China is leading the world in clean energy production

A new report out by the Climate Group takes an inventory of China's newest growth engine...clean technology. While US lawmakers talk about the improbability of building a renewable energy supply in the US that can replace carbon fuels, the Chinese are actually doing it, with over 152 Gigawatts of renewable energy online in 2007 (the largest renewable energy supply in the world today). It is driving job creation in China, as well as investment, to the tune of US$12B last year alone, with another US$400B on the way...second only to Germany, per capita. Imagine the innovation and learning taking place over there!

China is a leader in solar manuacturing (just behind Japan), and next year will become the world's leader in wind turbine creation. Their government has strict automotive regs that require MPG limits that are 40% higher over there than over here. Seems to me that the US is far from a leader in sustainability when compared with China. Per capita, Americans put 20 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year, compared with 5 for Chinese residents, and their government is taking aggressive actions to keep these numbers low even while the country experiences prolonged periods of economic boom. Ethanol? The world's 3rd largest producer. Green building? They are putting up 12 large scale cities (planned living for 400M residents) with the skills of William McDonough ("Cradle to Cradle") and the consulting firm ARUP. these cities will take into account water usage, waste management, and long-term viability and livability of its residents.

I recall the 70's when the US automotive industry laughed at the small, junkie cars from Japan. Well, the China of today, producing plastic junk for the US, is in process of transforming itself upstream to high IP products for a low carbon world. These are opportunities that the US manufacturing sector should be more aggressively pursuing...or we'll end up importing all these new technologies from China.

It's great to read through this report and see all that is going on, I highly recommend it, very eye-opening. Also comforting to know that China is taking climate change seriously, despite how they are consistently portrayed in the mainstream press. It's hard to believe that a country that is moving so fast towards a renewable energy infrastructure can be so slow on other aspects of its society...say, human rights? It will be interesting to see what gets covered in the upcoming Olympics.