Photo by Nantaskart!
There is a school of opinion that we shouldn't be busting a gut de-carbonising our economy because the Chinese aren't. The figure most often quoted is a new coal-fired power plant every week. If they're not willing to "give up" pollution, then goddammit why should we?
Of course this argument is built on a couple of false premises.
The first is that replacing current energy generating systems with renewables harms our economy. In truth, most of the "economy" won't even notice a difference. It may, however, harm the oil and coal companies which lobby the politicians and government departments.
The second is that China is ignoring renewable energy. New figures for 2009 show just how off the mark this is.
China added 13,000 MW of new wind capacity last year. To put that into context, the UK has in total just over 4,000 MW of wind energy installed.
And if that figure doesn't blow your mind then this one will: China is currently planning another 130,000 MW of wind capacity. Current world capacity is 158,000 MW.
It puts that 'China isn't doing anything' argument into perspective, doesn't it?
2 comments:
China is the pre-eminent world leader in hydropower, solar power, wind power, marine power, coal power, nuclear power, geothermal power and bioenergy.
I don't know who said "China isnt doing anything".
But anyone who has been to China will know they are definitely on the move.
China surpassed the United States last year as the country with the most clean energy investment. China's clean energy investments were $34.6 billion, compared with USA's $18.6 billion last year.
The US still leads the world in installed renewable energy, with 52.2 gigawatts of wind energy, small hydroelectric, biomass and waste generating capacity, per a report by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts, but has dropped below ten other countries, including Canada and Mexico in investments as a share of the national economy.
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