In the midst of booming development in China, University of Oregon graduate student Hong Wu knows the country’s developers and design professionals have a lot to learn about sustainable urban growth.

It’s why Wu, who is pursuing a doctorate in landscape architecture, organized an eight-day West Coast tour for a dozen Chinese design and development professionals. She also is serving as translator for the trip, which spotlights environmentally conscious projects in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco.

“I have always been willing to become a bridge to offer my part to promote urban sustainability in China,” she said. “We defined the theme (of the tour) as sustainable urban development, which we think is the thing to do in China.”

After a three-day visit to Seattle, the Chinese landscape architects, architects, interior designers and developers made a two-day stop in Portland. On Tuesday, they toured Portland’s South Waterfront District, where they ogled, photographed and measured stormwater planters, green roofs and other sustainable features of the neighborhood.

The visit included a stop at Zidell Yards with representatives from Maul Foster & Alongi. The engineering and environmental consulting firm contributed to an extensive cleanup of the Willamette River waterfront site left contaminated after years of industrial use.

Robert Liberty, director of Portland State University’s Urban Sustainability Accelerator, helped lead the tour. The PSU program helps cities implement sustainability projects or programs.

Liberty, who has traveled to China to share Oregon’s philosophy on urban growth boundaries, said the country is feeling the consequences of relentless development with little consideration of environmental impacts. There is now more awareness of the need to protect the environment, the importance of mass transit and a desire to enhance the quality of life for the increasing ranks of middle-class citizens, he said.

“The pace of change in China is mind-boggling; along with it is the hammering of the environment,” he said. “What would be helpful for China is to avoid our mistakes.”

The challenge is the lack of knowledge among Chinese design professionals about sustainable project implementation, Wu said. Showing projects like Zidell Yards, which required extensive collaboration between government agencies, the property owner and design team, is crucial to demonstrate the work required, she said.

“I feel like we have a long way to go to gain this cross-disciplinary development,” she said. “There are too many gaps in both knowledge and experience.”

The Chinese visitors are eager to learn more about sustainable development and have asked many specific questions, Wu said.

“They are really interested in the design aspects – the depth, the cost,” she said. “They care a lot about the details.”

At Zidell Yards, Maul Foster & Alongi senior engineer Erik Bakkom explained how the site was contaminated by a ship dismantling operation that dumped asbestos, lead, oils and other harmful compounds into the river and onto the bank. The worst contamination was removed and transported to a landfill while the rest was contained within an 11-acre cap, he said.

Liberty pointed out that the portion of the Willamette River near the site formerly was uninhabitable for fish.

“In the summer, people swim in the river now,” he said. “It also has people catching salmon in the river.”

Getting to this point wasn’t easy, Liberty told the Chinese visitors.

“(The site has) made a lot of progress, and it requires a lot of effort,” he said. “(To) clean up later, it’s much more expensive that way.”

Wu translated a comment from one of the visitors who said that Chinese designers and developers are starting to realize this.

“That’s why you’re here,” Liberty said.

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, a billion-dollar company based in China, hired to take its retail stores to the next level.

Four new “superstores” – in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – now mimic large appliance stores in the United States. The decision to follow an American model rather than an Asian one was not easy, according to Craig Davenport, a principal with MulvannyG2.

“There was a lot of arguing about it,” he said. “We were working with a company that wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to do yet. Part of the process was trying to narrow down what direction they wanted to take.”

Two options existed: the Japanese example, with little space and a lot of signage (similar to large markets); or the American (Sears) one, with organized areas and designated floors.

Suning officials decided to go with the latter, because it would give customers a more balanced and ordered shopping experience, which the company hoped to achieve with the new stores, Davenport said.

“It used to be where they would provide the shell space, and then companies like Samsung would come in and build their own corner,” he said. “You’d have to go from store to store to compare. The new option is to get away from that and bring it all together so that it’s more run by the Suning employees.”

All four stores are in downtown areas. Three of them are six stories, and the store in Nanjing has approximately 107,000 square feet.

The stores have similar designs: multiple levels surround an atrium in the middle. Escalators were installed throughout the buildings.

MulvannyG2 had only a few months to design the buildings because Suning wanted to open them in time for the Chinese holiday season.

“The schedule became the most difficult thing for us,” Davenport said. “There were a lot of things we wanted to do that we couldn’t do on these first four stores.”

MulvannyG2 is hoping to work again with Suning. It’s planning to build 16 additional stores in the near future, and may eventually build hundreds more across the country.

“This process of going back and reflecting on what worked and didn’t work is very natural to us,” Davenport said. “We hope to do the same with them in China.”

“On the Boards” is a weekly feature that spotlights local firms’ best design work. Submissions from architectural and engineering firms are encouraged. Please call 503-802-7240 or email ontheboards@djcOregon.com.

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The U.S. Department of Commerce today imposed new fees on solar panels and cells imported from China. The countervailing duties are meant to counteract the subsidies the department believes the Chinese government is giving its solar manufacturers.

