beijing without borders: energy efficiency

Lately I've been juggling several projects- I'm still communicating with Chinese suppliers for the rice husk generation project, and at the same time evaluating reports on improving fuel efficiency in the Chinese automotive industry. Both have been great learning opportunities for my Chinese, and also HUGE tests of my patience and determination. For example, not only do I have to understand biomass generation technology but also I must communicate the project needs to the suppliers, make sure they understand some key aspects of a GEF project, and keep the project lead updated. It's been difficult since we are not flexible on the project parameters and we are looking for a turnkey supplier, but things are moving along.

At the office, it's generally casual and quiet. Most people work on their own projects and know relatively little about what's going on for others. However I do appreciate that the more senior/experienced officers are very approachable and incorporate me as much as possible. For example, J and M were extremely helpful when I had questions about my visa, D told me about an EU Call for Proposals for collaborating environmental projects and the UNEP emissions gap press release (of which I was completely unaware), and A invited me to a China in the World meeting and a biotechnology and biofuels conference next Tuesday. By attending these events, I've been getting a feel for how the international community works in Beijing and also the plethora of orgs related to environment, water, energy, sustainability, etc. And it's not just NGOs or European countries' development agencies or international development groups; there is a great representation from Chinese governmental agencies and research institutes who work in this field as well. I have to say, in a very cliche way, that it's exciting and inspiring to see so many individuals and groups working toward a common goal.

So last Thursday, I attended the UNEP Emissions Gap Beijing Press Release. Yet another reminder that the improvements we're making in climate change are not nearly enough to put us on the golden path- the golden 2C path that will maintain the global temperature increase at 2C. How's it looking right now? We're several gigatons of carbon emissions away from achieving this path, and we're headed on a path for ~3.5C increase.

The politics of climate change research, policy, and organizations was definitely present. At the press release, the 2 Chinese representatives for the IPCC presented on the emissions gap as well as climate change, energy, and environment in the Chinese context. The first expert, who is a professor Tsinghua University, mentioned a heavily debated "negative emissions" scenario in which around the year 2070 the technologies in carbon capture and storage and the utilization of renewable energies will be so well developed that more carbon is being removed from the atmosphere rather than emitted (a simple mass balance: carbon_IN < carbon_OUT). Currently there's a lot of climate change policy action- the World Bank also released a report called Turn Down the Heat, on mitigation efforts and how much more susceptible the developing world is to natural disasters, famine, and other climate phenomena. You can read more here. These reports were all published at the opportune moment, right before the UNFCCC's Doha meeting.

As I mentioned some months before, I was fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to travel to London and attend the USE Efficiency Summer School course, sponsored by the European Commission.

Before going to London, the UPV group (comprised of Rob, Myr, and I) performed an energy audit of an on-campus sports building that we would be able to take to the course and present there. We worked very hard on this report and as well as our presentation. However, the format of the course had changed and after arriving in London we found out that none of the other students had prepared such a report and that we were not going to present nor use our audit at all! I felt especially bad for Myr, who was really stressed out and nervous about presenting in English. Anyways, this was the first of many surprises to come.

The Summer School generally consisted of presentations in the morning, and then working groups after our lunch break. The morning presentations were made by both professors, researchers, and engineering firms. The professors spoke about topics related to energy efficiency, from hydrogen storage to motor design to architectural design to urban heat islands. The majority of engineering firms were ones that had participated in the Olympics, and I thought these were more interesting and relevant since we were in London during the Olympics. We learned about the master plan for the Olympic bid, sustainable urban design, the energy supply for the Olympic Park in Stratford, and architecture for sports buildings. The main points to take away were that even though Paris was the favorite for winning the Olympic bid, London won because of its strong legacy plan; the legacy is what occurs after the Olympics with all of the Olympics infrastructure. London's strongpoint came in the fact that the masterplan treated the Olympics only as a catalyst for the rest of the urban development that was planned for East London; rather than finding ways to utilize the Olympics infrastructure, their priority was the post-Olympics legacy and then they figured out how the Olympics would work into this. This is an extremely important issue, since the park is designed for a huge capacity and much of the masterplan (such as wide walkways, stadium lighting, etc.) would be unnecessary after the Games. They really thought hard about the development and makeover of East London, and how the Games would factor into that. Moreover, I was extremely impressed with all the steps they took to minimize energy consumption and waste during the construction, and how they utilized architecture and design for these goals.

The second important component of the course was the case study; we were split up into 5 groups of 8, and each group had to create a concept design for a set of specifications for a specific site and sports complex. In the concept design we were supposed to consider aspects of public transportation, sustainability, architecture, energy efficiency, renewable energy, legacy, etc. All the groups were diverse in culture and in academic backgrounds, with a mix of nationalities and engineers and architects. On the final day of the course, after only about 5 days to work on the project, all of the groups presented their designs.

During the course, accomodation was provided for us at a campsite in Walthamstow Central in zone 2 of northern London at the Camp in London site. Basically a sportsground was converted into a campsite during the Olympics for volunteers and anyone who wanted to go. There were pre-erected (orange and lion-themed) tents as well as an area for people who were bringing their own tents and just wanted to use the campsite facilities.This was definitely an adventure- we heard geese venture near the tents at dawn, went to bed cold, and woke up really hot because of the thin tent material and poor insulation.

Of course, being in London during the Olympics made everything even more exciting (and a bit more chaotic). The atmosphere was wonderful, both in our group of Summer School participants as well as the general atmosphere in London. A bunch of us watched the Opening Ceremony together in a local pub. The pub was nice, but nothing special; what really made it memorable was the fact that we were such a diverse group with many nationalities represented, and we felt connected to so many different countries. For example, there were universities from London, Valencia, Thessaloniki, Hamburg, and Rome represented at the course, but more than 20 nationalities represented!

Rob, Myr, and I came to London prepared, as we had purchased men's volleyball tickets before arriving. We lucked out and were able to buy three tickets together for the cheapest price (20 GBP) at a time that was convenient for us. Sunday night, we first saw Poland v. Italy and then Brazil v. Tunisia. There was an amazing atmosphere for the first game because half of the stadium was Polish- apparently after soccer, volleyball is the second most popular sport there! We heard many Polska cheers and songs throughout.

Before the course, I took advantage of the torch relay that was traveling throughout London, and saw it three times in one day! The first time I met a guy on the tube with a Games volunteer uniform, and he told me he was going to Stratford Westfield to see the relay. He was really nice and even showed me some photos of the Opening Ceremony rehearsal on his iphone (he was one of the coal miner performers). The second time, we ran into the relay in Shoreditch while checking out the East London street art scene, and the third time it passed through Leyton. Here's a glance:

After the course, I also saw one of the free competitions- Race Walk! Some of the events such as cycling, marathon, and race walk circulate the city and are basically open to the public. It's not everyday that you see race walking men with extremely flexible hips race around Buckingham Palace!

The biggest Olympics disappointment was by far the empty seats and difficulties in obtaining tickets. Since we had learned so much about the Olympic Park, it would have been a great experience to see everything that we heard heard about in the presentations... especially the extremely efficiency Velodrome and the integrated design of vertical wind turbines on lampposts. However, because of security reasons the program wasn't allowed to take us into the Park, and since the volleyball venue was outside of the Olympic Park we weren't allowed into the Park either. That doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy the beautiful London cityscape- the countdown clock in Trafalgar Square, the specially lit bridges, flags of the world, and ubiquitous (and slightly creepy) mascots Wenlock and Mandeville. I have to say that although I disagree with some of their policies and mechanisms, I'm still a sucker for the Olympics, especially seeing people from all over the world come together. One of the best moments was during the race walk, when people cheered even louder for the athletes at the back of the pack (I especially remember a Spanish athlete and another Iranian athlete who were lagging behind).

And despite all the Olympics madness and cool stuff I got to do, I must say that the people definitely made my time in London. I met lots of creative and driven individuals from Summer School who study similar topics as I do, explored London daily with Rob and Myr from UPV, and was also able to meet up with quite a few old friends who I hadn't seen in awhile, including fellow Bruins Michelle and Max, Mia who was so sweet to let me stay at her house, my cousin Rebecca who I met up with during her 18-hour layover in London, and my great-uncle Kwok. At the men's volleyball game I even ran into Terence, a friend from cheme at UCLA! Even standing in line for Dalston Superstore, Max and I met three really nice guys from LA, two of whom were UCLA alums. One of them had been an orientation counselor and even knew Sonny, the counselor that Max and I had. The world is definitely getting smaller and smaller.