Green Options

The Xinhua News Agency trumpeted the success of the Beijing Olympics even before the end of the final ceremony. It said that the event showed China was friendly, harmonious and ‘respected all international rules.’ The true legacy of the Beijing Summer Olympics won’t be measurable for several years yet, but it won’t be quite as clear cut as Xinhua would have us believe.

Beijing has begun draining “emergency” water reserves from the neighboring, rural Hebei province in the face of what officials in the capitol are calling a “grim” water forecast.

The water crises is nothing new for Beijing. Nearly 60 years ago, the seat of the People’s Republic was already hovering at the “water poverty line” of around 1,000 cubic meters a person. By 2007, it was down to less than 230 cubic meters. Today, with the city’s two largest reservoirs nearly running dry, it’s hard to see the glass as “10% full.”

“Due to continuous drought, the capital city of Beijing Laishui is facing a grim situation of relatively scarce water resources,” says the Hebei Water Resources department in an article announcing the emergency water plan.

It would seem that if ever a country could successfully enlist the support of its citizens to conserve water during a drought, it would be China. In 2006, residents were warned to save water or face shortage. While 20% of the city’s water goes into industry, a slim 3% goes into maintaining the urban environment. You won’t find Beijing residents hosing down the car or sprinkling manicured lawns.

Be that as it may, in the long run even this week’s emergency water project may not be sufficient to quench Beijing’s thirst. The municipality’s population–a staggering seventeen and a half million people–consumes 3.25 billion cubic meters of water a year for homes, farms, and industry. That’s 400 million cubic meters a year more than nature can restore. According to Hebei Water Resources, the total water contained in all five emergency reservoirs combined adds up to 860 million cubic meters. You do the math.

Michael Phelps’ seven eight gold medals are impressive. But with an Olympic gold medal’s actual value at around $220, he would have to win 1,204,545,448 (7) more of them to raise the money China will need to meet its aggressive alternative energy goals of 137 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2020. Or, put another way, if China were to pay for clean energy with Olympic gold medals, they’d need another 172,077,922 Michael Phelps on their side.

By 2020, China’s bill for ramping up renewables to 16% of the nation’s total energy will come to $265 billion USD (2 trillion yuan). Then again, with the second largest economy in the world, China should have little trouble funding this investment — even without the mighty efforts of Phelps.

US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama made it clear again this week that he would not have attended the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing because of concern over China’s policies in Tibet and Sudan. His statements came in response to President Bush’s contrasting decision to attend the opening ceremonies.

However, in recent months, Senator Obama has also expressed some mixed feelings about boycotting the Olympics.