Archive for the ‘Green Biz’ Category

Apologies for the long absence. As some of you might have guessed, it has been a busy summer with things here at CGC, and it has been a struggle to keep up with my daily responsibilities.. For my first post back (and I do have more posted planned), I wanted to load up some notes I wrote down while preparing for a presentation recently on why ... Full story

Coming up next month is the 3rd JUCCCE China Energy Forum, and anyone who is interested in learning about (or cracking) the China market should really consider joining this event. Why do I say that?  Simple, the 2008 event that Peggy (and her team) put together was the best conference I have been to ... Full story

Typically, when speaking about sustainability, I preface my thoughts on the issue that my definition is not simply one that is based in environment. That in addition to the environmental issues faced, we must also look at how we align economies and societies to be more sustainable as well. In China, this definition ... Full story

It is not often that I receive an article that sets me off quite like the one I received yesterday announcing the new program partnership between Marriott and Conservation International.  The article, Marriott International takes up water issues in China, highlights a recent donation of 500,000 USD to Conservation ... Full story

In what may be my favorite CNN piece in a long time, Emily Chang has put together a 3 minute piece on the water discharge that is created by the denim jean dying facilities lining the ... Full story

6 months ago when it became clear that China was going to act in a manner that defended its reserves or rare metals, it provided an opportunity perhaps the first public discussion on the fact that our reliance on these metals stretched beyond the traditional need. That, while ... Full story

Last week while attending Shanghai Green Drinks, the project manager of the ZEDFactory’s Shanghai EXPO facility gave a presentation on the building, and how they were able to achieve (by design) a carbon zero project.  The only carbon zero project on the EXPO site. A well known group from ... Full story

Annual Summit of China Green Companies to be held on 22nd in Chengdu The Annual Summit of China Green Companies 2010 and Chengdu Forum of Business Leaders sponsored by China Entrepreneur Club and Chengdu Municipal People’s Government will be held in Chengdu from April 22nd to 23rd, and over 600 important Chinese and ... Full story

Suzhou Expo follows green path of Shanghai Full story

  With less than 2 weeks to go, things on the EXPO site are starting to take shape, and one of the recent highlights was the unveiling of the EXPO buses that are going to be on site moving the estimated 400,000 – 600,000 daily visitors around the site: The first ... Full story

In this month’s Lancelot, a group of 6 authors have published the 10 page article Environmental health in China: progress towards clean air and safe water, and I would highly recommend readers take the time to download the paper (right click here) and read it. Here is their summary: Environmental risk factors, especially ... Full story

 Dear Green Drinkers, ZEDfactory has been invited to exhibit the construction of two zero carbon buildings within the Urban Best Practice Area at Shanghai Expo. Zero carbon status has been achieved via a combination of state-of-the-art energy efficiency and building-integrated renewable energy technologies  – without resorting to offsetting or remote generation. The building generates enough renewable ... Full story

  Going into the weekend, Zhang Xiaoqiang (NDRC Vice Chairman) made an announcement at the Boao forum that leaves little doubt that a series of new regulations are on the way.Regulations that are going to discourage resource intensive and environmentally degrading industries, while supporting those that are going ... Full story

  Following up on my previous posts on the role that academic institutions can play in developing leaders with a “sustainable mindset” and toolbox, I wanted to highlight four articles that Anthony D. Cortese recently wrote for Fast Company where he took a look at some of the trends occurring on US campuses. Part ... Full story

With less than a month to go to Shanghai EXPO, I have been receiving a number of requests for my opinion on the “sustainability” of the EXPO itself. It is a subject I addressed for the first time while speaking at a Net Impact event, and followed that ... Full story

If you are looking for something to do on Earth Day,then look no further than the Greennovate Earth Day event. A full compound affair, this year Greennovate has a lot of activities that will help participants learn about ways they can improve their lives, community ... Full story

