China Is Winning The Clean Energy Race

You read that title correctly. China is winning, and no, I'm not defining winning the say way as Charlie Sheen.

Charlie Sheen... what a douche.

I won't bore you with the details (which you can find over at FastCompany.com), but here is the important part of the story:

China's national action plan is helping the country use more hydro, wind, and solar power. The country has goals of 150 gigawatts of wind capacity by 2020 (it looks like they're going to meet this goal five years early) and 20 gigawatts of solar by 2020. For comparision, the U.S. currently has .6 gigawatts of solar and 33 gigawatts of wind.

It all comes down to national policy, and right now China has made it clear to investors that they want alternative energy as a large part of their infrastructure's future. America on the other hand is only in 3rd place, but is constantly sending mixed signals on how much investment they really want making it difficult for investors to jump on board.

The good news is that the industry in general is trending upwards, I just wish that America would quit playing games with my heart*.

*Sorry, couldn't resist a Backstreet Boys reference.

High-Speed Rail: China Begins To Leave The US Behind

It is no secret that I think that high-speed rail is a necessary next step for the United States, because I have written on the subject multiple times in the past:

• Reader Email: High-Speed Rail
• November 12: Weekly Review, High-Speed Rail
• November 5: Weekly Review, High-Speed Rail

I have touched on this subject repeatedly in the past because I know it would improve our transportation system as well as reduce carbon emissions across the board.  There hasn't been too much talk about a system being placed in America lately, but China is forging ahead with their own system.

Crisp Green reports:

Developed through a partnership of the China North Vehicle Yongji Electric Motor Corporation and the Southwest Jiaotong University, the new energy fuel cell light-rail train combines hydrogen fuel cells and an advanced permanent-magnet synchronous motor/frequency converter to achieve top speeds approaching 220 miles an hour.

This is important for China for two reasons. One reason is that because China has quickly become the most pollution intensive country, providing a cleaner rapid transit system will help alleviate traffic as well as the carbon emissions that are smothering the country.

The other reason is that by developing their own high-speed rail technology, China is placing themselves in a position to sell their technology to other countries that are interested in installing their own high-speed rail systems.  This is something that the US could still pursue, but by putting off the development of our own high-speed rail system, the US is essentially handicapping themselves in the transportation marketplace.