TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.
China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
These efforts to dominate the global manufacture of renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.
briansd1
January 30, 2010 @
1:26 PM
Our course, China getting Our course, China getting richer doesn’t mean that we’ll get poorer. But our relative strength will be diminished and our influence in the world will moderate.
Do we need to get used to become ordinary rather than exceptional?
svelte
January 30, 2010 @
4:56 PM
Who is “we”?
Piggs? San Who is “we”?
Piggs? San Diegans? Californians? Americans? Earthlings?
Zeitgeist
January 30, 2010 @
7:24 PM
I voted as an earthling. I voted as an earthling.
sd_matt
January 30, 2010 @
7:39 PM
only by sheer luck
here’s a only by sheer luck
here’s a possibility. not saying it will but that it has a decent chance
It is highly unlikely.
While It is highly unlikely.
While we(USA) were talking about it, China has been pushing green energy with surprising focus. Now they have not only a superior manufacturing infrastructure, but also strong technical know-how. I can’t see US being better than forth, after China, Germany and Japan. Green energy development needs a long and determined investment and our political system is not built for that.
That said, there is a lot of money to be made in supplemental services, and US should be able to get a nice chunk of that. And in the worse case, I would rather import solar panels from China than oil from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.
sd_matt
January 31, 2010 @
6:43 AM
air_ogi wrote:It is highly [quote=air_ogi]It is highly unlikely.
I would rather import solar panels from China than oil from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.[/quote]
Here here
afx114
January 31, 2010 @
9:13 AM
Not only that, but China sits Not only that, but China sits on top of most of the raw materials needed for solar. We may just trade our reliance on middle eastern oil for a reliance on Chinese renewable energy materials.
UCGal
January 31, 2010 @
1:44 PM
The United States rigs the The United States rigs the game for energy companies to squash energy efficient solutions.
My husband once bid a job outside of Philly – the R&D engineering company was expanding and was looking to add on to their space. They were recently flush with cash. They’d just sold a patent on solar roof shingles… to an energy company that was buying it to make sure it NEVER went into production. This company had a business model of coming up with green energy designs – getting them patented – but not at product/manufacturing stage – then selling the IP to the highest bidder – which was ALWAYS the power companies. They apparently had no issue that they were never going to see their ideas go into production or solve the energy problems.
That’s how corporate US works. As long as that is the typical business model, we’ll never lead in green energy. We may have the best ideas, but we’ll never implement them.
sdduuuude
January 31, 2010 @
7:03 PM
I don’t wanna lead green I don’t wanna lead green energy cuz green energy is expensive energy and the market for expensive energy will dissapear soon.
Veritas
September 20, 2012 @
6:50 PM
And now, on top of the And now, on top of the business challenges, the industry is facing a big political problem in Washington: the Dec. 31 expiration of a federal tax credit that makes wind power more competitive with other sources of electricity.
January 30, 2010 @ 1:20 PM
I wonder where the growth in
I wonder where the growth in high paying jobs will come from.
What will help us sustain our high standard of living?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/energy-environment/31renew.html?pagewanted=1&hp
TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.
China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
These efforts to dominate the global manufacture of renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.
January 30, 2010 @ 1:26 PM
Our course, China getting
Our course, China getting richer doesn’t mean that we’ll get poorer. But our relative strength will be diminished and our influence in the world will moderate.
Do we need to get used to become ordinary rather than exceptional?
January 30, 2010 @ 4:56 PM
Who is “we”?
Piggs? San
Who is “we”?
Piggs? San Diegans? Californians? Americans? Earthlings?
January 30, 2010 @ 7:24 PM
I voted as an earthling.
I voted as an earthling.
January 30, 2010 @ 7:39 PM
only by sheer luck
here’s a
only by sheer luck
here’s a possibility. not saying it will but that it has a decent chance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell
January 30, 2010 @ 11:16 PM
It is highly unlikely.
While
It is highly unlikely.
While we(USA) were talking about it, China has been pushing green energy with surprising focus. Now they have not only a superior manufacturing infrastructure, but also strong technical know-how. I can’t see US being better than forth, after China, Germany and Japan. Green energy development needs a long and determined investment and our political system is not built for that.
That said, there is a lot of money to be made in supplemental services, and US should be able to get a nice chunk of that. And in the worse case, I would rather import solar panels from China than oil from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.
January 31, 2010 @ 6:43 AM
air_ogi wrote:It is highly
[quote=air_ogi]It is highly unlikely.
I would rather import solar panels from China than oil from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela.[/quote]
Here here
January 31, 2010 @ 9:13 AM
Not only that, but China sits
Not only that, but China sits on top of most of the raw materials needed for solar. We may just trade our reliance on middle eastern oil for a reliance on Chinese renewable energy materials.
January 31, 2010 @ 1:44 PM
The United States rigs the
The United States rigs the game for energy companies to squash energy efficient solutions.
My husband once bid a job outside of Philly – the R&D engineering company was expanding and was looking to add on to their space. They were recently flush with cash. They’d just sold a patent on solar roof shingles… to an energy company that was buying it to make sure it NEVER went into production. This company had a business model of coming up with green energy designs – getting them patented – but not at product/manufacturing stage – then selling the IP to the highest bidder – which was ALWAYS the power companies. They apparently had no issue that they were never going to see their ideas go into production or solve the energy problems.
That’s how corporate US works. As long as that is the typical business model, we’ll never lead in green energy. We may have the best ideas, but we’ll never implement them.
January 31, 2010 @ 7:03 PM
I don’t wanna lead green
I don’t wanna lead green energy cuz green energy is expensive energy and the market for expensive energy will dissapear soon.
September 20, 2012 @ 6:50 PM
And now, on top of the
And now, on top of the business challenges, the industry is facing a big political problem in Washington: the Dec. 31 expiration of a federal tax credit that makes wind power more competitive with other sources of electricity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/business/energy-environment/as-a-tax-credit-wanes-jobs-vanish-in-wind-power-industry.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1348191805-l7Ol4HPiitf+BPMnUvwAfg