China Goes Green

Well, cough cough, in a few days time, cough cough, the Olympics start in Beijing, cough cough splutter. I sincerely hope that the pollution and poor air quality does not harm any of the participants. While personally, if I were an athlete I would not be prepared to attend the games in a repressive country. However, it has the be a matter of personal concious.

Though the image of me as an athlete though is the most absurd image anyone could conjour as when I had Athletes Foot, I asked for a second opinion!

However, being serious, while china is very heavily pouted as a result of the rapid industrialisation in the country, China is however taking the issue of climate change seriously. While China has the right to develop economical, they have done so thus far by copying the mistakes of the west.

When electricity for lighting first appeared, it was in fact the loss of power through resistance that meant that we have power in our homes of 240 volts. I know there are variations around the world, but the principal is the same. It was the problem of getting power from the power station to the home or end user that lead to a standard of 240 volts in Britain and Europe.

However, had we gone for power for lighting and small appliances of just 12 volts then the system could have incorporated a storage system. Yes even at the beginning of the previous century that would have been possible, using lead acid batteries just as are still used in many cars. When I had my allotment I used a solar panel to charge a battery that lit the shed and chicken house. I know that two people followed my lead and did the same. It only cost me seventy five pounds to do it. It was cheaper for others as they were able to get old batteries, I had bought new. I even thought about doing this at my home, as while lighting is not my largest electricity cost, I could see that recouping the cost would take only a couple of years. Additionally, when I looked further into the issue, I discovered that there were many appliances that are manufactured that run on 12 volts for boats and caravans. For about two thousand pounds I could run a TV a DVD player, Fridge and Freezer even a computer all from solar power. That would have included the cost of the appliances.

This is something that is happening in many developing countries. As solar lighting reaches places that are far away from the “National Grid” (as we in the UK call our electricity infrastructure), it is even cheaper than a 240 volt system as it costs millions to install the infrastructure, the power lines and power stations. However, these systems are mainly installed in the homes of the poor. For example in India where kerosene is still the main source of lighting, these solar systems are installed as part of health programs as the kerosene causes breathing difficulties. The fact that is also environmentally friendly is an added bonus. Incidentally, in India alone fifty thousand tones of CO2 are released annually just from kerosene lamps.

Now I know that my reader is wondering what this has to do with China? As China develops its electricity infrastructure, they are making the same mistakes that we in the west made, large centralised power stations and cables carrying the power from the source of generation to the user. By following this model they are tying themselves into the addiction of power usage. If they went for small scale solar then the lighting and small appliance needs of the entire population could be met at the same cost of five coal fired power stations. Further, it would have the effect of closing down fifteen 1000 mega what stations. That is using current technology.

China is developing green technologies and last year invested twelve billion dollars (US equivalent) in renewables only just behind the world leader, Germany who invested fourteen billion dollars. While the US government hides its inaction on climate change behind the myth that China is doing nothing to combat climate change, the reality is that China spends more as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on renewables than the US and Canada does combined.

Now don't think that I am saying that China is wonderfully environmentally friendly, but they have recognised the problem and are trying to tackle the problem. And they are doing it in ways that are not damaging their economy, in fact they have recognised the economic advantages. The countries that do the most now to develop renewables will have a grater economical advantages in the years to come. While I know that the price of oil has dropped and the price of petrol is now falling, the cost of fossil fuels is going to rise.

Therefore any country that has true renewable energy generation will not have their economies damaged by the wild fluctuations that will continue to happen.

While I do find the Chinese government a distasteful one, I do have the hope that with the eyes on China during the Olympics they (the Chinese Government) can learn from the spirit of freedom that is supposed to be at the heart of the games. Equally, I hope that we can learn that China is trying to be green.

More on the Chinese renewables