Progress in China highlights US dithering

China Energy Policies

The US and China have shown unprecedented levels of togetherness over their renewable energy ambitions as the world strives to meet carbon cutting targets.

But over the Christmas period Beijing edged ahead of Washington in the green stakes as the government passed a new law requiring power grid operators to buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators, in a move that will significantly increase the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources in a nation still heavily dependent on coal-fired power stations.

China's target is for renewable energy sources to make up 15 percent of its power generation by 2020, up from about nine percent currently.

China's National People's Congress convened on 22 December, three days later it passed the law which means energy companies must buy electricity produced only by wind, solar power, hydropower, biomass, geothermal and ocean energy.

Shift to clean power

One can't help but wonder why the US has been so much slower in making similar changes in an effort to drive forward its own shift to clean power. Because whereas the Chinese government appear eager to make the necessary changes for renewable energy to replace traditional energy sources, the Obama Administration is struggling to squeeze a market-based cap-and-trade bill laden with incentives for business through a stubborn Senate.

Even with the support of major energy companies such as Exelon, Duke and Con Ed Washington are splitting hairs over what type of cap-and-trade bill will appear out of the other end, and, whereas socialism and communism are evoked to discredit the Obama Administration's agenda, it has been successful in rapidly pushing through carbon reducing policies.

Energy companies in China have simply been told they should be prepared to pay twice as much in fines if they refuse to purchase occasionally expensive clean electricity, and that improvements to the grid are now an absolute necessity.

In China, a boom in wind-power plants thanks to government subsidies has resulted in a large amount of wind capacity that is not always properly connected to the grid. In some cases, the wind farms are not located at the optimal spot for wind.

Controlling people's lives

In the US, Republicans are still bearing the scars of the healthcare battle as they continue to withhold support, even with Obama's attempts to sweeten the deal with more allowances for offshore oil drilling, coal, and nuclear plants.

Many people are critical of the bill, accusing it of being an attempt to further control people's lives.

"Instead of rewarding innovation, this bill punishes Americans into living lives that the government wants them to live," is how America politician and former House speaker Newt Gingrich sees it.

China's latest law change is a response to criticism that it obstructed the Copenhagen Climate Summit as it tries to repair its damaged reputation, only time will tell if its method of changing legislation without giving energy firms any time to adjust will work.

At present just over 7 percent of US energy comes from renewable sources, and if Obama is truly determined to make America a world leader in renewable energy technology, his administration may have to be more aggressive in pushing through policy. The US political system has been essential to the US becoming "leaders of the free world", but it may actually prove more of a hindrance when it comes to creating a green world.

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