BRIC+ News & comments

[Billy T]

The photo also illustrates the polluted air quite nicely. But those cities sure are impressive. ...

Yes, and you can bet the photo was taken on a relative clear / low pollution day. However, polluting a city in a rapid growth era when coal is used for energy is the normal pattern. I'm 79 years old and as about a 10 year old child, spent a day or two with my father in Pittsburg PA, which at that time was called: "The steel capital of the world." Every where around the city there were "coke ovens" - A constant (24/7) source of smoke and smog as coke was made from the cheap abundant local coal.* It was so bad on a windless day that you could barely see buildings on the other side of a wide street! Women hung out their wash to dry, and it came back a uniform grey.

* They were long rows of low brick buildings (domed, as I recall). You could not see an end of any row, even if at the mid-point of the row.

China has most of its power from coal, still, but is world leader in all forms of installed clean energy, including hydro-electric dams, and installing about twice as much solar PV and wind power, each as US or Europe does each year! They are very aware of their coal legacy problems - why working so hard to switch to cleaner energy sources.

China does things in a big way, and nowhere is that more evident than in renewable energy. The world’s most populous nation was the biggest center of investment in the quarter ended Sept. 30, with $26.7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The U.S. was second for the same period at $13.4 billion.

Most mountain peaks near big power demand centers look like this:

Many lower areas have new PV cells marching over the rolling land so look like this:

Both these photos are from that November 2015 Bloomberg article.

Google "China's clean energy investment" and see same story often. One 25Nov2015 article says: "China's clean energy investment over the last year outpaced that of the U.S., the U.K., and France combined." That is true, even though UK is world leader in off shore wind power.

In a couple of decades, from the 119th floor observation windows of the Shanghai Tower, China's tallest skyscraper, (first photo above) in Lujiazui, on most days you will have a clear view to the horizon - about 20 miles away. China does every thing big and fast. Pittsburg was very polluted for at least 60 years with common residents, not just the coal miners, dying of "black lung disease" or other respitory diseases. I don't remember exactly the data I read years ago but the life expectancy of a Pittsburg resident was years less than some one who lived 50 or more miles away!

SUMMARY: China is going thru the same high pollution phase the US did, but three or four times faster. Soon, I bet, China will start to clean up its highly polluted rivers, as US did. I lived as a child in Charleston W.Va. where the Elk river joined the Kanawa river. Occasionally the Elk river's surface had a flash fire!

 

[Edont Knoff]

China has most of its power from coal, still, but is world leader in all forms of installed clean energy, including hydro-electric dams, and installing about twice as much solar PV and wind power, each as US or Europe does each year! They are very aware of their coal legacy problems - why working so hard to switch to cleaner energy sources.

Big centralized organizations and the infamous communist 5-year-plans both are usually regarded very inefficient, but strangely in China there is a big number of very reasonable decisions made, and they are also pushed very effectively.

Personally I'm very impressed by China's efforts to make better use of clean energy sources.

 

[Billy T]

Scotland signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday with Chinese investment groupSinoFortone Group and China Railway No 3 Engineering Group, the largest constructioncompany in the world, to bring about infrastructure projects with a potential value of 10 billionpounds ($14.3 billion).

"With high-speed trains traveling at a speed of over 300 kilometers per hour, it certainly will help Scotland change the situation in which its ground commuting systems long been dominated by automobiles. And related projects can generate a large number of jobs and construction materials supplying businesses," said Luo Renjian, a researcher at the Institute of Transport Research at the National Development and Reform Commission.

China is winning foreign high speed rail contracts. On same day announced this smaller one:

ChinaRailwayGroupLimited (CREC) announced a 2 billion dollar investment in Malaysia on Monday with an eye on further expansion into the Southeast Asian market.

Their train are not only fastest, and in volume production, but beautiful too.

 

[Billy T]

China is on a buying spree in US assets; 40.5 billion worth in 2016 thus far - about double all of 2015's buys and there is 3/4 ths of 2016 still to come!
Details of top 8 itmes bought so far in 2016, here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-chinese-money-is-buying-in-america-right-now

 

[Billy T]

Note, China often puts it large arrays of PV cells up on posts. As they tilt to follow sun, (even assuming they do, more if they don't as well as less capital etc.) there is still considerable sun shine hitting the ground that can still grow some crops. Best seen in last photo. Also, cows do need some shade.

this is part of not the largest PV aray in China - but is the largest in one in Northern China, and making news as is now grid connected. Here is a partial over view of the full aray:

 

[Billy T]

It is not just in PV cells that China leads the world - in high speed rail too:

"We should speed up the expansion of China's high-speed railway network, build more inter-city and city-suburb links, and work to complete a freight railway network," said the vicepremier.

"We must accomplish the target of investing more than 800 billion yuan ($123 billion) in railway construction in 2016," said Ma. China has some 121,000 kilometers of rail lines in operation. More than 19,000 kilometers ofthem are high-speed railways, accounting for over 60 percent of the total in the world

 

[Billy T]

See text associated with photo of cut sugar cane stocks here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/spons...n-your-sleeve/?adv=6703&prx_t=-wkCAQpcFAUE0NA Story is about chemical company Toray begining to make "bio-plastics" from sugar cane, mainly.
This is nothing new. I have several old post about BrasKem doing that in huge volume years ago.

In June 2007, Braskem announced the successful production of the first internationally certified plastics made from sugarcane ethanol. One month later, Dow entered into a joint venture with Crystalsev, the leading Brazilian ethanol producer, to also produce bioplastics. Both companies have moved quickly to achieve commercial production. Braskem is now building a $300 million plant at its existing Triunfo complex with the capacity to produce 200,000 tons of green plastics per year. Expected to come online between 2010 and 2011, this will be the first facility of its kind to enter commercial operation. At the same time, Dow and Crystalsev are developing the first integrated facility (sugar cane plantation and ethanol mill along with a plastics manufacturing plant) to produce bioplastics. This facility will produce 350,000 metric tons of plastics and is expected to start production in 2011, becoming a key part of Dow's growth strategy.

Note this article is 8 years old. If you come to the summer Olympics, in Brazil, you will sit on seats made from BrasKem's sugar cane bio-plastics!