About two hours ago, Shanghai;’s 2nd WWF Earth Hour ended, and I gotta say that while there were a few hold outs (HILTON HOTEL…), overall, WWF did a good job getting the cities building managers to participate this year. Here are some stripes of my view (from the south side of ... Full story

  If you have been following China for any amount of time, then you will know that China is good for a chart that will shock and awe readers.  Few, if any, in the cleantech space have as much power as the one above, from the Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP study ... Full story

Went through my inbox this weekend and came across an email from a friend who had sent along their list of preferred China environmental blogs and sites, and thought I would pass it on to you. A few of them I frequent, but others are new to me, so proceed with caution. If you have others that you feel are worth mentioning, please let me know ... Full story

A new shade of green is gradually sweeping across China’s export manufacturing industry, one that took a while to take root. Companies are riding the environment-friendly wave. Pressure from the national government and tightening regulations in overseas markets are compelling a growing number of suppliers to modify their business strategies and incorporate ecologically safe processes. The transition is neither extreme nor desperate, but the impact could be widespread as many midsize and small companies are also taking “green” initiatives. Due to the sheer number of these suppliers, they account for a large portion of the pollution and wasteful practices in the country. Full story

1. Chengdu promised: to give “one hour to the world” On February 1st, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced that the Municipal Government of Chengdu had promised on January 29th that it participate in the activity of the “Earth Hour 2010” at 20:30 of March 27th, which indicated Chengdu had become the first city to join the WWF China “Earth Hour 2010”, and the prelude of the activity in China was also drew open therefrom. 2. Green Chengdu, 100 electric buses to drive on streets this year This year, the program of actions on the promotion of the industrialization of electric vehicles of Chengdu City had finally settled, learnt the journalist recently from the Municipal Energy Office. The program fixed the execution of the “Hundred-thousand-ten-thousands” project, the demonstration and popularization of electric buses, namely hundred urban public transport, thousand taxis and ten thousand private cars. According to the program phased targets, in 2010, Chengdu will complete the target of putting into the demonstrational operation of 100 electric buses and 100 electric city sanitation trucks. The State Grid Corporation Sichuan branch then launched a supporting facilities construction project, and will build 3 electric vehicle charging stations and 300 charging stacks in Chengdu this year. In 2012, Chengdu will form a production capacity of 20,000 electric vehicles. Full story

A bit of a rant here, but why is it that within many of Shanghai’s restaurants it is still considered acceptable to smoke a cigar?  Over the weekend, while enjoying my lunch with a friend in a cafe where the entire menu is “healthy” a patron came in a lite up ... Full story

Last year when preparing for my presentation at the 2009 CHaINA summit, I was given access to preliminary data from a survey that the China Supply Chain council had sent out on green practices.  The council, lead by MAx Henry, has always been (in relation to other industry groups) forward leaning on the issues and he was ... Full story

Perhaps one of the more interesting, and at times comical and frustrating, dynamics about working in China is that sometimes you just know that the word “China” can create an emotional response that some cannot overcome. It is a dynamic that China does bring upon itself sometimes, but it is also a response ... Full story

   Tony’s Farm is located in Nanhui district and by car is just over an hour from downtown Puxi . It’s a large scale commercial operation with 280 acres of organic vegetables surrounded by other farm and agricultural land. Unlike some of the other organic farms this is a huge project and they are currently building their own moats, or what are best described as moats around the farm to create islands of vegetable plots. Tony’s Farm also has their own fertilization and manure mixing area, water filtration and holding tanks, ponds and a very impressive clubhouse with full kitchen and dining rooms. I believe I also spotted a wind mill in front of the glass house exhibition areas- in future they will hold tours and classes in organic farming. The water distribution system at Tony’s Farm is a combination of either hanging pipes and a drip system or an imbedded water pipe in the rows of soil mounds, depending on the type of vegetable growing in the tent. The surrounding gutters and drains were very clean and actually dry- no water run off or excess that we saw, and overall it appears to be a very clean and well organized operation. The fertilizers used are their own mixture which consists of mushroom and soy by-product which they get from Shanghai suppliers and manure from animals….there weren’t many animals observed though, except for about 20-30 healthy looking lambs in one pen area. During our tour of the farm and the fertilizer area, we also saw large tanks of bacteria, which they grow/ferment themselves and mix into the fertilizer mixture. No pesticides are allowed of course and they use the same yellow boards to attract and catch the bugs inside the tents. Full story

