China is rapidly becoming the world’s leading manufacturer of renewable energy products. China is now producing 35-45% of the planet’s photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, though over 95% of these panels are exported. The Chinese government is now looking into preferential pricing policies (such as a feed-in tariff) to promote solar energy deployment domestically.
Check out this informative video on solar photovoltaic (PV) production in China from Climateworks:
As this video notes, 60-70% of the jobs in solar energy are in the design and installation of solar systems, rather than manufacturing. There has been a lot of rhetoric from President Obama and others as of late about how the US is lagging behind green energy development.
Solar Photovoltaic Array in Death Valley, CA
But as a lot of green jobs will have to be local (installation, retrofitting, and maintenance), even if China dominates green tech manufacturing (as they are doing in most other sectors), why worry so much about it? As long as renewable energy deployment is encouraged (and the true cost of burning fossil fuels is accounted for), the US economy should realize most of the gains from the transition to a clean energy economy.
The other night on “60 Minutes”, Leslie Stahl profiled Bloom Energy, a silicon valley energy firm that is today unveiled the Bloom Box. In the 60 Minutes segment, the Bloom Box (AKA Bloom’s Energy Server) was touted as a “holy grail” of energy – a clean, cheap, and distributed energy source that you could set in your backyard.
The Bloom Box
So what is it? The Bloom Box is a 100 kW fuel cell that uses natural gas, biogas, or waste landfill gas as a fuel input. Combine that with oxygen (normal air) on a proprietary thin wafer with 2 ink-esque coatings on each side and voila! electricity (in reality more complicated than this description, but for the purposes of this discussion, it will do). For the past few months, Bloom Boxes have been powering facilities at Google, eBay, and Fedex.
What makes this idea so appealing is the prospect of distributed electricity generation. The model for the US (and most of the world) since electrification began was centralized generation and distribution – large power plants transmitting electricity great distances to power homes and businesses. With a distributed source like the Bloom Box, all of the traditional infrastructure goes away – there is no need to build power lines or massive power plants. Hook one of these boxes up to a home or neighborhood and all of the power you need is right there.
World’s Largest Corporations Caused $2.2 Trillion in Environmental Damages, UN Report Finds
A new UN report shows that if the environmental degradation caused by the world’s 3,000 largest companies was accounted for in their balance sheets, it could cut those companies’ profits by nearly a third. The amount was estimated to be about $2.2 trillion – more than half of which was a price on carbon released into the atmosphere. Some would argue that it is paradoxical to put a price on the environment, as it risks treating the environment as a commodity, rather than an essential component which our civilization depends.
How Green are the Vancouver Winter Olympics?
This article in Popular Science discusses some of the efforts of the Vancouver Olympic Games, such as using recycled metal for the medals, state of the art green building techniques, and lumber from trees destroyed by the the pine beetle epidemic.
Fact Checking the IPCC Controversy Hoopla
As always, the scientists at RealClimate have an excellent post separating the real, the overblown, and the fallacies in the ongoing media frenzy surrounding the IPCC. The gist: yes there are few errors, but these do not undermine the general conclusion of the report. Ongoing observations and studies show that if anything, predictions on impacts caused by accelerating warming by the IPCC AR4 were too conservative, and that the planet is trending along the upper trajectories of the emissions scenarios.
Obama’s Support for Expansion of Nuclear Power and Green Politics
President Obama has made clear that he feels that nuclear energy expansion is key to meeting future energy demands and curbing global warming. Will his support of nuclear power win him republican support of a climate bill? Time Magazine has the analysis.
Wyoming Governor Proposes Tax on Wind Energy Producers
A debate is brewing in Wyoming about taxing the wind energy industry. Governor Dave Freudenthal has proposed an excise tax of $1 per megawatt-hour of energy generated to compensate taxpayers with the environmental and socioeconomic costs of wind energy. Wind energy proponents say that the proposed tax would stifle wind power development and make it less competitive for developers as compared with other states.
I just watched Bill Gates’ talk at TED 2010 online: Innovating to Zero. It is an interesting talk, though I have some critiques which I will discuss below.
Gates has devoted his energies since leaving Microsoft to his foundation which focuses mainly on health and development issues, such as developing a malaria vaccine, combating HIV/AIDS, and improving agriculture.
During this year’s presentation, his main argument went as follows:
1. Global warming is a major threat to the planet, particularly in the poor areas of the world where The Gates Foundation is active. The ONLY solution to the climate crisis is to bring CO2 emissions to zero (a principle I discussed in an earlier post).
2. Solving global warming boils down to the following equation:
CO2 = P x S x E x C
CO2 emitted = Population x Services per person x Energy use per unit of service x Carbon intensity per unit of energy
Brazil Approves Huge Dam in the Amazon
The Brazilian government has given approval for the construction of a massive dam in the Amazon state of Para. This controversial project would devastate 500 sq km of the rainforest, and affect the livelihoods of over 12,000 indigenous people. The Belo Monte dam would be the third largest in the world at 11,000 MW, and provide electricity to 23 million homes to help meet Brazil’s growing energy demands. Reported by the BBC.
EU to Classify Palm Oil Plantations as Forests
Palm oil plantation expansion across Southeast Asia has led to massive amounts of rainforest destruction over the past few decades. Palm oil, an important cash crop for the region, is used as a cooking oil, in cosmetics products, and as a biofuel. According to a leaked document from the European Commission at Mongabay. the EU may allow the classification of palm oil plantations that were converted from rainforest as “forest”, thereby meeting their sustainability criteria. Should this be approved, it could lead to further destruction of the forests of the region – exacerbating climate change and destroying biodiversity.
