{"id":28619,"date":"2010-05-14T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-14T13:47:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-11-12T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T11:30:13","slug":"3619-the-fire-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/","title":{"rendered":"The fire-starters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was originally published by <\/em>Southern Weekend <em>on December 3, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- [if gte mso 9]><xml>\n<w:WordDocument>\n<w:View>Normal<\/w:View>\n<w:Zoom>0<\/w:Zoom>\n<w:PunctuationKerning \/>\n<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas \/>\n<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false<\/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>\n<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false<\/w:IgnoreMixedContent>\n<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false<\/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>\n<w:Compatibility>\n<w:BreakWrappedTables \/>\n<w:SnapToGridInCell \/>\n<w:WrapTextWithPunct \/>\n<w:UseAsianBreakRules \/>\n<w:DontGrowAutofit \/>\n<w:UseFELayout \/>\n<\/w:Compatibility>\n<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4<\/w:BrowserLevel>\n<\/w:WordDocument>\n<\/xml><![endif]--><!-- [if gte mso 9]><xml>\n<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=\"false\" LatentStyleCount=\"156\">\n<\/w:LatentStyles>\n<\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\">\n<!--\n \/* Font Definitions *\/\n @font-face\n\t{font-family:SimSun;\n\tpanose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;\n\tmso-font-alt:\u5b8b\u4f53;\n\tmso-font-charset:134;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:3 680460288 22 0 262145 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"Arial Unicode MS\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:128;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:swiss;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:Calibri;\n\tpanose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:0;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:swiss;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"\\@Arial Unicode MS\";\n\tpanose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;\n\tmso-font-charset:128;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:swiss;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;}\n@font-face\n\t{font-family:\"\\@SimSun\";\n\tpanose-1:2 1 6 0 3 1 1 1 1 1;\n\tmso-font-charset:134;\n\tmso-generic-font-family:auto;\n\tmso-font-pitch:variable;\n\tmso-font-signature:3 680460288 22 0 262145 0;}\n \/* Style Definitions *\/\n p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal\n\t{mso-style-parent:\"\";\n\tmargin:0cm;\n\tmargin-bottom:.0001pt;\n\ttext-align:justify;\n\ttext-justify:inter-ideograph;\n\tmso-pagination:none;\n\tmso-hyphenate:none;\n\tfont-size:10.5pt;\n\tmso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;\n\tfont-family:Calibri;\n\tmso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\n\tmso-font-kerning:.5pt;\n\tmso-ansi-language:EN-US;\n\tmso-fareast-language:AR-SA;}\np.pictext, li.pictext, div.pictext\n\t{mso-style-name:pictext;\n\tmargin-top:14.0pt;\n\tmargin-right:0cm;\n\tmargin-bottom:14.0pt;\n\tmargin-left:0cm;\n\tmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\n\tmso-hyphenate:none;\n\tfont-size:12.0pt;\n\tfont-family:SimSun;\n\tmso-bidi-font-family:SimSun;\n\tmso-font-kerning:.5pt;\n\tmso-ansi-language:EN-US;\n\tmso-fareast-language:AR-SA;}\n@page Section1\n\t{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;\n\tmargin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;\n\tmso-header-margin:36.0pt;\n\tmso-footer-margin:36.0pt;\n\tmso-paper-source:0;}\ndiv.Section1\n\t{page:Section1;}\n--><\/style>\n<p><!-- [if gte mso 10]>\n\n\n\n<style>\n\/* Style Definitions *\/\ntable.MsoNormalTable\n{mso-style-name:\"Table Normal\";\nmso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;\nmso-tstyle-colband-size:0;\nmso-style-noshow:yes;\nmso-style-parent:\"\";\nmso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;\nmso-para-margin:0cm;\nmso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;\nmso-pagination:widow-orphan;\nfont-size:10.0pt;\nfont-family:\"Times New Roman\";\nmso-fareast-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";\nmso-ansi-language:#0400;\nmso-fareast-language:#0400;\nmso-bidi-language:#0400;}\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<![endif]--> Cartoon by Liang Weichi<\/p>\n<p>As controversy over waste-incineration projects has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/3436\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">raged<\/a> across China, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsinghua.edu.cn\/docsn\/sysbc\/hjx-gtfw\/member\/nyf.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nie Yongfeng<\/a>, a professor at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsinghua.edu.cn\/eng\/index.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tsinghua University<\/a>\u2019s department of environmental science and engineering, has come to represent the \u201cincinerationists\u201d, or garbage-burning lobby, in the public eye. Now at the centre of the debate, he finds himself accused of supporting the technology for his own benefit.<\/p>\n<p>It seems Nie does not have the time to worry about such suspicions. \u201cI\u2019ve been busy preparing two reports, and I\u2019m going to Japan on Wednesday,\u201d he said, when contacted by this paper. Last week, he repeatedly refused a more in-depth interview with the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Southern_Weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Southern Weekend<\/a> on grounds that he was \u201ctoo busy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, organisers of the <a href=\"https:\/\/report.solidwaste.com.cn\/2009_meeting\/yaoqin.