The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进

June 23rd, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, carbon capture and storage, CCS, China, cliamte change, energy, environment, low carbon development, scenarios, Tyndall Centre, Wang Tao | Category: agriculture, carbon capture and storage, climate change, government, uncategorized | Leave a comment

China’s energy intensity was down 2.9% in the first quarter of this year, reports the National Bureau of Statistics.  The decrease is based on a 6.1% growth in GDP measured against a 3.04% increase in energy consumption.  So remember this–despite and increased movement towards “decoupling”, energy consumption still rises as long as GDP rises.  Power [...]

May 8th, 2009 | Tags: carbon tax, China, collaboration, corporate social responsibility, eco-cities, energy, energy intensity, environment, grid, highway infrastructure, hydropower, rail, renewable energy, solar, transportation, wind | Category: CDM, agriculture, automotive, climate change, collaboration, energy efficiency, green hops, hydro, nuclear, oil, policy, smart grid, solar, transportation, urban planning, water, wind | Comments (4)

Editor’s Note:  This edition of Green Hops contains an inexplicably frequent number of references to Guangzhou and Guangdong.  We wonder why that might be…

Water issues continue to dominate China’s environmental agenda thanks to the recent World Water Forum in Turkey.  The forum ended pathetically, failing to recognize water as a basic human right.  But in [...]

April 2nd, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, automotive, China, circular economy, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, environment, fishery, forestry, green hops, grid, Guangdong, Guangzhou, hydro, Macao, policy, recycling, renewable energy, solar, train, transportation, urban planning, water | Category: agriculture, automotive, climate change, energy efficiency, green hops, hydro, policy, recylcling, smart grid, solar, uncategorized, urban planning, water | Comments (5)

A guest post by Heather Chi on the promise (and potential perils) of small-scale organic agriculture in China.

Given the urgent need to reform China’s agriculture and food production infrastructure in the context of rising concerns about the country’s ability to feed its growing population, the need to ensure food safety for locally grown and [...]

March 18th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, China, environment, food, green food, organic, rural development, soil | Category: agriculture, coal, rural development, uncategorized | Comments (5)

This edition of Green Hops is dedicated to Andrew Symon, a Singapore-based journalist specializing in energy and whom I have had the pleasure and honor of making an acquaintance of as a result of his writings at Asia Times Online.  He passed away unexpectedly on February 24, 2009.  Andrew’s generosity, sense of mission and powerful [...]

March 12th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, biomass, CFL, China, COD, emissions trading, energy, energy efficiency, environment, food, forestation, green hops, international trade, pollution, solar, water | Category: agriculture, automotive, biofuels, capital and finance, climate change, collaboration, energy efficiency, government, green hops, rural development, smart grid, solar, transportation, water | Comments (4)

There are perhaps 40 different eco-city projects across China at the moment.  If you had to design your own city, what would its infrastructure look like?  Are cities, per se, even the right form of settlement for eco-planners to design?  Here, The Green Leap Forward takes a look at several ideas in eco-community design, inspired [...]

February 27th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, China, circular economy, eco-cities, eco-infratructure, energy, environment, rural development, systems thinking, urban planning | Category: agriculture, rural development, urban planning | Comments (10)

As unlikely as it sounds, if there is one thing that holds the key to China’s sustainable future, that one thing is soils.  Indeed, it would be no exaggeration to emphasize that soils lies at the heart of the food-water-energy trilemma, which this blog has been harping on as of late (see previous post).
Soil is [...]

February 24th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, China, environment, food, food-water-energy nexus, Loess Plateau, soil | Category: agriculture | Comments (1)

China has set itself a target to reduce water consumption per unit GDP by 60% by the year 2020, according to Chen Lei, the Minister of Water Resourced and Management.  This pronouncement comes in the wake of extreme drought conditions currently afflicting central and northern China, and statistics released over the weekend that shows China [...]

February 17th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, China, energy, energy efficiency, environment, food, water, water efficiency, water-energy nexus, watergy | Category: agriculture, energy efficiency, policy, water | Comments (4)

Its been a busy few weeks since our last Green Hops, so GLF is gonna pack in the updates over two posts consecutive posts.
Drought
The “worst drought in half a century” affecting eight northern and central provinces dominated the past week’s news.  A 90 percent drop in average rainfall since last November will affect 11 [...]

February 12th, 2009 | Tags: agriculture, automotive, China, collaboration, drought, environment, green hops, highway infrastructure, subsidies, transportation, wetland | Category: agriculture, automotive, climate change, collaboration, government, green hops, policy, rural development, uncategorized, water | Comments (4)