In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama said he would not accept playing second fiddle to other nations in the development of clean energy technology.
But what chance does the US have of beating the juggernaut of manufacturing in China? Not very good, according to a New York Times article.
China is now the leading producer of wind turbines and solar power and is pushing hard to develop capacity for nuclear reactors and so-called "clean" coal technologies.
The country’s renewable energy industries reportedly add 100,000 renewable energy jobs each year, and the country’s leadership is focused on incentivizing this growth.
But perhaps the greatest advantage China has is that it is also the biggest market for these technologies. The government is spending billions of dollars to upgrade its electric grid; demand for domestic electricity is rising 15% a year; and the government has set a goal of doubling renewable energy production by 2020. As a result, domestic economies of scale (added to a low-cost workforce) will continue to make Chinese exports cheaper than their American and European counterparts.
Read the full story at the link below.
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