BEIJING - As gas prices rise, we see more
and more news reports about how the demand from China is driving up
prices. Fortune (May 3, 2005) headline screams “Energy-starved
China is doing what you would expect: becoming a global oil power.”
The article argues, “nearly 40% of the rise in global oil demand came
from China. And it’s not just cars. Oil is China’s quick fix for generating
electric power in the face of coal shortages and blackouts.”
However, the British Petroleum (BP) statistics shows that China oil import in 2004 represents only 6.6 percent of world crude oil import, with the United States still ranks number one. As the Bush administration made the geo-political move to secure oilfields in Iraq; it naturally feared that its competitors would do the same elsewhere. Yet there seems to be discrepancies in what is feared and what may actually be happening throughout the developing countries. Perhaps while the US government is worrying about oil prices and oilfields, other countries are busily seeking new alternative energy sources?
To find out what going on, I decide to go and attend The Second China International Renewable Energy Equipment & Technology Exhibition and Conference (NRE2005) held in Beijing, May 2005. This one is their second such conference ever held. The conference is divided into 6 sessions that include:
1. Solar Thermal, Photovoltaic, Hydrogen Energy, and Fuel Cell
2. Biomass Energy and Energy from Waste
3. Wind Power and Wind Hybrid System
4. Geothermal Energy and District Heating and Heat Recovery
5. General Session of Renewable Energy
6. Renewable Energy Project Financial and Clean Development Mechanism
The following are some of the highlights that maybe of interests to planners, architects, and developers:
- The city of Beijing grows radially over many
hundreds of years like a tree trunk with new ring roads added to connect
new districts on the edges. The old city center is still in the innermost
section.
- Prior to the 1949 social revolution, the entire old district where
the Emperor resided was walled off.
- There are numerous public spaces and parks
that are being heavily used by people. Private spaces are not what you
would normally encounter in the city.
Beijing workers used to be provided with free
or subsidized housing by the government. However, after the housing
reform in 1980s, much of housing is no longer distributed as "welfare".
Housing in Beijing are high-density clustered around a common park.
Space heating for high-rise housing in Beijing is done by burning coal
(to generate steam) since it is considered “low-grade” energy. An industrial
chimney could be seen at the center of a typical group of high-rise
housing. At present, coal accounts for 76 percent of China’s total energy
production and 68 percent of total energy consumption.
- Tsinghua University is experimenting
on a “demonstration building” that uses “zero energy” - a passive solar
building.
- Reinforced Concrete is still the main material used in building construction
due to low labor costs.
- Introduction to the development, characteristics, and manufacture
process of flexible substrate a-Si solar cells. Builders would have
the options of attaching flexible solar cells to buildings elements
themselves without having to mount solar panels on rooftops.
- Large-scale wind farms are already in use in coastal areas and Inner Mongolia generating electricity up to 60% capacity factor.
- There is an argument that Biomass Energy should not be the main energy source for China due to its potential damage to the environment when applied and planted in large scale. Solar energy should be the large-scale energy of the future.
- Preparing Biodiesel from waste restaurant grease. Such oil can be used as substitute for diesel oil and can be used for cars and trucks.
Upon the closing of the conference, I have the honor to be invited to visit the prestigious Tsinghua University by the deputy director of its Department of New Energy - professor Su Mingshan. As I am walking up the stairs to his office, the professor humorously mentions that in Beijing “your buildings have to have at least 6-stories to qualify for an elevator”. Since his office is located on the fifth floor of a 5-stories building, we got a good workout going up the stairs.
Not having an elevator does save energy but it does raise questions about accessibility for the handicapped. Since most housing in Beijing are over 6-stories tall and thus have elevators, this may not be a serious issue. What we find “serious” but interesting is the fact that the Chinese do not seem to have this concept of one size fits all like we do here.
Their Maoist era planning efforts do deserve some recognition at least in their attempts to target the end-users. Take for example, how streets in Beijing are designed to accommodate a wide variety of vehicles. These include foot traffic, bikes, motorized rickshaws, buses, cars, and trucks. Unlike the streets here in America, Beijing streets are divided into lanes of different sizes using physical dividers. Thus, if you were going on a short trip then you would use the bike. On longer trips, perhaps you would take a cab or a bus. One of the new friends whom I met at the conference shows me his electric bus laboratory at Tsinghua University. These electric buses can be recharged using wide a variety renewable energy sources such as solar or wind.
As I tour the city of Beijing, I’ve seen many buildings that use solar hot water system (thermo-siphoning system). Solar water heater businesses pop-up everywhere along the country roads just like gas stations in the United States. The average low-income folks thus have access to free energy from the sun.
While in much of the United States, the Green movement is still a subject of elite groups, it is the poorer folks who are the ones spending the largest percentage of their income on energy bills. Cooperative efforts between government agencies and grass-roots organizations are necessary in making renewable energy available in poorer communities. Such efforts can lessen their burden on paying energy bills.
Although China is starting to see problems of the widening of wealth distribution after the introduction of the Market economy in late1970s, its socialist foundation of planned economy is still strong. Big private monopoly does exist in China but is kept in check by the public interest. Thus, when new technology or alternative energy sources do arrive, China is quick to adopt them. Linux operating system, open-source software, cheap mobile phones/internet, file-sharing networks, country-code-free DVDs, and advance public transportation system are among the well-known examples.
The irony is that most of these new technologies were invented in the United States at many of its top universities. The slow adoption of these new technologies, including renewable energy, has taken its toll on the American public. The rising gas price is but one of the many unfortunate examples.
