Well it sure as hell isn't liberals or environmentalists who are stopping Obama from 'moving into a new Age of Manufacturing'. The possibilities that a 21st century smart power grid could unlock is HUGE. The dialog in this country has become so regressive. The major polluters who benefit from dirty fuel OWN the Republican party and a good portion of the Democratic party. Global warming/climate change is irrelevant, the question is who will be the green technology leader in this century. Right now China is eating our lunch.
15 April 2011
Green China? You'd better believe it
A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that China was the worldÂ’s number one investor in green energy in 2010.
With a total investment of $54.4 billion, China was well ahead of second-ranked Germany ($41.2 billion) and the US in third place with $34 billion invested, not to mention Australia with $3.3 billion and ranked 12th.
In terms of installed capacity, ChinaÂ’s wind power sector alone doubled every year between 2005 and 2009. According to the latest statistics from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), China added 18.9 GW of new wind power capacity in 2010, thus overtaking the US with the most installed wind power capacity in the world.
ChinaÂ’s parliament, the National PeopleÂ’s Congress (NPC), recently considered a 'New Energy Industry Development StrategyÂ’ which is to be adopted as a major policy document by the State Council (some changes are expected due to the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster).
According to this proposed development strategy, during 2011-2020, China will invest about $800 billion in seven green energy areas, namely, wind, solar, nuclear, bio-energy, hydro, coal cleaning and smart power grid.
ChinaÂ’s green energy is expected to generate 290 GW power (wind 52 per cent, nuclear 24 per cent, bio-energy 10 per cent, solar and others 7 per cent each) in 2020. This would be equivalent to 17 per cent of ChinaÂ’s total generation capacity and 15 per cent of the countryÂ’s total energy consumption.
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