Greener China Business Awards

By Charlotte Li and Adam Aston

Greener China Business Awards

In the span of one generation, China has achieved unprecedented industrial growth and become the factory of the world. But this has come at a terrible price in terms of pollution, public health, and waste. In response, businesses operating in China are recognizing they can profit by going green. The BusinessWeek Greener China Business Awards recognize the achievements of 10 companies, all of them leaders in adopting and promoting environmentally responsible processes. They were selected by a panel of expert judges and by BusinessWeek reporters from a pool of more than 60 candidates. Some of the award winners earned high marks for cleaning up their own pollution and cutting resource use. Others are on the list because they make and sell state-of-the-art green technologies in China, or because they outshine their competitors by encouraging environmental improvements among their suppliers and customers. Here, in alphabetical order, are scenes from the 10 award winners:

3M China: Wind Tape

3M sells scores of energy-and resource-saving products in China, from light-enhancing coatings for signs to films that help windows insulate better. 3M Wind Tape provides effective erosion and abrasion control for wind turbine blades. The company has been producing eco-friendly products since it first began operating in China in 1984, well before the government imposed environmental rules. In 1994, 3M installed China's first thermal oxidation furnace to cut toxic emission and save energy by recycling excess heat. And since 2000, it has rolled out 98 projects in its Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program, reducing an estimated 17,000 tons of poisonous waste and saving the company $48.6 million in costs.

3M: Power cables

High-capacity transmission lines are the backbone of China's fast-growing electric grid. 3M supplies advanced components like the one in this picture, able to tolerate high levels of heat. It resists failure better than other cable materials. This is just one of 69,000 products that 3M manufactures around the world. The company's sales in China have expanded at an annual rate of 25% since 2000, reaching $1.5 billion in 2008.

Broad: Headquarters

This is Broad Town, the headquarters of Broad Air Conditioning in Changsha, China. Over the past 20 years Broad has become a leader in nonelectric air conditioning, with customers ranging from Madrid Airport to the U.S. Energy Dept. Broad's systems are powered by alternative fuel such as natural gas or waste heat from other heavy machines. Because this approach involves fewer steps of energy conversion, these chillers are more efficient than conventional electric units.

BYD: Electric Car

A BYD E6 electric car charges up during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2009. Based in Shenzhen, China, BYD (BYDDY.PK) entered the auto market in 2003 and launched a hybrid car, the F3DM, in December 2008. The F3DM is propelled by two electric motors that draw electricity from bank of batteries.

BYD: Charging Cars

In December 2008, BYD launched the world's first commercial, mass-produced plug-in hybrid, the F3DM. Its batteries can be charged to full in seven hours from a home socket, or, on the road, from an onboard gas-powered generator. In electric mode, the F3DM can go as far 62 miles at a top speed of 93 mph. This year, BYD is expected to begin producing its first all-electric model, the E6, which should be able to travel up to 250 miles on a single charge with a top speed of 100 mph.

DuPont: Solar Module

Dozens of emblems of China's push into green technology are made with materials and components from DuPont (DD), a global leader in industrial biotech, chemicals, electric parts, and agricultural technology. DuPont provides eight different components in Chinese-made solar panels. Its Kevlar fabric is used to make wind mill blades lighter and more stable. Here, DuPont engineers are putting a solar module into an environment chamber to test the material. The company's Greater China operations brought in about $2.1 billion in revenues in 2008. Its solar materials business grew by 60% last year, while its wind energy business is growing about 40% annually.

General Electric: Wind Turbine

GE is helping China meet its growing demand for cleaner energy. Here, its turbines are installed at the Shangyi Manjing Wind Farm located near Beijing in Hebei province. This location will be one of the largest wind farms in the country when all 215 towers are running. Energy from the Shangyi site helped supply power to the 2008 Olympic Games. When the project is completed later this year, it should be able to supply 600,000 average Chinese homes with energy. Wind is just one part of GE Ecomagination, the company wide initiative in sustainable technology. Sales of goods with the Ecomagination tag—typically given to the most energy-efficient products in each category—make up about 9% of total sales globally. Yet in China, Ecomagination sales accounted for 17% of GE's $4.6 billion total last year.

General Electric: Water Technology

GE provided the 2008 Olympic National Stadium with its ZeeWeed Ultrafiltration membrane water recycling technology. At Beijing's Oinghe Waste Water Plant, the system recycled rainwater for the stadium, processing up to 80,000 cubic meters of water per day, and storing it underground pools. This approach reduced the stadium's need for fresh water, by making an abundance of recycled water available for landscaping, fire-fighting, and cleaning purposes.

