Green Options

Asia is investing hundreds of billions of dollars more than the US in clean technology, according to a new report by two research institutions. In the future, the US may be importing trillions of dollars of needed clean technology (and losing countless jobs to Asia) as a result.

In total, the report showed that China, Japan, and South Korea will invest about $509 billion in clean tech over the next 5 years, whereas the US (with our greenest President in decades, maybe ever) is only expected to invest $172 billion (about 3 times less) — this is assuming the climate and energy legislation in Congress passes.

If the US were to invest the same percentage of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as South Korea, it would invest almost $140 billion per year ($700 billion over this five year period)! Compared to China, the anticipated per-GDP investment ratio is 1:4 (US to China).

In 2008, Japan almost matched US R&D spending on energy and achieved almost the same number of international clean energy patents despite having dramatically lower GDP.

The financial investment is not the only thing giving these countries a major advantage in this field, though.

For the first time, the United States has agreed to recognize the national mitigation measures proposed by the developing countries in the proposed climate treaty.

SOLARIG, a company based in Spain that incorporated about four years ago, just began construction of eight photovoltaic parks in Italy this month. The parks will provide 8 MW of energy in total. Over the next few months, it plans to construct photovoltaic projects producing 30 MW throughout different regions of Italy.

But this is just the beginning. SOLARIG has a more global vision.

Asian countries may soon lead the world in clean energy technology. Take a look at how they are using it today.

Despite President Obama’s call for the United States to lead the clean energy technology industry, a weak climate bill (H.R. 2454) awaiting the Senate to return from recess promises limited funding for research and development of renewable clean energy technologies.

Asia, however, has recognized the advantages of embracing clean energy development and the race for clean energy dominance is heating up faster than the planet. Here’s a look at the development of clean energy technology in the some of the world’s developing Asian economies.

1. Kunming - China’s “Solar City”

We know a bit about the current situation on climate change. We know which countries are emitting the most global warming emissions. We know that the EU is actively implementing policies to get their emissions down and are serious about keeping climate change at the top of the priority list, even in one of the biggest economic struggles in history. We know that little nations like Tuvalu are working to address climate change. We know that ambitious and engaged countries are running into unseen problems and are unsure where to go in the future. We know that the US is looking to pass a climate bill for the first time and could change history in the process, and the USDA supports it but climate change groups, consumer advocate groups, and social equity groups are quite concerned about some of the changes made by the House of Representatives at the last minute. We know that China, India, and Brazil’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed (several times faster than developed countries’ still growing emissions) in the past two decades.

Coming 12 years after the introduction of the Prius in Japan, Hyundai may be extremely late to the hybrid party, but they’re hoping to play catch up quickly.

Hyundai’s new Elantra LPI will be sold only in South Korea. It runs on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and uses lithium-ion batteries. Although Hyundai has no immediate plans to export the Elantra LPI overseas, the company plans to release a gasoline electric hybrid version of the Sonata in late 2010. Presumably the hybrid Sonata would be marketed in the US to compete directly with offerings from Toyota and Honda.

South Korea yesterday announced plans to invest a staggering Won107,000bn ($85 billion) on ‘green growth’ industries over the next five years.

The government predicts the unprecedented cash-injection, around 2 per cent of the country’s entire gross domestic product, will create up to 1.8 MILLION new jobs in renewable energy and environmentally-friendly projects.

In a presidential statement, the country’s leader, Lee Myung-bak, said that the so-called Green New Deal will significantly boost growth and jobs in an effort to ride out the economic slump.

“The aim is for South Korea to become the world’s seventh most competitive country by 2020 in terms of energy efficiency and ability to adapt to climate change,” he said.

Korean police officer Lee Gil-jun is in prison on a 2 year sentence for not returning to work after commanding officers ordered him to fire a water cannon into a crowd of peaceful protesters last May.

South Korea is planning to permit whaling again off of the country’s shores if Japan’s request to “formally” whale is granted at this year’s meeting of the International Whaling Commission.

Japan has been whaling illegally for several years, despite the International Whaling Commission’s global ban on whaling since 1986. While South Korea has more or less adhered to the whaling ban, they now would like to do it again.

I may be biased by my happy life in South Korea, but still I think there are two things that Japan does better. Firstly, Japan excels at making foreign tourists feel like rock stars. Several years back on a school exchange trip to Hokkaido, my group and I received enough popular adoration to make us feel like the Beatles in their heyday. Secondly, Japan is immaculate. For instance, Sapporo may be the fifth biggest city in Japan with a population just larger than Manhattan’s, but when I visited there I saw neither a single plastic bag nor newspaper littering the streets.

Now, it must be said by way of comparison that Korean cities are by and large much cleaner than American ones. Or at least it’s fair to say that the dodgiest parts of Korea’s large cities are still much nicer than their American counterparts. Almost unimaginable in Korea are the dingy, urine stained shop fronts of San Francisco’s Market Street or the sprawling cardboard-house ghettos of LA’s Skid Row. However, almost everywhere you go in Korea you’re unfortunately bound to run into litter.

Livecams in Seoul, South Korea show that if governments build green areas, people will use them.

The Cheonggyecheon stream was an ambitious green restoration project. It turned six kilometers of downtown Seoul from a polluting expressway into a relaxing, tree-lined stream. In restoring the stream, 95% of the expressway’s cement and 100% of the steel was carefully salvaged and recycled.

The stream was opened to the public in 2005. Since then, it’s been a popular destination for Seoulites looking for green areas in Korea’s largest metropolis.

Surprisingly, the Cheonggyecheon is little known to foreign tourists. If you travel to Seoul and you’re looking for a breath of fresh air as well as a glimpse at the archeological sites revealed during the stream’s excavation, be sure not to miss a visit to this successful urban greening project.