"Green" China Will Be Burning More Coal . . .
“The trendy belief that China is switching to renewables for its electricity generation is a myth.” That’s the conclusion of a report issues last week by the Energy Research Institute in Washington. In particular, the report states that 1) China continues to build coal plants at a phenomenal rate and will still be using coal to generate 66 percent of its electricity by 2035, and 2) the huge bulk of windmills and solar panels being manufactured in China are strictly for export, shipped to gullible Western countries whose governments are mandating and subsidizing the pursuit of “renewable energy.” (The report is posted above in “Research.”) “The Energy Information Administration (EIA), in its International Energy Outlook 2011, expects China to build 1,020 gigawatts of generating capacity between 2008 and 2035, of which almost half (48 percent) is expected to be coal-fired,” says the report. “China’s coal-fired capacity is already about 80 percent higher than that of the United States and by 2035, it is expected to be more than 200 percent greater. Hydroelectricity is also expanding rapidly. “China has more hydroelectric generating capacity than the United States—about 120 percent more—and is expected to build another 188 gigawatts, slightly more than its 2008 inventory, according to the EIA.” And nuclear will also play a big part, expanding to ten times its current capacity. “Some Chinese officials have announced that hydroelectric and nuclear generating capacity will make up most of the country’s targets for clean energy in their most recent 5 year plan that requires 50 percent generation from renewable sources by 2050.”
So what happened to all the windmills and solar collectors? Projections are that by 2035 wind will only provide 5 percent of China’s electrical capacity and solar less than 1 percent. “While China is putting more money into green energy technologies than the United States, it is doing so for reasons other than securing a green energy future. Rather, it is investing in order to export technology to developed countries promoting green technologies, like the United States and Europe. The laws, policies, and subsidies in the United States and Europe are creating a renewable market for China.”
