Over the past month, American Public Radio’s Marketplace has aired a series titled “The Climate Race“. Yesterday’s installment focused on the role that China is playing in the clean energy economy. According to the story, China is churning out solar panels and wind turbines and “it produces more alternative energy than any other country.” However, they are also the top producer of greenhouse gases. Due to the abundance of coal in China, the possibility of carbon capture sequestration (CCS) as a way to reduce emissions has gained traction. During the normal burning process for turning coal into electricity at a power plant, carbon dioxide is captured instead of being released into the atmosphere. A Chinese company ENN has begun producing CCS technology.
Marketplace’s Scott Tong interviewed the company’s Wang Yang. ENN’s system pumps carbon dioxide into tanks of algae. In turn, algae sequesters the carbon dioxide. According to Yang,
Algae can be crushed, and the oil can be turned into diesel, jet fuel quality. Or, it can be made into anti-aging cosmetic cream. The leftover algae can be an additive for animal feed.
In a recent study – “Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant: Asian Nations Set to Dominate the Clean Energy Race By Out-Investing the United States” – The Breakthrough Institute claims that Asian countries are poised to outspend the United States by a ratio of three to one in clean energy.
According to the report, “Asian governments will invest $519 billion in clean technology between 2009 and 2013, compared to $172 billion by the U.S. government. Climate and energy legislation, which passed the House in June, would contribute $28.7 billion of the $172 billion five year total. China alone will spend $440 billion to $660 billion over the next ten years on clean tech.” According to Scott Tong’s interview, China has already exported the technology and equipment to a coal fired power plant in Pennsylvania. In The Breakthrough’s report, they cite examples of Chinese companies opening up wind turbine manufacturing plants in the United States to gain access to the United States government’s renewable energy projects.
The world is catching up with the United States. People across the globe are living better, healthier lives. A world consuming like Americans is unsustainable. Hopefully competition in green technology will lead to lower costs and greater ingenuity. In this week’s Newsweek magazine, a survey of Chinese and Americans reflected current perceptions of the American’s innovation. Oddly enough, the “Chinese are more bullish about America’s technological prowess than Americans are.”
[image source: China Clean Energy]
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