Shi Jiangtao in Beijing – Updated on Mar 06, 2009 – SCMP Government advisers and green campaigners expressed dismay at the lack of progress in tackling the mainland’s worsening environment, despite Beijing’s renewed pledges to combat climate change and pollution problems. Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday that severe pollution and high energy use remained big [...]
Posts under ‘Energy Waste’
Environmentally Friendly And Cost-Effective Minibus Design
SCMP I think minibus designs should be changed to make them more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Also, I think reintroducing buses without air conditioning is one way to help people who take long trips to work, cope better with the economic downturn. Most buses have too much air conditioning. Even in the winter it is [...]
Air Quality Standards Review
The following letter was sent to the Director of Environmental Protection by Clear The Air: Director of Environmental Protection – ENB 24th January 2009 Air Quality Standards Review Dear Sir, We are writing to express our NGO’s concern that Hong Kong’s air pollution is damaging local residents’ and visitors’ health and that the Administration’s belated [...]
What Do You Think Of Air-Con Levels?
Updated on Aug 07, 2008 – SCMP In the past, having an air conditioner was a luxury and only the affluent could afford them. Now they are a necessary part of our lives. Almost every family in Hong Kong has air cons. I cannot imagine how I would endure the summer without air conditioners. I [...]
G8 Emperors Fiddle As The Planet Burns
Updated on Jul 18, 2008 – SCMP Legend tells us that the Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. It seems very little has changed if we judge by the verbiage emitted by the G8 summit in Hokkaido. The globe is facing a major ecological catastrophe, yet the little emperors who attended the meeting kept fiddling [...]
Green Bill May Target Electronics
Loretta Fong – Updated on Jul 13, 2008 – SCMP Electrical appliances could be one of the next categories of goods targeted by the Eco-Product Responsibility Bill, the environment chief said yesterday. The bill, which aims to provide a legal framework for manufacturer responsibility schemes, first set its sights on plastic bags, which are to [...]
Rise or Demise?
Updated on Jul 02, 2008 – SCMP Thirty-five years ago, when I made my first visit to mainland China, I was appalled by what I took to be the backwardness and poverty of the place. People lived simply, dressed simply and rarely threw anything away. On the rare occasion when they visited a restaurant, they [...]
China To Join Ban On Ultra-Thin Plastic Bags
Reuters in Beijing – Updated on May 28, 2008 The mainland is to try to kick a 3 billion-a-day plastic bag habit. But breaking the addiction, in a bid to save energy and protect the environment, will be easier said than done. On Sunday, it will join a growing list of countries, from Ireland to [...]
Exporters Confront Rising Environmental Costs
GUANGZHOU, May 1 (Xinhua) — Chinese manufacturers have seen their costs for environmental protection rise, in many ways, since the government raised the standards over the past year. Companies that were identified as violating environmental laws were barred from the Canton Fair, or the China Import and Export Fair, during a penalty period, said fair [...]
Coal-to-fuel Projects Risk Green Backlash
Eric Ng in Beijing – Updated on Apr 05, 2008 SCMP Turning coal into liquid fuel and chemicals is a potentially lucrative business on the energy-hungry mainland, but Beijing’s concerns about the environmental impact of such projects means investors risk getting their fingers burned. Tse Bing, chairman of Hong Kong-listed mainland drugmaker Sino Biopharmaceutical, agreed [...]