Ties That Bind - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Bay Area-China Trade: Behind the Numbers
Other CEG projects have focused on reducing use of coal and biomass in home heating stoves,
in cooperation with UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, Tsinghua University, Renmin University
and the Chinese Centers for Disease Control; development of building codes for energy savings
in the cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai aimed at a 35–50% energy savings at less than a 10%
cost increase; installation of renewable energy projects in China, in cooperation with the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory and Chinese partners; training of 145 Chinese personnel in
Berkeley and in China over a 9-year period from 1993–2002; and establishment of a private
energy consulting and marketing services group in China, the Beijing Energy Efficiency
Center (BECon).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed a memorandum of understanding with
SEPA in 2003, establishing a working group to implement a Strategy for Clean Air and Energy
Cooperation in four principal sectors: regional air quality, transportation, power and cement.
EPA’s China group is based in San Francisco.
EPA and SEPA have helped the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau develop an air
quality management program, including standards, monitoring, regulations, enforcement, training
and public education. They are also assisting Beijing with bus engine retrofits, clean fuels, methane
capture from landfills, energy-efficient building designs and other measures, in preparation
for the 2008 Olympics. EPA is advising SEPA on pollution control technologies for utility and
cement plants, and mechanisms to encourage and fund companies to retrofit boilers and kilns. A
joint EPA/Department of Energy Wind Technology Partnership is working on development
and utilization of grid-connected wind power in China.
Formed in 1987 as the Pacific Energy and Resources Center, Pacific Environment initially focused
its environmental efforts in the Russian Far East and Central Asia. It has become active in
China in recent years through the Global Greengrants Fund, providing small grants to some 50
grassroots NGOs throughout China. NGOs were permitted to officially operate in China beginning
in 1994, and some 2,000 environmental NGOs are active today.
Groups supported by Pacific Environment are largely community-based networks of activists
working on issues such as desertification in Xinjiang Province; Huai, Singhua and Han River
pollution; endangered species protection in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province; conservation/recycling
in Zhejiang Province; and coastal environment and wetlands preservation in Xiamen and in Fujian
Province.; and opposition to dam construction on the Nu River. It maintains a Beijing office
headed by Chinese environmental activist Wen Bo.
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