Powering the future

Over spring break, the 30 members of the China Energy Systems Field Trip class traveled to China to study the country’s energy infrastructure. In 12 days. the students toured and met with countless energy organizations. (Courtesy of Lauren Kubiak)

“If there is one word for China it is ‘scale’,” said Stanford atmosphere and energy operations Prof. Jane Woodward in Thursday’s talk entitled “Meeting the Energy and Environmental Challenge.”

The presentation, put on by members of the China Energy Systems Field Trip class—CEE 276F—was an overview of the group’s trip to China to study energy systems.

Despite inhabiting a land area comparable in size to the United States, China’s population is five times larger, and the majority lives in an area half the size of the U.S. Consider the nine percent annual economic growth, and the necessary supporting energy, electricity, urbanization and manpower, and one can begin to get an idea of just how huge it is. That scale—and rapid development—of China is what makes it a pivotal player in the global energy system.

Over spring break, 30 Stanford students traveled from the capital, Beijing, to the far reaches of Inner Mongolia, Yichang, Shanghai and seven provinces in between. Led by Woodward and Director of Sustainable Energy Education Karl Knapp, the Energy Systems Field Trip class, offered every other winter quarter, provides a unique opportunity for a more “hands on” approach to energy education.

“Students studying energy typically have fewer opportunities to see energy facilities for themselves, or to talk to decision makers in person,” said Knapp and Woodward in a written overview of the trip. “Our visit to China is an effort to correct this unfortunate trend.”

MAP Royalty, a private firm that acquires and manages natural gas and renewable energy royalties, played a large role in funding the trip as one of its sustainable energy education initiatives.

The trip proved to be an unforgettable experience for all students involved. Whether it was the largest dam in the world, the leading solar thermal manufacturer or the most efficient coal power plant, the students were able to witness and apply the facts that they had learned in a real physical context—all in just 12 days.

As United flight 889 descended into the Beijing airport, an unfamiliar sight greeted the students. Land use zoning regulations seemed nearly non-existent, as industrial complexes, garbage dumps, residential areas and sheep pastures—all adjacent to one another—dotted the landscape below.

Once they touched down, the 30 students, groggy with jetlag and armed with foreign visitor forms, slowly filed through customs. After Charlie Lannin ’11 was briefly detained by Chinese authorities—something about a stuffy nose—the buses were loaded, and the students traveled into the dusty, smoggy, coal-filled country that awaited them.

24 hours, an acrobat show, a duck dinner—complete with duck brain—, and two Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City tours later, the class met with some of the energy experts whose policies they had studied extensively in the winter quarter class.

In a traditional Chinese teahouse, the group met with representatives from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a U.S. environmental NGO with offices in Beijing. Woodward’s relationship with the NGO is what inspired the trip, and the meeting began to contextualize China’s expansive energy system.

Over the next 10 days, the class squeezed in an exceptional amount of visits centered on energy. One such sight was the renowned Three Gorges Dam. The dam disappears into the mist as it spans the Yangtze while housing an endless quantity of cement and innumerable transmission lines.

“[It’s] like the Hoover Dam, except five times as long, just as high and generat[ing] more than 10 times the power,” Millstein said.

Another highlight was the 5 GW coal power plant outside of Shanghai, which pumps out enough juice to provide 10 percent of California’s peak power demand. With ultra super-critical (i.e. “clean”) coal technology, the Waigaoqiao Coal Power Plant is the second largest—and most efficient—coal plant in the world.

The class also toured renewable power and manufacturing plants, primarily wind and solar facilities. “We dream that all Chinese people know and consume solar energy,” read a billboard for Himin Solar, China’s dominant solar thermal manufacturer. In a visit to Himin’s Dezhou headquarters, the students encountered the dream in the form of a solar valley: a half-built city complete with high-end condos and a resort, running almost entirely on renewable energy.

But throughout the trip, the lack of visible sunlight in China left the group with some questions about the source of this energy. With the “super efficient” coal power plants, abundant renewable energy resources and government incentives for clean power, it’s easy to forget that two new coal plants are coming online every week in China—until you go outside.

“No sun either,” Millstein explained. “Just an angry, red blotch futilely trying to break through the gray-yellow mono-cloud of particulate matter holding the world hostage in the strong arms of haze.”

12 days, seven provinces, five power plants, two manufacturing plants and an endless amount of particulate matter exposure later, the class boarded the plane back to San Francisco.

Despite the dominance of coal—visible in sky and city—the trip showed how committed China currently is to a renewable energy future. Through scale, speed and low cost—themes reiterated in Thursday’s presentation—China is rapidly developing an expansive renewable energy system.