China's New Green Groove

The words on the pen that the business school gave us read: “KELLEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, INDIANA UNIVERSITY”. But those are not the most important words. If you look closely, on the pocket clip, there is a small yet familiar word, “CHINA”.

China is not only making our pens. They make things that are hundreds of times taller and generate 850 kilowatts a piece. The past eighteen months have been a whirlwind with global recession dominating the headlines daily. Jobs being lost and companies going under seem to be in the news every month. But to very few people’s notice, China has been building wind farms and solar panel plants backed by the Chinese government.

Why is China spending billions of dollars on this expensive industry when they have a basically unlimited supply of coal? It’s because their waterways are polluted, skies are smoggy, and they see an opportunity that has caught on throughout the whole country.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), China currently has around 12,000 megawatts of installed wind power and is scheduled to have 100,000 MW of installed wind power by 2020. The GWEC also states that China has been about doubling their installed power every year since 2005. However, according to the Wall Street Journal almost 30 percent of all wind power generated in China last year was wasted because it wasn’t connected to the grid. Although China’s wind energy efforts aren’t perfect, their ascension to one of the world’s largest wind producers is a testament to their commitment to energy security and reducing their environmental impact.

According to the New York Times, China has the world’s largest solar panel industry. The largest solar panel maker is exporting 95 percent of their panels. And according to Thomas Freedman, the largest solar power research facility is going to be built in Xian buy Applied Materials, one of the US’ biggest solar panel makers.

Every week a new coal plant is build in China. China is the largest polluter in the world and their energy infrastructure is not suited for the demand they are about to face. China knows all this and working non-stop to not only satiate their energy demand, but also become the leader in green energy in the world.

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125409730711245037.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/business/energy-environment/14energy.html?_r=2&ref=global-home

http://www.gwec.net/index.php?id=125

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/opinion/27friedman.html