For those of you who are in the real estate/ building sector, CBRE has recently launched their first edition of Sustainability Asia (right click for PDF download), a publication dedicated to all things green about our built environment. Recent Green Building News, City profiles, Interviews with NGO leaders, and special features, and given ... Full story

   Hi everyone, my name is Kimberly and I have recently been asked to contribute to this website in the area of health, food, nutrition & well-being. I’ve been in China for almost 8 and a half years and have always been conscious of our surroundings in terms or air, water, food but have never really taken the time to explore certain areas for myself. Until now that is. Over the past 10 months I have moved on from just being well through exercise and fitness to seriously trying to be well through what I eat. A  TCM course, food therapy and now Integrative Nutrition has played a huge part in my shift from some packaged foods, eating out and convenience to whole foods, grains and incorporating organic produce as much as possible. With the aim of trying to understand what the term “organic” means in Shanghai and of course being able to answer confidently that organic farms are relatively healthy and the produce better than the local wet markets, I embarked on a few weekend adventures to the organic vegetable farms to find out if and how their farms are clean, chemical free and healthy. Full story

1) Chengdu eventually achieved 315 days of fine air quality in 2009 On December 16th, 2009, the number of days with fair air quality in the downtown Chengdu achieved 15 days earlier the livelihood project goal put forward by the Municipal Government at the beginning of last year to “reach 311 days of fine air quality in the downtown area”. According to the statistics, in 2009 Chengdu has eventually achieved 315 days with fine air quality. 2) Western China’s largest LED production base operates in Pixian On January 16th, the first phase of the “Sichuan Yuanli Photoelectric”, the biggest LED production base in West China, was officially put into operation in the Pixian Modern Industrial Port of Chengdu. It is learnt that Sichuan Yuanli Photoelectric’s LED production base invested with 540 million yuan, was started construction in May, 2009, which is the first LED project put into production in the industrial zone, and is also currently the biggest LED production base in the western region. Full story

This weekend while attending the Three on The Bund Sustainable Business and Society Event I knew that it would be one that I would be interested in as at the top of the ticket you had thee leaders of business management schools talking about sustainability. Moderated by PhD Lu Xiongwen ,Dean of Fudan University’s Business School, the main event was really when Prof. Richard Locke got up to speak. Proceeded by his Dean, Prof Locke’s speech was basically broken out into a few major areas: How Sloan defined sustainability,where “sustainability” is going , and what Sloan was doing to educated its students. Full story

Just a notice for readers that in two weeks JUCCCE will be holding its next Idealab, and you will be able to see both myself and Charlie McElwee of China Environmental LAw blog presenting at the event.. as well as participate in a workshop that will look at what will happen with all the materials from the EXPO pavilions. When: January 26, 2010; 2pm to 6pm Where: ... Full story

What Happened in Copenhagen View more presentations from Cleaner Greener China. It has been nearly a month since the 15000 (or so) people descended upon Copenhagen to hammer through what was to be “the biggest moment” of our lives, to address the BIGGEST ISSUE FACING MANKIND. Right? No shortage of commentary on who was at fault, my first lecture for the second semester gave me the reason and opportunity to sit down and think about what really went wrong. I did so party because I have been bothered by what I saw at Copenhagen, not to mention the endless abuse of media publications by politicians trying to deflect their own responsibility, but primarily because my students are about to kick off 35 of their own projects that will in many ways mimic the process that Copenhagen was SUPPOSED to be as they identify critical issues, bring stakeholders together, plan programs, and work with the various groups to take the next steps. Full story

