Renew On Line (UK) 35

12. China cuts CO2

Although China, with its burgeoning economy, was supposed to become the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows the country is cutting emissions faster than the US. By beginning to make the transition away from coal, implementing some energy efficiency and restructuring its economy, the Chinese have reduced CO2 emissions by 17% over what they would have been, in the four years since 1997, NRDC says.

Over the past decade, China’s overall CO2 emissions have grown 8.4 percent, while emissions of CO2 in the US have climbed 14 percent. NRDC reports in its study that China has reduced subsidies to the coal industry, closed inefficient coal plants and closed mines in the last five years, leading to a large decline in coal usage, while in the US coal usage has slightly risen. China is second only to the US in terms of CO2 emissions and experts had predicted it would overtake the US by 2020.

More info: www.nrdc.org

Renewables for Olympics

The city of Beijing will spend billions of dollars in the next seven years to improve its environment in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. The city’s bid had support from 20 non-government environmental groups which signed an ‘Action Plan for a Green Olympics’. The cities plan for ‘greenification’ include 100 square kilometer park, green belts within city limits, and the planting of millions of trees. The Olympic bid includes plans for a 760 hectare artificial forest to be erected near the games village.

The quality of air will be aided by the introduction of solar and geothermal energy, as well as natural gas. Bid documents say 90 percent of buses and 70 percent of taxis will use clean energy by 2007.

The development of new energy sources are part of the city’s tenth Five Year Plan that runs from 2001 to 2005. There currently are 158 geothermal wells in Beijing, with combined annual output of 800,000 cubic meters. The city plans to explore 104 more geothermal wells in the next five years, which will heat 3 to 5 million square meters of space. That consumption would require 90,000 to 150,000 tons of coal under current heating methods. Beijing will develop solar energy heaters, sunrooms and sun greenhouses, and will construct 100 straw gasification stations in suburban counties and develop biogas pits.

Source: www.solaraccess.com