The duties will range from 2.9 to 4.73 percent of imported products’ cost, an amount that is not expected to dramatically impact solar trade. But the duties could rise as the department’s investigation continues.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., supports the decision and in a statement said he predicts the tariff margins will “significantly swell” as the Obama administration’s investigation continues.

“Right now U.S. manufacturers are being hammered by Chinese imports that appear to be subsidized by the government and dumped on the U.S. market,” Wyden said in the statement. “For domestic producers to compete, they need only a level playing field free from the unfair trade practices that are routinely employed by China.”

The duties will apply retroactively to all imports of cells and modules from China brought into the U.S. since December, 2011, although the duties could change when the agency issues its final decision.

In the meantime, importers will have to post bonds or cash deposits toward anti-subsidy margins of 2.9 percent for cells and panels made by Chinese manufacturer Suntech, and 4.73 percent for those made by Trina Solar. Importers of all other Chinese solar products will have to meet a margin of 3.6 percent.

In addition to the subsidy investigation, the Commerce Department is looking into accusations that Chinese companies are “dumping” panels in the U.S., or selling the products at less than fair value. The department’s findings are expected May 16. The dumping investigation was prompted by the SolarWorld-led , which is seeking anti-dumping tariffs of more than 100 percent on Chinese-made panels.

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The trade war between U.S. solar manufacturers and China continues to blaze, and today the U.S. Department of Commerce stirred up more controversy with its announcement that any duties levied by the U.S. will be charged retroactively.

The -led celebrated the ruling, a response to what Commerce Department called “critical-circumstances” between U.S. solar manufacturers and China. The coalition sees the ruling as a step toward victory in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade complaint filed last November.

But the faction of U.S. solar installers and other companies that oppose the trade complaint – the – today released a study that paints a devastating picture of the domestic solar industry if tariffs are placed on Chinese modules.

The economic analysis, prepared by the Brattle Group, finds that a 100 percent tariff on imported solar cells and modules from China would result in as many as 50,000 net lost jobs in the U.S. over the next three years. The study also anticipates retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. exports of polysilicon to China, which could put nearly 11,000 more U.S. jobs at risk in the first year.

In response, Gordon Brisner, president of SolarWorld Industries America released a statement calling the study “highly speculative.” Brisner argues that the study ignores the illegality of China’s trade practices and the impacts those actions have already had on solar manufacturing jobs.

If the Department of Commerce imposes preliminary countervailing duties on March 2, the duties will apply to all imports of cells and modules from China brought into the country starting Dec. 3, 2011. The agency is scheduled to issue a separate preliminary ruling on anti-dumping duties on March 27.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary determination on Dec. 2 in agreement with the claims that Chinese imports are harming the U.S. solar manufacturing industry.

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An Oregon company is intensifying its search for space to accommodate Chinese solar manufacturers eager to avoid looming federal tariffs.

Eugene-based Grape Solar, a large importer of solar panels, is actively seeking Eugene-area commercial buildings with approximately 100,000 square feet of vacant space able to suit manufacturing. Ocean Yuan, president of , said he has visited the former Shorewood Packaging facility in Springfield several times and it could be a “perfect fit.”

“The process was very slow until a couple of weeks ago when I was in China talking to partners,” he said. “Now there’s a sense of urgency.”

Yuan declined to identify any of the Chinese partners, but said he will host several delegations in December. He is hoping that Grape Solar will begin performing final assembly of solar models in the first quarter of 2012.

Grape Solar has grown its business largely by importing Chinese and other foreign-made panels, packaging them into kits and then reselling them in the U.S. Although Yuan has had plans to begin manufacturing for some time, the sense of urgency is emerging from the federal investigation of a trade complaint led by Hillsboro-based SolarWorld Industries America, a subsidiary of SolarWorld of Germany.

SolarWorld and six other American manufacturers accused Chinese counterparts of receiving illegal government subsidies and dumping their products in the United States below cost.

If the Commerce Department were to side with U.S. manufacturers, tariffs would be levied on Chinese-made solar cells and solar panels, and the high import duties would make previously cheap products suddenly cost prohibitive, Yuan said.

In response, some Chinese solar panel manufacturers are redesigning their supply chains. The most economical plan for the companies now, according to Yuan, is to continue making wafers in China, shipping them to Taiwan or South Korea for conversion into solar cells and then possibly performing final assembly in the U.S. – potentially in Oregon.

“They have money in place and just want me to organize teams and help them out in setting it up in Oregon,” Yuan said.

Ben Santarris, spokesman for SolarWorld, said the manufacturing competition is welcome, as long as it’s legal.

“The difference in setting up production in this country is that we have to obey and enforce consistent environmental regulations and follow transparent standards of business and production,” he said. “Here, we have to honor the society’s labor rights and civil rights.”

SolarWorld is likely to win the trade case against Chinese manufacturers, in part because the World Trade Organization considers China a nonmarket economy. That allows other countries to use special, advantageous rules in anti-dumping cases.