Earlier this week at an event, I was speaking with the Sustainability Director of a large FMCG firm discussing what the outcome of the Copenhagen negotiations meant for business like the one he represented (his firm is a bit of a poster child), and my reply to him was to get ... Full story

For anyone looking to come down from 30,000 feet to get their hands dirty with Green Buildings, then I recommend checking out this Saturday’s GIGA event (1:00 – 5:30pm). Full details are at their website (click here), but here is the basics: Schedule: 13:00 – 13:30: registration and networking 13:30 – 13:45: event introduction and welcome 13:45 – 14:20: case study: building positive impact 14:20 – 14:30: RCC: China’s premiere project ... Full story

Green Drinks will be held this Wednesday 13th January, at the Philia Lounge at 4-8 Arbuthnot Road, Central. It is very close to Lang Kwai Fong, for a map visit http://www.philialounge.com/. We’ll be there around the same time, from 7pm onwards. This month Doug Woodring will speak about Project Kaisei and his experience of 21 days in the North Pacific Gyre (the “Plastic Vortex”). Project Kaisei ... Full story

With one of the hottest topics lately being China’s role in the upcoming climate discussions in Copenhagen, and their potential for cleantech, I thought I would pass on the recent white paper from Edelman Leading to COP15: Understanding China’s position on climate change as it is a topic that has become ... Full story

It’s that great time of the month again: Green Drinks! 每个月最让您愉悦的集会: “GREEN DRINKS”! Green Drinks will be June 18th from 6-8pm at Racks M.D.B (5/Floord Xintiandi Mall, 123 Xingye Lu, near Madang Lu). Please mark your calendars and feel free to invite others to the event. Remember, 2-for-1 drinks and food and ... Full story

A friend from the Qinghai organization Friendship Charity Association has sent me a proposal to bring solar electricty to 400 people in Qinghai. PROJECT PURPOSE/GOAL This Solar electricity generating panel project would provide a reliable source of electricity for Tsanak Tibetan villagers and solve problems as follows: Local villagers, especially the local women and girls, have to complete loads of daily chores, such as collecting fuel from the grasslands, which is five to six kilometers away from the village. This fuel is used as the source of light at night as well as for cooking. Also, they take trips to the local town 11 km away to buy oil and lamps for their night lighting. It is traditionally women’s responsibility to collect fuel and buy lamps to light their tents. Consequently, a large proportion of their energy and time were occupied by these tasks. For years, the villagers have lived in their smoky houses and tents. As a result, their health deteriorates with eye problems and respiratory problems. In addition, cleaning smoke stained walls is also a headache for the household The local students have difficulty in doing their homework at night. During the day, the students need to help their parents with chores, often leaving little time for studying. Consequently, local children tend to perform poorly at school. The villagers take large sacks to collect fuel. Dragging these sacks for five or six kilometers damages the grassland. It is very difficult to travel to obtain fuel during snowy winters and rainy summers. Villagers lack electricity and therefore cannot benefit from access to information channels like radio. Full story

One of the interesting phenomenon over the last 18 months, as the Cleantech market reached its bubble, was how important it was to have a “China play”. There was a lot of coverage on the issues, a lot of announcements by corporations/ funds looking to capture the market, but there has yet to any real penetration of the market.  That while many media reports tout the fact that there is a Dongtan ecotown project, and debate its future, few have understood that in the meantime 10,000s of buildings have been built using the same old standards.. and that even if all 30 ecotowns were successful,the face is that very little of these ecotowns will penetrate the market in a way that will influence the way the next 5 million buildings are built. It is a constant question on my mind, and the minds of some friends that I have met with recently, and do I wanted to devoted a little time to this issue of how can firms really crack the China market. The Problem: Hitting the Brick Wall How to bring a product to market that will not just succeed in the traditional sense of bringing in a profit for that company in particular, but will penetrate the wider market and influence the wider market. Full story

