Op-Ed

Very clever, these Chinese

"Ni hao !" That's Chinese for "Hi there !"
It's not a "developing"  country any more

 By Richard C. Bartlett

A recent trip in  China changed my conception of that country. It's not a "developing"  country any more. Their highways are broad (see on right), lit better than our city  streets, and landscaped like entries in the Spring Flower Show. The  architecture is extremely creative and functional. Big areas of this  huge country are protected. The people all look happy and trim, and  are very welcoming. Anyone going to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will be amazed at what they see. They will also choke and cough in the  perpetually polluted air. But they are doing something about it.

     Our American response to climate change, acid rain, and air  contamination is weak indeed by comparison. Aware that coal fired  power plants ( producing 70% of the nation's electricity) are the  prime offenders, the Chinese have constructed the world's largest  hydro-electric dam, the Three Gorges Dam (on right) on the Yangtze River. It is  flooding large areas, and displaced millions of people, but it will  cleanly produce 40% of the whole country's power. ( That's for 1.3  billion voltage-gulping citizens !  )

     They are leaping into the wind turbine parade of nations. Google  offers 1,860,000 entries for "China wind power ! They have the  potential for 1,000,000+ megawatts of production, 1/4 of it on land,  3/4 of it offshore. Lin Yuan, head of the Zhangbei county energy  department says the only problem is they can't get turbines to buy  fast enough.

     To satisfy that appetite for turbines GE has contracted to spend  $50 million on research and manufacturing facilities. Spain's ENH has signed on for a $31 million plant to construct turbines. The Danish  firm Vesta is spending $30 million on a turbine blade factory. Shares  of Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology Co. soared 234% on their  first day on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Isn't it a shame we are so  backward about wind power? We too could be benefiting ecologically  and economically if we were as smart as other countries. The world  moves forward while we twiddle our thumbs.

"Yi huir jian." That's "See you later," which uses up my  miniscule vocabulary.

Richard C. Bartlett, Cotuit
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Read Mr. Bartlett's other Op Eds below;

• Windmills for Salt, Corn, and Lightbulbs
• Three stories to melt your heart -- and the ice cap
• Advice to an aging Liberal Lion
• 10 degrees of difference - in the ocean
• An incredible confluence of news stories
• SOS or SOP
• The sky is falling, the sky is falling, windmills in the briny !
• Invisible Structures
• Bill Delahunt; modern mugwump