“China is definitely going to retaliate,” Yuan said.

According to several reports this week, a Chinese solar industry association is now weighing whether to file an anti-dumping case against U.S.-based producers of solar products. The group alleges that the U.S. is dumping exports of subsidized polysilicon into the Chinese market.

“Unfortunately, our worst fears are becoming a reality,” said Jigar Shah, co-founder of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy and founder of SunEdison, in a written response to China’s potential retaliation. “Tens of thousands of jobs are at stake, and for what? Who benefits?”

Each week, more companies and trade groups throughout the solar supply chain are taking sides either with the SolarWorld-led Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing or CASE, which was formed in opposition.

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), the trade association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries, last week announced its opposition to SolarWorld’s trade petition.

The group argues that many solar companies throughout the supply chain are dependent on exports, and the eruption of a trade war could negatively impact many U.S. exporters of solar products.

According to GTM Research and the U.S. Solar Energy Industry Association, American companies in 2010 exported $873 million of polysilicon and nearly $1 billion of manufacturing equipment to China, and imported $4 million of polysilicon and $93 million of manufacturing equipment.

“In the end, SolarWorld may win the lawsuit, which is the battle,” Yuan said. “But the American solar industry will lose the war against China.”

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A group of American solar manufacturers, led by Hillsboro-based , has ignited a trade war with China that has divided the industry – nationally and locally.

The U.S. Commerce Department last week opened an investigation into accusations made by seven American solar manufacturers that Chinese counterparts are “dumping” solar panels into the U.S. at prices lower than the cost of making and distributing them.

To counter the influx of cheap Chinese products, which increased more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to SolarWorld, the coalition is asking the U.S. government to impose tariffs of more than 100 percent on solar panels manufactured in China.

In addition to the seven manufacturers that form the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, approximately 75 companies have officially registered their support for the anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases that SolarWorld filed in October.

“At a time when we have such high unemployment and stagnant job creation, allowing foreign competitors to undercut the market just really isn’t fair,” said Keith Knowles, president and owner of , an installation company with offices in Beaverton and Pendleton. “If Oregon is going to be moved back into a thriving state, I feel strongly that we can’t undermine any efforts for domestic manufacturing to take off.”

Other companies expressed support for the petitions based on the belief that Chinese manufacturing might entail environmental degradation.

But another American trade group was formed last week in opposition to SolarWorld’s petition, which it views as harmful protectionism that will drive up costs and stunt industry growth. The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) represents solar-energy system buyers and installers that argue that the vast majority of American solar industry jobs are in sales, marketing, design, installation and maintenance – positions that depend on affordably priced, often Chinese-made, solar panels.

“Solar is one of the few job-creating industries in the U.S., and the imposition of tariffs would undermine that growth,” said Kevin Lapidus, speaking on behalf of CASE and also MEMC/SunEdison, where he is vice president of legal and government affairs.

For Sunlight Solar Energy, a Bend-based company that deals and installs panels, lowering prices is important for business.

“Inexpensive Chinese modules create more of a market for us, so at the dealer (or) installer level, it creates jobs,” president and founder Paul Israel said.

But some customers demand U.S.-made products, so Israel’s solution was to create two options – American-made “premium” installations, featuring mostly SolarWorld parts, and “value” installations featuring parts made in China and other foreign countries.

Even if individual American companies are benefiting from comparatively inexpensive Chinese products, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing is accusing the Chinese government of harming the U.S. solar industry by offering Chinese companies subsidies that break international trade laws.

“We just think that as the largest and most experienced solar manufacturer left in the Americas, it is incumbent on us to lead the effort to defend domestic manufacturing,” SolarWorld spokesman Ben Santarris said. “We have the resources to counter what China is attempting to do to competition from the U.S. and to mount a challenge to (China’s) illegal predation on the U.S. solar industry.”

The flood of cheap Chinese products is the primary cause for a 40 percent decline in world market prices over the past year, which has resulted in thousands of lost jobs and seven U.S. manufacturers closing or downsizing operations, according to the coalition.

SolarWorld this year shut down its California production line, citing cheap Chinese competition as part of the reason for shifting all of its U.S. production to Hillsboro. Across the country, many nonmanufacturing job losses have not been announced, Santarris added.

But Oregon’s solar trade group has taken a neutral stance – its members include companies from both sides of the issue.

“It brings the issue close to home given that SolarWorld has such a presence in Oregon – they’re manufacturing right in our backyard,” said Glenn Montgomery, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association. “But it’s a perfect example of where the interests of one constituency could be counter to another. It’s difficult to say how this will affect the solar family in Oregon.”

The International Trade Commission will determine Dec. 5 whether Chinese exports have harmed the U.S. industry. If the ITC was to vote that there is no injury to U.S. manufacturers, the Commerce Department’s investigation would end.

If the ITC was to find in favor of the petition, the Commerce Department would deliver a preliminary decision on the anti-dumping claim as early as mid-January but no later than March, and could retroactively impose duties on importers of the Chinese modules.

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