New Wind Turbine Design Based on Jet Engines Could Boost Efficiency by 4X
Flodesign, a Massachusetts-based wind turbine company has just received over $35 million in venture capital and $8 million in grants from the DOE to bring their revolutionary design to market. Should its performance claims be true, it could reduce the cost of generating wind energy by half. Read more and watch a video of the design at Treehugger.
China has been rapidly building up its renewable energy production and investing in sustainable energy while the U.S. continues to stall and take small incremental steps. Failing to assess the stakes of the global sustainable energy race could be a costly missed opportunity for the U.S. economy.
Residents walk pass a group of solar power panels in Shenyang (Source: AFP & Google News)
It is easy to be impressed by the pace and robustness with which the Chinese are developing clean energy technologies. Given its economic ascent, it should be no surprise that the nation is outpacing expectations in its efforts to increase energy efficiency, boost the production of renewable energy, and advance other 21st century opportunities like smarter electricity grids, electric cars, and high speed rail. They have the largest and fastest growing market for these goods, and they have the active political and economic support of the government in securing the resources to advance these industries. It is also increasingly apparent that it is in China’s interest for the U.S. to continue lagging behind.
Nations like China “aren’t playing for second place,” Obama said. “They’re putting more emphasis on math and science. They’re rebuilding their infrastructure. They’re making serious investments in clean energy because they want those jobs.”
The President is right to draw attention to this point. While America continues to dawdle, China is racing ahead. They do want those jobs; in fact, they want to dominate all of the industries that support them. Why wouldn’t they? Clean and sustainable energy offers great promise for economic growth and development, and China wants the world to buy their wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars.
President Obama discussing clean energy during the state of the union. Source: whitehouse.gov
Going into his first State of the Union address to Congress, I was curious to see if Obama would scale back initiatives that he has placed at the center of his agenda in the face of the US’ fiscal problems. I wanted to highlight and provide commentary of his points relevant to Project Groundswell – namely energy, climate change, and transportation.
Obama’s words are in italics. My comments are in plain text. His first mention has to do with infrastructure and transportation:
Next, we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow. From the first railroads to the Interstate Highway System, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products.
For anyone who has travelled in Europe or East Asia, the convenience of high-speed rail is without question. The US has eschewed rail as a viable form of transportation (except the northeast corridor) in favor of automobile and air travel. Rail travel has numerous benefits including: comfort, direct access to the center of cities, less of a hassle compared with air travel (security checkpoints, baggage claim), not to mention the environmental benefits. Those that argue that investing in rail travel will involve massive government subsidies fail to mention that air travel and roadways receive massive subsidies.
Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act. There are projects like that all across this country that will create jobs and help move our nation’s goods, services, and information.
The Florida high speed rail network is a start (watch Obama and Biden in Florida announcing this yesterday)– however the fact that high speed rail is such a miniscule part of our national transportation system is unlikely to change very rapidly in the near future. The California high-speed rail plan, linking Sacramento, San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego is expected to cost upwards of $40 billion and take decades to build. This initiative was just awarded $2.25 billion in stimulus funds, out of a total of $8 billion just announced.I support these efforts, and wish that larger, more concrete plans were underway nationwide.
Interested in understanding more about what climate solutions are out there? Need a quick primer on Cap-and-Trade? This short video from Clean Energy Works offers an overview of some of the major goals and objectives associated with the legislation. Passing energy and climate legislation is essential if there is going to be any sort of comprehensive international agreement to address global warming and climate change.
Is cap-and-trade our best option? (See arguments for cap-and-trade vs. a carbon tax.) Proponents of the approach make the case that it leverages market based mechanisms to curtail emissions, and is more effective in limiting emissions to a specific threshold than a flat carbon tax, which is even more politically unpopular. However, in a recent op-ed to the NY Times, James Hansen, the famous climatologist, argues against it, while Paul Krugman, the Nobel laureate in economics, defends cap-and-trade in a response on his blog. For an in-depth review, see this 2009 assessment of U.S. cap-and-trade proposals by researchers at MIT. For a very brief overview of some of the pros and cons, see below. Continue reading Climate Solutions: The Story of Cap-and-Trade
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has authorized a measure that would add a fee of between $4 and $34 per ton of carbon dioxide to electricity generated from coal-fired power stations in North Dakota that is exported to Minnesota. By adding this fee to coal power, it is hoped that it will spur the further development of renewable energy sources.
Coal Creek Station, Underwood, ND. (Actually owned by a Minnesota electric utility) Source: Great River Energy
Needless to say, those in power in North Dakota are not happy about the idea. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem of the ND state Industrial Commission said, “It is very likely that we will be suing the state of Minnesota.” It is possible that ND will cite the constitutional protections regarding restrictions on commerce between states.
The idea of a border tax adjustment for greenhouse gas emissions is not new (in fact I wrote a paper about the topic a while back). The idea is that countries that are taking measures to mitigate the causes of climate change (such as making costly investments in their energy infrastructure) would have higher domestic manufacturing costs compared with other countries who are not taking mitigating measures, and hence can rely on cheap, polluting energy for their manufacturing needs.
Lets use a hypothetical example. Lets say that the US has strong climate legislation that mandates the use of cleaner energy in steel manufacturing, and China does not. Presumably, US steel would be more expensive than Chinese steel (not based on labor or any other costs – only energy and manufacturing). Under a border tax adjustment (BTA), the US would still allow Chinese manufactured steel to be imported, but would slap an added tax on this to ‘adjust’ for the disparity on climate action.
This is not a purely theoretical realm. The Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act (also known as the Kerry-Boxer climate change bill that is making its way through congress) specifically makes provisions for a BTA:
Recent Comments