Is China Poised to Overtake the US In Cleaner Tech?
Dave Arthur
For years, we've been hearing the dire predictions of environmental
catastrophe looming from China. The environmental impact of billions of
rural Chinese as they pursue, and rapidly close in on, the living
standards and consumption patterns of Western economies is truly
frightening.
Nearly all reports from China regarding the environment are still
troubling. Chinese cities are still grossly polluted. Air quality in
many, if not most, Chinese cities far exceeds even the most lax
environmental standards. A new heavily polluting coal fired micro power
plant goes online in China each week to meet the skyrocketing demand
for electricity generation. Clearly, the environmental challenges in
China are a major global concern, yet they are making a few initial
strides to clean up their act - and some analysts argue that they are
poised to move far faster than US industries toward cleaner technology.
In a San Francisco
Chronicle article this week (Friday, June 14th, 2008)
Andrew S. Ross described the US-China Clean Tech Summit held there. The
two-day conference brought together a number of well-known speakers
from US players in clean tech and green business.
Of note to GreenBusinessOwner.com readers was Ross's report
of Steve Westley's address to the group. Westley is former California
State Controller and an eBay senior executive. He now heads the Westley
Group, an investment firm. Westley recently invested in China Energy
Recovery, a firm that removes and reprocesses waste from booming
Chinese manufacturing facilities. He reported that he is considering
more investment in the area as China moves to address its environmental
challenges.
Westley also warned that China could easily move ahead of US interests
in clean technology should they follow recent patterns of development.
The Chinese have already shown remarkable ability to quickly adopt and
adapt western manufacturing practices and technology. They have been
following the lead of US businesses with great aplomb, but increasingly
US industries are finding themselves in the position of reacting to
Chinese business developments and trends. It is not that much of a
stretch to imagine us following them in the not too distant future as
the Chinese add innovation to their growing stable of strengths.
China has recognized that they have an environmental problem, have seen
that they can address those problems, and may well be recognizing the
economic, if not social, benefits of adopting more sustainable business
practices. All the while US industry has either dragged their feet or
boldly lobbied against alternative energy, fuel efficiency, environmental controls, and any number of environmental controls. If China fully picks up the mantra of cleaner business practices, sustainability and clean technology and puts the momentous effort that the country is becoming famous for behind the movement, the United States could be left in the dust.
Certainly, not everyone agrees with Westley's assumptions or predictions, but he does make a convincing and clearly conceivable case.
Along with Ross' article in the same San Francisco Chronicle
edition there was an Associated Press report of many US companies
delaying alternative energy projects due to a combination of the tight
credit market and the (probably temporary) drop in fuel prices.
BP-Solar and T. Boone Pickens have reported this week that they will be
either delaying or severely scaling back their active alternative
energy projects.
Wonder if the Chinese are paying attention to those decisions ...
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