When we talk about China we always think about the country which is opening new coal-fired power every ten days or we think about the country that does not follow all of the limits of the Treaty on climate change or we think about that place where walking without a mask on the street is more harmful than smoking thirty cigarettes a day. Yet China has also another side of the coin.China is choking in air pollution, but it is trying to become the leader of renewable sources. It has already started, few years ago, this change although at this point it works more to produce than using its products.
After having imported its first installations from countries initially leading in this field, such as Germany and Spain, China is already the world’s leading manufacturer of solar panels, which 95% exported to Europe and to the United States.
It’s going on even with the wind energy market in which it has just surpassed the United States: now China is building six power plants. Of course, then, it uses 80% electricity from coal, but this green change could change chinese mind about alternative energy.
Because there is one thing that China does not tolerate: being second in business. And because Barack Obama wants to make of U.S. the country that will create jobs with clean energy industries (he also said this when he asked the Congress to support its energy plan), Beijing can not leave alone the American giant in this field. “China is trying to recover ground in the global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels,” wrote the China Daily recently.
To do so, the Chinese authorities are financing this market with the highest subsidies in the world for energy: $ 3 a watt. The aim is also evident in this case: being a leader over other countries. According to a study of Greentech Media, in 2012, Asia will generate 82% of solar cells in polycrystalline silicon, compared to 71% in 2008. The first three producers should be China, Taiwan and Japan.
And the interest of China to a eco-friendly market could also move the production of electric cars. China is planning to produce 60,000 electric cars in 2012 and should already have an agreement with Wal Mart to sell them at a slashed prices.
The biggest polluter of the globe decided to get serious about pollution and change course. This fact it’s showed by the authorization granted a month ago to Al Gore to organize a major conference in Beijing on climate change.
The eastern world has now afraid of pollution. According to the annual report Worldwatch 2009 “How is the World – Towards a warmer world”, even India reinforced with China in fighting climate change, with more investment in the sector. And the positive aspect of the whole process is that globally the number of jobs associated with the generation of energy from renewable sources (the so-called ‘green’ work) are continually rising.
In our country, however, politics prefer to focus on the construction of nuclear power stations: more expensive, more complicated to build and, above all, so slower to cover the initial costs. Maybe we are waiting for China entirely converted to renewables to discover that we have chosen the wrong road, once again.
Read more from the original source:
China, now, wants to conquer sun and wind
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