China
Posted: 04 Jun 2014, 12:04
Recently I worked in China for 2 months on a power plant commissioning. It was most definitely an experience. I got the feeling it could be where the UK will be heading post peak.
Here are my main thoughts.
When the plane landed at the airport which was some distance outside of the city, a provincial town of 4 million in Jiangxi, I was immediately caught by the aroma of woodsmoke. On leaving the airport as soon as I got out the door the lights were switched off. The taxis were relatively cheap and the drive into the city was past dimly lit farms with an assortment of broken down vehicles on the concrete roads each surrounded by a group of people.
As we got into town the taxi driver began to take other rides and wind the window down and shout at other taxis at the top of his voice. The woodsmoke smell turned more sulphurous from all the coal being burnt.
Going along the roads I was aware of a flash like from a speed camera a every half mile or so. I was told later that cameras were used to record traffic a regular intervals. Roads were not choked by any means for a city which if it was in the UK would have been the second largest city but was a mere provincial city in China.
At the job site the work was seven days for all staff. The local workers seemed happy enough and many lived close by in four to a room dormitaries. There was a cafeteria which served what I thought was horrible food but was considered a perk of the job. No food was wasted with the scraps being categorised and taken away by someone on a tricycle. A family of dogs was hanging around which finished off the scraps. I was told by the interpreter that from time to time one of the puppies would disappear taken away possibly to be eaten.
On the drive to work there was all manner of vehicles ranging from bikes to Porsches with electric bikes and scooters being popular along with something that looked like the front end a motorcycle mated with a rear part of a pickup truck in both electric and fossil fuel forms.
Lighting was very dim with a single LED light in toilets and corridors. The offices were unheated with the heat supposedly being heated by steam from the power plant which never seemed to be working. Gas shortages were prevalent which is probably why the Chinese have just signed a deal with Russia for gas.
Absolutely everything was recycled from the paper dinner plates to waste food to metal and plastic. Around the work site a group of women was picking up stones to clean them and and then use them for concrete. Trucks full of steel and cardboard were almost everywhere.
What went into the food was unbelievable. Chicken stomachs, unspeakable bit of pigs and the interpreter warned that what was called 'beef' was likely to be mink or rat. I soon adopted a vegetarian diet outside of the four star hotel. "Meat' was basically a small sliver of meat attached to a large piece of fat. Chickens could be heard on the rooftops even in the middle of town. People could be seen on the roadside cooking their breakfasts over open fires.
Energy efficiency seemed all the rage. Low wattage lighting, induction hotplates were being sold in the shops. Kettle elements were 1000 watts rather than the 2200 watts in Australia with hotplates being 500 watts. i guess authorities don't want a sudden load on the grid or the wiring system. Street lighting outside of the shopping streets was very dim. Not much PV solar in evidence but plenty of solar hot water systems. No power cuts while I was there. Pollution from the coal power stations was noticeable but not unbearable and did not appear to affect health.
The smell of the street was a mixture of raw sewage, vomit (which I added to after a bout of food poisoning) and rotting food. The streets were never washed but seemed to be swept by people using tree branches. Food vendors sold food the smell of which managed to be worse than the normal street smell. Canola and small vegetable gardens were grown in every space larger than a few square metres in size.
All in all a very eye opening experience. I can see the UK, a similarly overpopulated and densely populated country having to adapt in similar ways to shortages being forced to economise on things like food and energy and recycle far more and consume far less. I can see the recent horsemeat scandal being the tip of the iceberg in the future.
Here are my main thoughts.
When the plane landed at the airport which was some distance outside of the city, a provincial town of 4 million in Jiangxi, I was immediately caught by the aroma of woodsmoke. On leaving the airport as soon as I got out the door the lights were switched off. The taxis were relatively cheap and the drive into the city was past dimly lit farms with an assortment of broken down vehicles on the concrete roads each surrounded by a group of people.
As we got into town the taxi driver began to take other rides and wind the window down and shout at other taxis at the top of his voice. The woodsmoke smell turned more sulphurous from all the coal being burnt.
Going along the roads I was aware of a flash like from a speed camera a every half mile or so. I was told later that cameras were used to record traffic a regular intervals. Roads were not choked by any means for a city which if it was in the UK would have been the second largest city but was a mere provincial city in China.
At the job site the work was seven days for all staff. The local workers seemed happy enough and many lived close by in four to a room dormitaries. There was a cafeteria which served what I thought was horrible food but was considered a perk of the job. No food was wasted with the scraps being categorised and taken away by someone on a tricycle. A family of dogs was hanging around which finished off the scraps. I was told by the interpreter that from time to time one of the puppies would disappear taken away possibly to be eaten.
On the drive to work there was all manner of vehicles ranging from bikes to Porsches with electric bikes and scooters being popular along with something that looked like the front end a motorcycle mated with a rear part of a pickup truck in both electric and fossil fuel forms.
Lighting was very dim with a single LED light in toilets and corridors. The offices were unheated with the heat supposedly being heated by steam from the power plant which never seemed to be working. Gas shortages were prevalent which is probably why the Chinese have just signed a deal with Russia for gas.
Absolutely everything was recycled from the paper dinner plates to waste food to metal and plastic. Around the work site a group of women was picking up stones to clean them and and then use them for concrete. Trucks full of steel and cardboard were almost everywhere.
What went into the food was unbelievable. Chicken stomachs, unspeakable bit of pigs and the interpreter warned that what was called 'beef' was likely to be mink or rat. I soon adopted a vegetarian diet outside of the four star hotel. "Meat' was basically a small sliver of meat attached to a large piece of fat. Chickens could be heard on the rooftops even in the middle of town. People could be seen on the roadside cooking their breakfasts over open fires.
Energy efficiency seemed all the rage. Low wattage lighting, induction hotplates were being sold in the shops. Kettle elements were 1000 watts rather than the 2200 watts in Australia with hotplates being 500 watts. i guess authorities don't want a sudden load on the grid or the wiring system. Street lighting outside of the shopping streets was very dim. Not much PV solar in evidence but plenty of solar hot water systems. No power cuts while I was there. Pollution from the coal power stations was noticeable but not unbearable and did not appear to affect health.
The smell of the street was a mixture of raw sewage, vomit (which I added to after a bout of food poisoning) and rotting food. The streets were never washed but seemed to be swept by people using tree branches. Food vendors sold food the smell of which managed to be worse than the normal street smell. Canola and small vegetable gardens were grown in every space larger than a few square metres in size.
All in all a very eye opening experience. I can see the UK, a similarly overpopulated and densely populated country having to adapt in similar ways to shortages being forced to economise on things like food and energy and recycle far more and consume far less. I can see the recent horsemeat scandal being the tip of the iceberg in the future.