As Trump Turns His Back on Renewables, China Is Building the Future
Posted5 months agoActive4 months ago
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Renewable EnergyChina-Us RelationsClimate Policy
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Renewable Energy
China-Us Relations
Climate Policy
The article discusses how China is investing in renewable energy while the US, under Trump's influence, may be turning away from it, sparking a debate about the role of ideology and economic interests in shaping energy policy.
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To me, this sounds... naïve at best. Coal and especially oil are well-moneyed interests, and also important voting groups.
It's also an ideological, but not entirely nonsensical, fight against subsidizing industries. Which is not quite wise, at the time when China still seriously subsidizes solar and wind.
If it were that, then we'd stop subsidizing coal and oil as well.
It has increased greatly over the last decade and is much greater than their solar and hydro production, and is roughly 60% of their output.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_in_China
In other words: China is building enough renewables to both cover the grid expansion and offset existing coal usage.
China is at 493 CO2 per kWh over the last 12 months.
The US is much richer and has easy access to gas and has 444 over the same period.
Germany, the laggard in western Europe is 314
Stats from electricitymaps:
https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/US-NW-WACM/12mo/monthly...