New York Times (May 20)
The Chinese century “may already have dawned, and when historians look back they may very well pinpoint the early months of President Trump’s second term as the watershed moment when China pulled away and left the United States behind.” China “already leads global production in multiple industries — steel, aluminum, shipbuilding, batteries, solar power, electric vehicles, wind turbines, drones, 5G equipment, consumer electronics, active pharmaceutical ingredients and bullet trains.” China is “laser-focused on winning the future.” In contrast, “Mr. Trump is taking a wrecking ball to the pillars of American power and innovation. His tariffs are endangering U.S. companies’ access to global markets and supply chains. He is slashing public research funding and gutting our universities, pushing talented researchers to consider leaving for other countries. He wants to roll back programs for technologies like clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing and is wiping out American soft power in large swaths of the globe.”
Tags: 5G, Aluminum, Batteries, Bullet trains, Chinese century, Clean energy, Consumer electronics, Drones, Electric vehicles, Endangering, Global markets, Innovation, Laser-focused, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical ingredients, Research, Semiconductor, Shipbuilding, Solar power, Steel, Supply chains, Tariffs, Trump, Wind turbines, Wrecking
The Guardian (July 11)
“China has 180 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar power under construction and 15GW of wind power. That brings the total of wind and solar power under construction to 339GW, well ahead of the 40GW under construction in the US.”
Tags: 180 GW, 339GW, 40GW, China, Construction, Solar power, U.S., Utility, Wind power
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
The Economist (April 16)
“Across the developing world, solar power is hitting its stride.” In 2015, “global solar-energy capacity rose by 26% last year,” with China and India accounting for much of the gain. China displaced Germany in 2015 “to become the biggest producer of solar energy, benefiting from its dominance of solar-panel manufacturing and policies to reduce dependence on dirtier fuels, such as coal.” Not content to be left behind, India is also racing ahead with plans to increase solar installations twentyfold. “KPMG, a consultancy, expects solar’s share of India’s energy mix to rise to 12.5% by 2025.”
Tags: Capacity, China, Coal, Developing world, Energy mix, Germany, India, Manufacturing, Solar power