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Advanced Forum on Solid Waste Industry<\/a> are expecting his attendance in seven days time, when he will give a speech on \u201cthe application and future development of technology to handle airborne incineration ash\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This is the third time that the forum is being held. It is run by website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solidwaste.com.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">solidwaste.com<\/a> and Tsinghua University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.env.tsinghua.edu.cn\/Eng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Environmental Science and Engineering<\/a>, but all the signs indicate it is not purely an academic event.<\/p>\n<p>Organiser Peng Hong says: \u201cWe invite some government officials, the heads of several major design institutes and experts such as Nie Yongfeng and <a href=\"https:\/\/expert.solidwaste.com.cn\/k\/2007-4\/200703241626164075.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xu Haiyun<\/a> for free. We charge some companies, small engineering institutes and research bodies.\u201d Attendees pay a fee of 2,000 yuan (US$293), not including food or accommodation. \u201cWe\u2019ve already got over 300 companies and other bodies signed up,\u201d says Peng.<\/p>\n<p>During the two-day conference, representatives of all interested parties will have the chance to make a speech. But, apart from invited officials and experts, speakers will have to pay a fee of at least 18,000 yuan (US$2,636). According to Peng Hong, this is \u201cgreat value for money\u201d. \u201cRegistration alone at a conference specifically for overseas solid-waste firms would normally cost 18,000 yuan, let alone making a speech,\u201d she says. \u201cSo far more than a dozen people have applied to speak, including waste-furnace manufacturers from Japan and Europe. And the list is still growing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organisers even offer \u201ctailored services\u201d for major customers, where they set up small-scale meetings with business figures, experts and officials. Charges for this are \u201cagreed in accordance with the company\u2019s specific needs\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>All of this money goes to an organisation called Beijing Golden City Science &amp; Technology Development. \u201cWe\u2019re a private firm, founded by academics from Tsinghua University, with a background in government environmental protection,\u201d says Peng.<\/p>\n<p>Information from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baic.gov.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce<\/a> reveals that the company\u2019s legal representative is <a href=\"https:\/\/expert.h2o-china.com\/expert_show.php?id=251662\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fu Tao<\/a>, who is indeed deputy professor and researcher at Tsinghua\u2019s Environmental Management and Policy Institute, deputy head and secretary of the national environmental services chamber of commerce and also chief editor of water-industry website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.h2o-china.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">h2o-china.com<\/a>, which just happens to be a \u201csister site\u201d to solidwaste.com.<\/p>\n<p>Sighing when he hears this, one environmentalist says that \u2013 despite monitoring the sector for some time \u2013 he had understood solidwaste.com to be a government or NGO website. \u201cMany more people are likely to make the same mistake, particularly among the general public,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps these financial arrangements are the norm among the wide range of forums that take place in China today. But the controversy surrounding<a href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/is-china-building-more-waste-incinerators-than-it-needs\/\"> waste incineration<\/a> has led to particular suspicion over this event.<\/p>\n<p>The majority of experts on the organisers\u2019 list are \u201cincinerationists\u201d. Alongside Nie Yongfeng are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cucd.cn\/newEbiz1\/EbizPortalFG\/portal\/html\/about.html?GeneralContentShow_DocID=c373e91d1cffbf2d8ffa79d0e3097103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xu Wenlong<\/a>, director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cucd.cn\/newEbiz1\/EbizPortalFG\/portal\/html\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">China Urban Construction Design and Research Institute<\/a> (CUCD), and the body\u2019s chief engineer, Xu Haiyun. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to listen to the speeches because you know they\u2019re going to speak in favour of incineration \u2013 obviously the website is just their mouthpiece,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cas.cn\/xw\/zjsd\/200906\/t20090608_647115.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zhao Zhangyuan<\/a>, a retired professor from the <a href=\"https:\/\/english.cas.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chinese Academy of Sciences<\/a>. Zhao is seen as one of the leaders of the anti-incineration lobby, but he was not invited to take part in the forum. \u201cI\u2019m against incineration, so of course they couldn\u2019t have me speak to all of those companies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Institutes or companies?