Haier: Refrigerators

Based in Qingdao, China, the company supplied more than 60,000 units of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient appliances for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. These included 5,353 refrigerators using carbon dioxide as a coolant, as well as thousands of solar water heaters and washing machines that use electrolyzed water instead of detergents to wash. After the Games, Haier (HRELF.PK) also stepped up its green commitment, pledging to turn 95% of its product line green by 2010.

Himin: Sun-Moon Mansion

At the center of China Solar Valley in Dezhou, Shandong Province, is the Sun-Moon Mansion, the headquarters of Himin Solar Energy. The company was founded in 1995 by Ming Huang, an oil equipment engineer concerned about dependence on fossil fuels. Now Himin is the world's largest make of solar water heaters, and Solar Valley is the world's largest solar park.

Himin: Factory

A worker stacks glass tubes used for solar water heaters at Himin Solar Energy Group in Dezhou, Shandong Province. The company makes these devices in huge volumes—some 2 million square meters worth each year, equal to twice all such sales in the U.S. The heaters have become the standard in new housing and many commercial buildings across China.

Himin: Lighting the Night

Himin Solar Energy is not just the world's largest supplier of solar heating systems. The company is also one of China's most avid evangelists for myriad uses of green technology. This photo shows some of the energy-efficient lighting on the streets of Solar Valley, the company's moniker for the area of Dezhou, Shandong Province, where it is headquartered.

Shell: Control Room

This is the control room of an immense petrochemical plant at Huizhou Daya Bay, a development zone 40 miles north of Hong Kong. One of the most eco-friendly plants in its class, the facility belongs to a 50%-50% joint venture between China National Offshore Oil (CEO) and Shell Nanhai, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa). The $4.1 billion project is one of the largest foreign joint ventures ever and pumps out more than 2 million metric tons of chemicals a year. The plant uses two-thirds as much energy and just 5% of the water a conventional chemical factory requires.

Shell: Roof Garden

A worker tends a rooftop vegetable garden at a facility run by Shell Nanhai, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell. Shell's joint-venture with China National Offshore Oil has won praise from environmentalists for adopting principles of sustainable development in its planning, construction, and operation of its plants.

Shell: Factory at Night

This is a night view of China's largest petrochemical plant, part of a joint-venture between China National Offshore Oil and Shell Nanhai, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell. The plant is an integrated chemical complex that generates its own electricity and also manages storage and shipping facilities. Effluent treatment and environmental protection are core concerns. Shell and CNOOC plan to increase output by 15% over the next 12 months.

Suntech: Beijing Jingya Hotel

The wall of light emitting diodes (LEDs) Suntech built for Beijing Jingya Hotel is powered by solar energy. Based in Wuxi, China, Suntech (STP) is the world's largest photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer and the number-two PV cell maker. But because 98% of its sales are exports, Suntech is suffering from the world economic downturn. Suntech responded to falling orders by trying to develop more integrated solar energy solutions for customers, such as solar-powered LED walls to play videos or movies.

Suntech: Headquarters

Suntech (STP) is the world's largest photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturer and the No. 2 PV cell maker. To show its prowess, the company put a lot of work into its headquarters building in Wuxi. The façade of the building is covered by 2,552 solar modules and a 300kW solar power system is on the roof. The building is capable of generating more than 1 million kwh per year, covering 80% of its power demand.

Suntech: Olympic Stadium

Green initiatives are not guided solely by policy imperative or investment returns in China. There is a natural competitive spirit at work in the environmental space, prominently displayed at the 2008 Olympics. Suntech made the solar panels for the Bird's Nest, the main stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. They were a tour de force in green technology, and a showcase for Broad and Haier, as well as Suntech.

Wal-Mart: Beijing Grocery Store

Some 144 stores that make up Wal-Mart's fast-growing network in China are adopting green-building principles and technologies developed in the U.S. The new eco-stores use 40% less energy than the older ones, and retrofits of the existing sites should be able to reduce energy use by about one-third by 2010.

Wal-Mart: Syndicated Farms

In September 2008, Wal-Mart started to purchase produce from two "direct farms" in Guizhou and Dalian to ensure quality and cut cost. The Guizhou farm supplies vegetables for Wal-Mart's 17 super centers in Southwest China. The most precious resource in agriculture, obviously, is water. Over the next two years, Wal-Mart China aims to halve water use by installing water-conservation fixtures in bathrooms, kitchens, and maintenance closets. Wal-Mart now requires all its suppliers to become 20% more energy-efficient by 2012.