do more to address challenges it faces building public trust over pollution and chemical health concerns, several senior industry officials said at a recent conference.

The suggestions delivered at the 2012 China Petroleum and Chemical International Conference in Tianjin included having more companies in China adopt the global “Responsible Care” standards governing environmental, health and safety operations, along with stepping up communication with the public.

Zhao Jungui, vice chairman of the Beijing-based China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, told the panel that China’s industry is serious about making improvements, and as an example pointed to the CPCIF last year working with the Chinese government to adopt the global Responsible Care program in China.

“The challenge is that Chinese chemical companies vary a lot in size and capability,” Zhao said, adding that CPCIF is urging more participation from industry. Companies should “please walk the talk,” he said.

Please continue reading at:

http://www.nexreg.com/regulatorynews/index.php/2012/09/18/sept-18-china-chinese-urged-to-widely-adopt-responsible-care/