Random Thoughts

Wind power investment ramps up in China
Ecoconcern announced last week that it is investing $1.1 bn into four onshore wind farms in China, for a total of 720 mW of wind power capacity. This is the latest indicator of rapid growth in wind investment in China. China currently has more than 6 gW of installed wind power and is aiming for 10 gW by 2010.
Current rankings of installed wind power (as of Jan 2008):
1) Germany- 22 gW
2) United States- 16.8 gW
3) Spain- 15.1 gW
4) India- 8 gW
5) China- 6 gW


Wal-Mart and MEP sign a sustainability MOU
WalMart signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, agreeing to reduce energy use at existing stores in China by 30% and committed to meeting 40% reduction target in all new stores. Yet another step forward for WalMart. It’s pretty crazy how this company is moving forward environmentally, although there are still many detractors out there.


Toxins are present in 1/3 of toys
GreenBiz reports on some bad news about toxins in toys: it's not just the Chinese:

While much of the blame for deadly toys in recent years was placed on Chinese manufacturers, the Ecology Center points out that this year, in its second round of testing for its HealthyToys.org database, it's not just China making unsafe toys. Twenty-one percent of toys from China had detectable levels of lead, but so did 16 percent of toys from all other countries. And of the 17 toys made in the United States that were tested, 35 percent had detectable levels of lead, with two exceeding the federal limit for recalls.

This is just so disgusting. How can a company manufacture toys that contain known harmful substances? It's both shocking, but at the same time, not really that surprising.


Other Green China Blogs
China Greenspace is back from vacation, and has some good thoughts on China’s role in climate change talks.

LiveFromBeijing gives statistics to back up what we've all been thinking: Beijing’s air quality actually has gotten better thanks to the pollution control measures taken for the Olympic Games, even after the temporary restrictions were lifted in September.