China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy
Keith Bradsher of the New York Times reviews China's rapid expansion in the clean energy arena.
- Last year China became the world's largest maker of wind turbines, passing Denmark, Germany, Spain, and the United States
- In the last two years China has emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of solar panels
- China is pushing hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants
- Renewable energy industries in China are adding jobs, reaching 1.12 million in 2008 and climbing 100,000 a year according to Chinese government sources.
- China spends heavily to upgrade its' electricity grid, committing $45 billion in 2009
- Chinese consumers recieve generous subsidies to install their own solar panels and water heaters
An excerpt from the New York Times story is below. To read the full article, please CLICK HERE.
China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy
By Keith Bradsher
New York Times
January 30, 2010
TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.
China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.
“Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, ‘Made in China,’ ” said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a private equity fund in Beijing that focuses on renewable energy.
President Obama, in his State of the Union speech last week, sounded an alarm that the United States was falling behind other countries, especially China, on energy. “I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders — and I know you don’t either,” he told Congress.
To read the full article, please CLICK HERE.
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