Chinese energy is greener than ours

Chinese energy is greener than ours

THE AUSTRALIAN 27 July 09
“………Ferguson’s government and others in the developed world are being asked to comprehend ……………They have been repeatedly warned by the International Energy Agency that, even if the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries collectively reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, they cannot put the world on track to achieve stablisation of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million……

…….Martin Ferguson could have also cited a set of startling Chinese green power statistics in his mid-July speech to the Queensland Resources Council
By 2020 China aims to have installed 300,000MW of hydro power (equal to 80 Snowy Mountains schemes), 30,000MW of plants fuelled by agricultural waste, 1800MW of solar power and more than 50,000MW of wind farms (about four times what will be needed here to meet the Rudd renewable energy target).

This will involve spending $US33billion ($40.3bn) a year on renewable energy.Everything about the Chinese effort is mindboggling. For example, it now employs 600,000 people (twice the population of Canberra) installing solar hot-water heaters in a $US2bn a year business. Its electric bicycle business is worth more than $US6bn a year.Nor are its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its coal-burning generators to be underestimated.

Since 2005 China has required all new large power plants to use at least high-efficiency, super-critical technology and since 2007 it has shut down smaller, inefficient plants with a capacity of 14,380MW (more generation capacity than in NSW).This is allowing China to leapfrog the less efficient coal technology that is dominant in the developed world, including Australia.

July 28, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming | climate change, climate change - global warming, reneweable energy