China update: still kicking our asses

We’ve posted about China’s embrace of alternative fuel sources before; clean coal and widespread electric car usage are but two of their longterm energy goals. But China’s protectionism concerning its energy program is starting to worry the rest of the world, particularly Europe and the US.

For example, China built the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing industry and exported nearly everything they made to the West, but 80% of the equipment in China’s first solar power plant is required to be made in China. Their government also denied wind turbine contracts to every multinational company that submitted a bid, often for unclear reasons. But what comes off at first as just more Chinese bureaucratic arrogance is, in fact, heavy investment in domestic renewable energy industries. Whether they’ll agree to reductions in greenhouse gases is anyone’s guess, but they’re certainly committed to greener energy consumption at a national level.

Which is more than can be said for America. Like the labor movement, the energy debate is being hampered by stupid bickering. In response to President Obama’s call to update the grid by installing new power lines where solar and wind farms can be built. The best spot for these is widely considered to be the Midwest, where there’s tons of empty land waiting to be put to use. So of course, an influential coalition of East Coast governors and power companies…is…trying to block a mandate for transcontinental lines” because they don’t want their constituencies to miss out on the economic opportunities of solar/wind farm construction. And this isn’t even considering energy companies who like a weak grid because it means they can charge more in remote areas, or the Cato Institute types who suggest a “free market” solution, whatever that would be.

One of our readers made a good point on this subject; this divergence between American and China officially shuts up anyone who claims that “the Chinese and the Indians don’t take investing in renewable energy seriously.” They do. And they’re banking on U.S. complacency to allow them to dominate a burgeoning renewables market. In other words, we’d better get started on that Urinator.