China Works Its "Green Tech Label"

In recent months - and indeed these last few years - China has topped the western world's perception list as being ranked among the worst in more than a few ways. Whether based on fact - or on a contrivance of misinformation - some folks think China is the worst there is.

Among the less favorable pronouncements with which China has been endowed are:

* Human rights issues
* Overpopulation
* Currency manipulation
* Global pollution
* Energy consumption

These rank as a few of China's dark clouds among others. But how quickly can clouds blow away?

A Growing Ability To Excel

Especially in mentioned the last two issues above, China has the opportunity to turn things around. But can China do this? Will it? With a population of nearly 1.4 billion citizens, it certainly has the workforce to pull it off - and in relatively short time.

During the years that I lived in China, and in frequent visits while on business, I witnessed many large-scale infrastructure projects start and finish within a few short months. Many times I marveled that a project of the same scale may have taken years to complete in the US - where projects are frequently delayed or even halted altogether. In so-called "developed nations" project funding mismanagement and administrative red tape are the bane not only of progress, but even the mere maintenance of status quo.

While the issue of quality frequently arises when meting out projects on a short timeline, one thing is for certain about China's infrastructure mavens: once they get something down pat, they can do a great job, and get it done efficiently. Perhaps as an extreme example, I cite a video of this Chinese hotel being erected in six days. While time will tell how well this edifice in Changsha City will fare, it was erected with a precision and efficiency harking back to post-war reconstruction Japan. While Japan suffered at first as a maker of low-quality goods up until the 1970s, the Rising Sun learned its lessons well and have since excelled in quality - for example, as a maker of cars and trucks that well loutklast their American counterparts.

Given the chance to do something over and over again, one can work out all the kinks - and end up with an impressive product. This said... When faced with a great challenge with loads of spare time for refinement, China can ante up. Having the world's second largest economy does not put China to any disadvantage either.

China's "Green Challenge"

As the National People's Congress convenes to hammer out the country's twelfth Five Year Plan for 2011-2015, otherwise dozing Central Committee members will lean forward in their seats when their discussion broaches China's green initiatives.

With a cap on the amount of fossil fuel it can access domestically, China has sought to develop and capture alternative energies in all forms. With behemoth undertakings such as the Three Gorges Dam under its belt, China has the impetus to go further. With the United States as fellow consumer of coal, the sheer mass of China's consumption of this filthy fossil fuel brings to bear the country's impact on the global environment. Cursed with the pall of being one of the worst polluters, China will have to step up as an innovator in alternative energy capture.

With both the Americas and the EU deeply mired in economic downturn, corporate leaders worldwide are looking to the East for innovation on the Green Front.

A Good Start

We see a China that has already gotten off to a good green start already.

China's renewable investments outstripped that of the US by two-fold as early as 2009. As a leading manufacturer of one of the earlier alternative energy innovations - solar cells - China sources not only to its internal energy projects, it is also a destination for foreign investors bent on developing more green-oriented energy leads.

Multinational corporations are flocking to China's energy market by building state-of-the-art factories in China. Vestas, a Danish wind energy giant, has recently assembled the world's largest wind turbine complex in China, and is transferring the know-how to support it. Other concerns such as Siemens, General Motors, Westinghouse, and many others will have their hand in the pie, if not already.

Despite the host of the many challenges it already has to juggle, The Middle Kingdom is well positioned to keep itself afloat - and on the Green Edge.

Sources:

China Article Index, by journalist and technical writer John Meléndez
China's Coming Green Boom
China leads race for green jobs
As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes, New York Times
Coal-Fired Power Needs to Step Down
China Plans to Harvest Combustible Ice
China Now World's Second Largest Economy
Chinese Fast Building
Report: One Half of China's Water Undrinkable
China Overtakes US as World's Largest Energy Consumer
Beyond Lead in the Paint: China Has Its Own Problems, Too