GE enlightens China regions on pollution

The local government's tree-planting program is part of a plan to “assume our green responsibilities and build a civilized way of life,” Du Zi, the local Communist Party secretary, told energy executives at a conference last month in Beijing.

Also on tap: the world's biggest plant to convert sunlight to electricity, built by First Solar Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, part of a 12-gigawatt wind, solar and biomass power-generating zone. And General Electric Co. is helping China cut wastewater emissions into the Yellow River, which borders the region.

“This shows what local leadership can do in China these days,” says Kenneth Lieberthal, head of the Brookings Institution's China Center in Washington, which hosted Du and other provincial officials at the Oct. 21-23 conference.

Regions are vying to outdo each other in a race to develop alternative-energy sources and cut pollution. Western China's Gansu province is building a wind farm equivalent to about 20 nuclear-power facilities. In the east, Zhejiang province is installing solar panels on roofs. Beijing bans motorcycles from the city center in favor of electric bikes.

Their efforts demonstrate that China, the world's largest producer of the pollution blamed for global warming, will continue to accelerate development of energy from renewable sources, even as it resists binding targets for reducing carbon emissions ahead of a United Nations summit in Copenhagen next month aimed at forging a new treaty to curb greenhouse gases.

Some regional officials see environmental projects as a way to boost their economies after decades when companies were allowed to poison the air and water without penalties while expanding output.

The 20-gigawatt, 120 billion yuan (US$17.6 billion) Gansu project, set for completion in 2020, would be the world's biggest wind farm. The Roscoe Wind Complex in Texas, currently the largest, generates less than one gigawatt -- a billion watts -- of electricity.

China is under pressure from the international community to accelerate its push toward alternative energy. It has refused to accept binding restrictions on carbon pollution, saying controls will crimp economic growth. Instead, China has pledged to cut emissions voluntarily in proportion to gross domestic product, without committing to include the policy in a global agreement.

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