Stillin:
Have fun convincing China that all of the money pumping into their economy has anything to do with melting ice caps. Or any other industrialized nation. China is the new elephant in the room.
Concerning China and global warming this article that I wrote shows that there is more to it than widely believed:
When Skeptics are confronted with the need to address human-caused global warming they bring up China’s enormous consumption of oil and coal. Their argument is that it is pointless to do anything since they will pollute the world anyways.
First, one does not engage in wrongdoing and destructive behavior just because others are.
Second, - little do Skeptics realize or care to admit - China wants to switch over to wind power and other clean sources of energy. They want to shift away from their dependence on fossil fuel consumption.
They also want to end the horrid conditions that many of its residents face. Their skies are gray with smoke; their people are wearing dust masks to reduce the amount of toxic air they breathe; their children are starting to get lung cancer.
China is actively developing its wind industry. It has been exporting windmills and their components globally to places such as Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Thailand, Romania and even the United States.
An article from Reuters, highlighting China’s commitment to wind power states:
China has been doubling installed wind power capacity every year for the past several years. In 2009, it became the third largest provider world wide behind the United States - behind the United States and Germany - with installed capacity reaching 20GW.
Reuters - Thursday December 23rd, 2010.
Figure 1: China’s skyrocketing investment in wind power indicating a 4,800% increase from 2005-2012 years. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
From the United States Department of Commerce:
Over the past few years, China has overtaken all other countries for installed capacity of solar, wind, and hydro power. China’s unprecedented investment continues to be driven – despite slowing growth in electricity demand – by the policy consensus in support of clean energy within the Chinese government, which has only grown stronger in the wake of the Paris climate agreement.
Department of Commerce, 2016 Top Markets Report Renewable Energy.