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The anti-incineration lobby sees Tsinghua\u2019s environmental-science department as the enemy\u2019s home camp. All public support for the technology appears to have some link back to the centre. Nie is considered the pro-incineration authority and Peking University professor <a href=\"https:\/\/cese.pku.edu.cn\/dispC.asp?teacherid=38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liu Yangsheng<\/a> and CUCD\u2019s Xu Haiyun \u2013 who together set the standard for a 300-metre exclusion zone around incinerators in Beijing \u2013 are both Nie\u2019s former students.<\/p>\n<p>Nie\u2019s current and past academic titles are numerous: director of Tsinghua University\u2019s Solid Waste Pollution Control and Utilisation Institute; head of research at a centre under the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ministry_of_Environmental_Protection_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State Environmental Protection Administration<\/a>; deputy chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinacses.org\/cn\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences<\/a>\u2019 solid-waste committee; and consultant on environment and sanitation to Beijing\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebeijing.gov.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">municipal government<\/a>. The list goes on.<\/p>\n<p>He also has another, often-overlooked, role as head of the solids office at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.env.tsinghua.edu.cn\/Eng\/Facilities\/Info.aspx?SID=197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beijing Guohuan Tsinghua Environmental Engineering Design and Research Institute<\/a> (or \u201cGuohuan\u201d for short). There, he is responsible for approving technical documents for the institute\u2019s engineering contracts.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, this institute has been embroiled in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chinadialogue.net\/article\/show\/single\/en\/3497-Stand-off-in-Beijing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">problems<\/a> stemming from the environmental-impact report for a waste-to-power plant at A Su Wei, in northern Beijing. Ms Che, a volunteer from the nearby neighbourhood of Aobei, told me something surprising: Nie\u2019s institute is not actually qualified to carry out environmental-impact assessments.<\/p>\n<p>Although its website proudly displays certification from the <a href=\"https:\/\/english.mep.gov.cn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ministry of Environmental Protection<\/a> saying it is allowed to carry out such reports, closer inspection reveals that the certificate actually belongs to Tsinghua University and its department of environmental science. \u201cBut the head of that department, Xu Gangze, made it clear to us that the A Su Wei report was nothing to do with them,\u201d says Ms Che. \u201cHe knew nothing about the project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In reality, the certificate is used by an \u201cenvironmental-impact assessment office\u201d, headed by deputy head of the department, Wang Chengwen. But, according to its deputy, Yang Weiguo, \u201cThe office doesn\u2019t physically exist.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what is the link between this \u201coffice\u201d and the Guohuan institute? <em>Southern Weekend<\/em>\u2019s investigation found that the \u201cinstitute\u201d is not actually a scientific body at all. Its full name is \u201cBeijing Guohuan Tsinghua Environmental Engineering Design and Research Institute Co. Ltd\u201d And its legal representative is none other than Wang Chengwen. On the website, however, there is no indication that it is a \u201ccompany\u201d. It is simply presented as a research institute.<\/p>\n<p>Yang Weiguo admits that Guohuan itself is not accredited to carry out these assessments, saying that the certification belongs to the environmental-impact assessment office, and that \u201cthere is overlap in personnel between the office and Guohuan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>There are secrets behind this name confusion. <em>Southern Weekend<\/em> obtained a memo to Guohuan, dated August, 2009, from the owner of the A Su Wei project, <a href=\"https:\/\/wenda.tianya.cn\/wenda\/thread?tid=5e0e7224e82850ec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beijng Huayuan Huizhong<\/a>. The document says that Guohuan \u201cAgrees to your company\u2019s (Huayuan Huizhong\u2019s) method of jointly presenting the environmental-impact report as having been completed by Tsinghua University and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cma.gov.cn\/english\/Organization_of_CMA\/Institutions_under_CMA\/t20070619_198666.phtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chinese Academy of Meterological Sciences<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Residents near A Su Wei have been waiting for Tsinghua to respond to their concerns since August. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in touch with the assessing body three times, but we still haven\u2019t seen the expert who wrote the report,\u201d says Ms Che.<\/p>\n<p>Further investigation uncovered Tsinghua\u2019s involvement in a similar case several years ago. In 2001, the State Environmental Protection Agency suspended Tsinghua\u2019s certification for three months after two reports from the previous year were rejected by an expert committee due to \u201ca lack of evidence for conclusions, incomplete engineering analysis and poor quality\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Beijng\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miga.org\/projects\/index_sv.cfm?pid=720\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gao&#8217;antun<\/a> waste-to-energy plant has come in for even fiercer criticism. The incinerator has been conducting trial operations since July 2008, in spite of the fact its environmental-impact report \u2013 again produced by Guohuan \u2013 has not yet been accepted.