It is not often that I promote the purchase of a product, or the following of a single brand.  I am more of a “use it until it dies” kind of person, however there are times when execptions must be made and recognition given. In this case ... Full story

Seriously.  What is the use of this plastic bags?  It is clearly not strong enough to support the weight should I chose to use the bag as a … bag, and it is clearly not meant to act as a measure of protection. Is this the result of a food safety law, or is it just another wasted addition ... Full story

In what I belive is one of the first steps in teh right direction to relieving the pressure of China’s water table, reservoirs, and Hebei province itself, officials in Beijing are now looking to increase the price of water. According to the China.org report Beijing looks to dampen demand for scarce water, the primary catalyst is a delay in the south to north diversion project (a project readers know I am skeptical of): “The current prices are not sustainable for a water-scarce city like Beijing,” said Professor Wang Dangxian, a researcher with the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research. As a short-term fix, Beijing brought in around 225 million tons of clean water from Hebei province before the Beijing Olympic Games last year. Full story

Last month, at Australia National University, members of China’s and Australia’s scientific community came together to discuss climate change: Australia is one of the largest per capita annual emitters.  Our respective economies are inter-dependent and GHG intensive.  The Australia China Climate Change Forum, to be held on Wednesday 15 April 2009 at The Australian National University, will stimulate ... Full story

As readers know, one of the key tenants/ pillars of CGC is that athere is more to sustainability than solar panels and hybrids.  It is not that I have anything against them.  It is just that I often feel that the debates of how to be more sustainable are too driven by the need to “find solutions” and “invest in technologies”, and fail to address the waste (physical and philisophical) that is so prevalent the current system. For me this is worrying as the average Joe’s (Zhou’s in China) fail to connect the dots between their daily lives, and waste. Full story

Here is a fun one for you. A guide to building your own yurt, or as they are known in Mongolia. the Ger: The oldest complete yurt yet discovered was in a 13th century grave in the Khentei Mountains of Mongolia. Discoveries at Pazaryk, Southern Siberia indicate that the technology to make yurts was in use during the ... Full story

Having just finished an article on the need to develop industrial systems that better capture and reuse waste, I found the follow clip interesting. In the article Chinese Vice Premier says recycling can help boost economic growth, Vice Premier Li Keqiang says: Promoting recycling would not only improve the use of resources and protect the environment, it would also help companies become more profitable, ... Full story

Last night, at 8:30 while walking down the street, we noticed that the lights along Nanjing Road had gone out.  We had just finished our dinner, and it was good to see that the normally bright lights of Plaza 66 were off. There are a few articles covering the event, and I am pleasantly surprised with the results that ... Full story

While the Rainbow warriors may be known around the world for the way that they create awareness on environmental issues, in China they have made a name for themselves as providers of amazing research. To highlight some of their recent pieces, they have released a newsletter containing descriptions and links to 4 new pieces. Ignoring the Environment Is Not a Viable ... Full story

In what may sound like a bit of propaganda, Fuji Xerox’s Suzhou facility has just received ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 Certifications for their plant which was designed for the three zeros: Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) constructed an integrated recycling system in China and commenced operation in January 2008 with the aim of achieving “zero landfill,” “no pollution” and “no illegal disposal.” It is a fantastic example of a facility whose very design will result in not only a reduced direct footprint, but will help to drastically improve the legacy footprint of many Fuji products: Fuji Xerox Eco-Manufacturing (Suzhou) completely disassembles and recycles used products including copy/multifunction devices and cartridges recovered from all over China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) by Fuji Xerox (China) Ltd., Fuji Xerox’s sales company in China. The recycling site commenced operation in January 2008, has the capacity to disassemble and recycle 15,000 devices and 500,000 cartridges per year, and aims to achieve recycling rates of more than 96 percent for devices and 99 percent for cartridges by the end of March 2009. Full story