As data from the IEA confirm, the scale of China’s green energy push in the last couple of years dwarfs the much ballyhooed green energy programs in the West - NextGenEU, IRA etc. Chinese manufacturers are expanding production of solar, wind, batteries and EV at a breakneck rate. Fierce competition is driving prices and costs down at a rate never previously imagined. Barring some unforeseen technological upset, China is set to be the leader in the first decades of the global clean energy transition.
Wonderful insights into the Chinese pivoting towards a green industrial policy given a flagging commercial economy. Should they become energy independent with sustainable energy, then they would be poised to export these along with battery megapacks to the rest of the world. As there are no other credible competitors, the market will belong to them. If not to Europe and the Americas, there is the Middle East who have given an ostensible interest in transitioning their energy needs towards sustainability.
The green energy industry in China, along with increased consumer energy consumption, are based upon coal fired electricity. The green energy industry is not running on green energy. It is a large consumer of fossil fuel generated energy. As the West purchases green energy products from China, more coal fired electricity is a key input. I think the author is correct in pointing out the increase in coal fired generation. But I think some believe that green energy is producing more green energy. It is convenient to not account for the increasing use of fossil fuels to build the increasing green infrastructure. But this distorts the cost.
This is the Chinese Century. I was there twenty-two years ago and saw this unfolding. I am convinced. It makes me happy. They have earned it through great calamity and effort, which is how anything worthwhile is earned.
"If China is hurling resources into accelerating the energy transition should we not be applauding, profiting from and, indeed, emulating their example?"
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Should we have emulated their real estate driven economy when that started to boom?
If we take down the massive import duties aka taxes especially targeting Chinese solar panels and Chinese EVs, we will finally start to lower our carbon emissions in the USA. Why does no one talk about this? Of course we would also benefit from wildly inexpensive electricity capacity and inexpensive quality cars.
Is this actually economic growth or is this just another construction boomed fueled by the Chinese Communist party that is eventually going to go bust and leave behind a huge amount of debt just like all the others (high-speed rail, housing, etc)?
Only time will tell, but my guess it will be the latter.
Impressive news but when will they extinguish the underground coal mine fires of which are quoted as 440 in number. Would one not see this as a pollutant or the reason you can't see the horizon on a windless day?
This, the real estate bubble, and the fertility and jobs crises in China make the dirigiste Chinese government look just as incompetent as those in the west. Disappointing.
Thanks for this.
Wonderful insights into the Chinese pivoting towards a green industrial policy given a flagging commercial economy. Should they become energy independent with sustainable energy, then they would be poised to export these along with battery megapacks to the rest of the world. As there are no other credible competitors, the market will belong to them. If not to Europe and the Americas, there is the Middle East who have given an ostensible interest in transitioning their energy needs towards sustainability.
The green energy industry in China, along with increased consumer energy consumption, are based upon coal fired electricity. The green energy industry is not running on green energy. It is a large consumer of fossil fuel generated energy. As the West purchases green energy products from China, more coal fired electricity is a key input. I think the author is correct in pointing out the increase in coal fired generation. But I think some believe that green energy is producing more green energy. It is convenient to not account for the increasing use of fossil fuels to build the increasing green infrastructure. But this distorts the cost.
This is the Chinese Century. I was there twenty-two years ago and saw this unfolding. I am convinced. It makes me happy. They have earned it through great calamity and effort, which is how anything worthwhile is earned.
"If China is hurling resources into accelerating the energy transition should we not be applauding, profiting from and, indeed, emulating their example?"
----
Should we have emulated their real estate driven economy when that started to boom?
I'm sorry, but did you miss what happened in 2007-2008?
Applauding because of the environmental benefits of what China is doing, benefits we all share in, because they reduce the severity of climate change.
Thanks for your newsletter.
If we take down the massive import duties aka taxes especially targeting Chinese solar panels and Chinese EVs, we will finally start to lower our carbon emissions in the USA. Why does no one talk about this? Of course we would also benefit from wildly inexpensive electricity capacity and inexpensive quality cars.
Is this actually economic growth or is this just another construction boomed fueled by the Chinese Communist party that is eventually going to go bust and leave behind a huge amount of debt just like all the others (high-speed rail, housing, etc)?
Only time will tell, but my guess it will be the latter.
Impressive news but when will they extinguish the underground coal mine fires of which are quoted as 440 in number. Would one not see this as a pollutant or the reason you can't see the horizon on a windless day?
This, the real estate bubble, and the fertility and jobs crises in China make the dirigiste Chinese government look just as incompetent as those in the west. Disappointing.