<\/p>\n<p>One environmentalist is blunt: \u201cIt is not just Tsinghua that is causing this confusion in the solid-waste sector. Many so-called \u201cinstitutes\u201d or academic bodies are engaging in corporate activities.\u201d And the non-expert public is often taken in.<\/p>\n<p>But the influence of these experts goes even further.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/report.solidwaste.com.cn\/salon7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">7th Solid Waste Advanced Salon<\/a>, held in March, 2009, is often brought up by opponents of incineration. The event was also organised by Tsinghua\u2019s department of environmental science and solidwaste.com and included the familiar faces \u2013 advocates such as Nie Yongfeng, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.022net.com\/2009\/12-30\/522076403373078.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xu Wenloing<\/a> and Xu Haiyun and, of course, dozens of company representatives.<\/p>\n<p>This meeting caused particular uproar due to some of the hard-line views expressed: the public are ignorant and obstructionist; the media reports are confused and sensationalist; the government should make full use of the legal system to put an end to local disruptions in the interests of the wider good, if necessary relocating residents rather than the incinerators.<\/p>\n<p>The theme of the meeting was \u201cstrategic consideration of and suggestions for waste processing in Beijing\u201d. The public initially thought it was an academic meeting but the views expressed were one-sided, with a distinct lack of dissenting voices. Just five days later, Beijing released plans for more incinerators, ending more than a year of silence on the matter that had followed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sinofile.net\/saiweng\/sip_blog.nsf\/d6plinks\/YZHI-72F5KX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Liulitun incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shows their power to influence policy,\u201d says one environmentalist. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the reason the incineration firms flock around the experts.\u201d Indeed, Nie Yongfeng, Xu Wenlong and Xu Haiyun also sit on the expert committee at the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ministry_of_Housing_and_Urban-Rural_Development_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development<\/a> that is largely responsible for setting industry standards for waste incineration.<\/p>\n<p>In 2007, Beijing set a requirement for a 300-metre safety zone around incinerators. Critics said this figure had been chosen specifically to allow the Liulitun plant, where the nearest residential area is about 500 metres away, to go ahead. Zhao Zhangyuan fiercely opposed this move at the expert hearing: \u201cIt started off at 1,000 metres, then changed to 800 and then 700. This impacts public health and safety and we need long-term observation to confirm mathematical models.\u201d An impassioned argument broke out between Zhao and proposer of the changes \u2013 Nie Yongfeng. The 300-metre limit was not passed at that meeting but several months later it nevertheless appeared in government documents.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cincinerationists\u201d do not limit their work to influencing government policy. Sometimes, they also help the government persuade the public. While there might be nothing wrong with that, the public have gradually come to see the experts as the \u201ctroublemakers\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Public anger at the choice of experts to attend a press conference about an incineration plant in Panyu, Guangdong, in October 2009 led to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSTRE5AM0JS20091123\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">walking protest<\/a> in November. One of the experts, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vipenergy.cn\/article-24-136.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shu Chengguang<\/a>, is vice president of the China division of US firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.covantaholding.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Covanta Energy<\/a>. Covanta is the world\u2019s largest waste-to-energy firm and has a poor reputation back in the United States. Two years ago, it <a href=\"https:\/\/wasteage.com\/mag\/waste_covanta_enters_china\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">began<\/a> making vigorous efforts to break into the waste market in the Pearl River delta.<\/p>\n<p>But it is not the expert support for incineration that makes the public most angry, it is the doubts about why they are offering that support. And so far, those doubts have not been answered.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, Nie Yongfeng was one of the four experts at the Panyu press conference. Angry citizens started looking into his background and found that he had applied for a patent for a type of domestic-waste incinerator in 2000. As soon as this fact was revealed, he was accused of being an \u201cinterested party\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>One member of the public, Mao Da, who has a doctorate in environmental history from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bnu.edu.cn\/eng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beijing Normal University<\/a>, became interested in the history of Nie\u2019s academic research.