In mid-October 2006, I was part of a sixteen member U.S. environmental engineering delegation that participated in the 7^th Sino-American Technology and Engineering Conference in Beijing. The conference targeted SO2 and NOx control in China, and we visited two power plants — Datang’s Gaojing plant and Huaneng’s Beijing Cogeneration facility — to see recent flue gas desulfurization (FGD) installations. These are world class pollution control systems, and fully state-of-the-art. China has an enormous air pollution control program underway — more than 200 GW of FGD are currently under construction! — and the plants are also getting ready to install further NOx control as well.

Those of you with sharp eyes might be able to find me in the picture below (seated, front row, second from right). Next to me (on my right) is Dr. Dan Dudek of Environmental Defense, who authored the U.S. market-based acid rain legislation; and three seats over from him is Dr. John Chang of U.S. EPA, who organized our delegation. I presented a paper on recent U.S. pollution control experience, entitled “Pollution Control in the U.S. Power Sector: New Requirements, Costs, and Decisions for Electric Utilities.”

We stayed up at Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills), a resort area northwest of the city, and also found time to visit the gardens in Beijing modeled after those described in the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber. This is not one of my favorite Chinese novels, but Dr. Chang’s wife Julie (standing immediately above him in the picture) patiently explained to me several layers of meaning in the novel that I had completely missed.

Studious/serious Roger at SATEC

I stayed in Beijing an additional week after the conference for further meetings, including a visit to the Carbon Expo Asia — and was very surprised to run into Naomi Ishiwata and her colleagues there. Naomi runs Perry Johnson Registrars Clean Development Mechanism, Inc. (PJR CDM), a Tokyo-based firm which was an exhibitor at the Expo. Naomi had invited me almost two years ago to become a member of their technical team seeking United Nations’ certification as a “Designated Operational Entity” (DOE) – essentially the auditors who do validation and verification of CDM projects, to ensure that the emission credits generated by those projects are legitimate. We’re now in the final stages of obtaining that certification, and expect it within the next few weeks.

I also had a wonderful day-long visit with Dr. Gong YuYang, a New Jersey colleague who recently established a China office for the Louis Berger Group; and had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Tang DaGang, Prof. Duan Ning, Prof. Zhuang Yahui, and other good friends and colleagues at both CRAES (China Research Academy of Environmental Sciences) and RCEES (Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences).