Solar energy firms leave waste behind in China

[Gunny]

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post
updated 4:00 a.m. CT, Sun., March. 9, 2008

GAOLONG, China - The first time Li Gengxuan saw the dump trucks from the nearby factory pull into his village, he couldn't believe what happened. Stopping between the cornfields and the primary school playground, the workers dumped buckets of bubbling white liquid onto the ground. Then they turned around and drove right back through the gates of their compound without a word.

This ritual has been going on almost every day for nine months, Li and other villagers said.

In China, a country buckling with the breakneck pace of its industrial growth, such stories of environmental pollution are not uncommon. But the Luoyang Zhonggui High-Technology Co., here in the central plains of Henan Province near the Yellow River, stands out for one reason: It's a green energy company, producing polysilicon destined for solar energy panels sold around the world. But the byproduct of polysilicon production -- silicon tetrachloride -- is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.

more ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23543386/

The end justifies the means, eh?

 

[onedomino]

The end justifies the means, eh?

When I lived in China, I was startled to find out that almost no one in that country knows how to swim. I asked why and was told that there is nowhere to learn how to swim. There are very few swimming pools available to the public, and the rivers and lakes are far too polluted to use for swimming. The amount of air pollution in China is also very noticeable. In Beijing, for example, even on a clear day one cannot see more than a few hundred yards. There is a perpetual yellow-brown haze that hangs over the city. The Olympic athletes are not going to like it there. Beijing air makes LA seem like Aspen.