<\/p>\n<p>Mao found that, between 1995 and 1998, most of Nie\u2019s articles were about prevention of pollution from landfill. In 1998, he wrote in a paper for <em>China Solid Waste Management and Reduction<\/em> that \u201cDevelopment of incineration in China is limited due to the large investment needed, high running costs and strict operational requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But after staying silent throughout 1999, Nie made a u-turn. In \u201cAn Investigation into the Development of China\u2019s Urban Waste Incineration Technology\u201d, he wrote that \u201cIncineration technology reduces the quantity of waste, makes it harmless and turns it into a resource. It is one of the first choices for rubbish processing in China . . .and will become the main technology used for handling waste in China\u2019s major cities and coastal centres.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mao Da describes the year 2000 as a watershed for Nie\u2019s research. It was also the year he applied for the incinerator patent and the public cannot help but link the two. A look at the research of several \u201cincinerationists\u201d shows that they have made similar academic journeys: starting out with fairly conservative views on incineration but, at some point, suddenly changing their academic stance.<\/p>\n<p>Dedicated netizens found 25 patents filed with the national intellectual-property office bearing Nie\u2019s name, the bulk of them connected to waste incineration and all applied for after 2000. And, as the number of patents increased, Nie\u2019s pro-incineration stance hardened.<\/p>\n<p>While many members of the public are happy to accuse Nie of taking advantage of his academic position for profit, Mao is more careful. \u201cThe moral accusations are speculation but, at the least, he hasn\u2019t been scientific,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou would expect these so-called experts to be locked in debate. But they\u2019re all in agreement, it isn\u2019t healthy,\u201d says Zhao Zhangyuan.<\/p>\n<p>Zhao, whose background is in water environments, has been accused of \u201cnot being a specialist\u201d. But this retired professor has become a leader of the anti-incineration camp. \u201cThere is no shortage of officials and academics with different opinions but few of them speak out,\u201d he says. He cannot understand why.<\/p>\n<p>But it seems no amount of obscure academic debate or exposure of these experts&#8217; vested interests can halt the rapid advance of the incineration industry. Advocates of incineration say that 2008 to 2015 will be a golden age for waste-fired power generation. The public suspects that the real beneficiaries will be these experts\u2019 wallets.<\/p>\n<p><em>Meng Dengke is reporter at <\/em>Southern Weekend<em> and winner of the \u201cinvestigative journalism\u201d category in the China Environmental Press Awards, jointly organised by <\/em>chinadialogue<em>, <\/em>The Guardian<em> and Tencent.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article was originally published by <\/em>Southern Weekend <em>on December 3, 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Homepage image from <a href=\"https:\/\/tuan.pcpop.com\/space-696387-do-blog-id-1001597.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">huangma<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Forceful academics \u2013 dubbed the \u201cincinerationists\u201d \u2013 are promoting waste-to-energy plants in China. But, says Meng Dengke, winner of the \u201cinvestigative journalism\u201d category in the China Environmental Press Awards, these experts\u2019 corporate links are raising doubts about their motives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":625,"featured_media":54324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[757],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-28619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v26.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The fire-starters | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Forceful academics \u2013 dubbed the \u201cincinerationists\u201d \u2013 are promoting waste-to-energy plants in China. But, says Meng Dengke, winner of the \u201cinvestigative journalism\u201d category in the China Environmental Press Awards, these experts\u2019 corporate links are raising doubts about their motives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The fire-starters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Forceful academics \u2013 dubbed the \u201cincinerationists\u201d \u2013 are promoting waste-to-energy plants in China. But, says Meng Dengke, winner of the \u201cinvestigative journalism\u201d category in the China Environmental Press Awards, these experts\u2019 corporate links are raising doubts about their motives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dialogue Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-14T13:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-12T11:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gao_an_tun.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dengke Meng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dengke Meng\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/27e8cfc8ee043e98be81babb3cb92ccd\"},\"headline\":\"The fire-starters\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-14T13:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-12T11:30:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\"},\"wordCount\":2376,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gao_an_tun.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Energy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/\",\"name\":\"The fire-starters | Dialogue Earth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/3619-the-fire-starters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/gao_an_tun.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-14T13:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-12T11:30:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Forceful academics \u2013 dubbed the \u201cincinerationists\u201d \u2013 are promoting waste-to-energy plants in China. 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