Fight on Climate Change - China Reports 66-Percent Drop in Plastic Bag Use

In January 2008, China banned the use of free plastic bags that are less than 0.025 millimeters thick in shops, supermarkets, and sales outlets.  This article published on the Worldwatch Insititute discussed the report card after a year.

The results?  

• 40 billion bags were eliminated according to the government estimates
• but rural area seem to continue giving out free plastic bags

How do they do it?

• a fine of $10,000 yuan (around $1,650 CAD)
• a large troop of 600,000 inspector and a well funded inspection program

Side effect?

• shut down of a plastic bag manufacturing plant in China

I think overall it’s a great thing that the China government is banning plastic bags.  I was just in Shanghai for a few days and  I must confess that I get free plastic bags everywhere I went. Some of them were quite thick at shops, but I’m not sure how many actually meets the reg! But i guess it’s still a good start!

Electric motorcycles gain traction in North America and world wide

I am currently in Asia for work.  My first stop is Shanghai.  Although growing up in Taiwan, I’ve never had a chance to visit China, and I had been looking forward to this trip. I enjoyed my trip so far, very imprssed with the development, size, and entertianment of the city while noticing (but not unimpressed with) some really old/rundown buildings and really good deals co-existing. Overall, I am mostly not surprised at what Im seeing in Shanghai, except the number of electric bicycles and motorcycles! I wanted to dig up the number of electric-assisted motorocycles/mopeds/bicycles in Shanghai - I want to know the “environmental impact”.  I’m sure such study exists, so when I get it I’ll share with you all.  

For now, I found another article on CTV.ca which discusses Zero S, a new generation electric scooter coming to the US this year.  Some basic specs:

• 1 charge lasts 60 miles
• mileage is equivalent to 60miles/gallon
• $9,950

The California based company Zero has had a sucessful product - Zero X, an offroad dirt bike.  Zero X was sold out (not sure how many were produced) with a 6-months long wait list.  They are not expecting the slow down of the economy would impact their sales.  In fact, in US alone, 1.1 million motorcycles were sold last year.  For Honda, 15.1 motorcycles were sold world wide in 2008.  Therefore I think there will be a pretty significant market for electric motorcycles in the world.  What do you think?