Becoming the green leader

From state-of-the art buses to taxis running on electricity, China is at the forefront of innovation in the transport sector, says an article in the US-based Foreign Policy Magazine. Excerpts:

With China now spending some $500 billion annually on infrastructure - 9 percent of its GDP, well above the rates in the United States and Europe - and with the country's population undergoing the largest rural-to-urban migration in human history, the decisions it makes about its cities will affect the future of urban areas everywhere.

Hoping to become the global leader in electric vehicles, the Chinese government wants 500,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on China's roads by 2015, and more than 5 million by 2020. It is already backing these aspirations with a range of subsidies, including up to $8,800 for every electric vehicle purchased by taxi companies and local governments.

China is building 40 percent of the world's new nuclear plants, and plans to increase its nuclear power supply by 20 times over the next two decades and lessen its dependence on coal.

With the world's longest network of tracks and some of its most advanced trains, China's high-speed rail system effortlessly evokes the future. Shaped like an ancient Chinese sword, China's newest bullet train slices through the air at a maximum speed of nearly 500 km per hour, capable of traveling from Beijing to Shanghai in less than three hours and four-and-a-half times faster than the average speed of trains plying Amtrak's busy Boston-Washington Acela route.

Nowhere is China's ability to rapidly and efficiently build infrastructure more apparent than in civil aviation. From 2005 to 2010 alone, China built 33 airports and renovated or expanded an additional 33, at a cost of nearly $40 billion. China's airports also feature the latest industry advancements, including green technology, automated immigration lines, and cutting-edge explosives detectors.

To meet its seemingly limitless electricity needs, China is turning to its solar industry, which already leads the world in panel production, and gearing up to produce gigantic solar plants.

As China's major cities swell in size, their residents are creating mountains of waste that ring urban areas, with Beijing alone generating 18,000 tons of garbage every day, enough to fill 29 Rose Bowls each year. In response, Chinese companies are developing cutting-edge recycling technology that could soon render landfills and incinerators obsolete - or at least much less common.