Related Posts
China ahead in renewable energy
While the United States and other countries offer incentives for development in the renewable energy industry, China passes...
Design Competition: Can You Combine Beautiful Art and Renewable Energy?
If you’ve ever checked out sites like Recyclart.org, you’ll know of all the awesome (and sometimes crazy) things...
Germany: Renewable energy to compete with nuclear power
If the unusually hot weather in Europe this summer is an environmental ‘cloud’ of bad news – forest...
China’s green energy boom
China may still be overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels for power (especially coal) but the country’s rapid economic...
Slow and Steady Pace Towards Renewable Energy for China
The world’s worst polluter, China, has been criticized for their rapid growth at the cost of the environment....
Tip of the Day
Go grocery shopping locally to help reduce your carbon footprint
China enforces the use of renewable energy with new law
photo from chinadialogue.net (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Chalk another one up for the efficiency of authoritarian rule. According to an article from Reuters, the government of China has passed a law requiring power grid operators to buy ‘all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators’. This will encourage the use of power from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy plants over cheaper electricity from coal plants.
The Chinese State Council energy department now has the authority to ‘determine the proportion of renewable energy power generation to the overall generating capacity for a certain period’ according to Xinhua news agency. In addition, the Reuters article mentions that the new law or amendment also enables fines to be levied on grid operators who refuse to buy power from renewable energy generators.
These kinds of top down measures enabled by China’s system of authoritarian rule may give China advantages in the implementation of clean or renewable technologies over countries with multi-party democracies, especially in the case of the United States, where opposition to the development of clean energy remains stiff. Those advantages of a one party autocracy are often pointed out by New York Times columnist Tomas Friedman, who believes that China will win in the burgeoning economic market for clean energy if the U.S. doesn’t itself become a leader in the field.
by Graham Land
Additional resources:
Reuters – FACTBOX: What China and the US have done on climate
Tags: China, clean, energy, power, renewable energy
Other Greenfudge.org posts
A Bid To Save The Earth: Support Environmental Organizations and Meet Celebrities!
The greenest season of them all is upon us and Hollywood is abuzz with charity events. One in particular may be of interest to all of you devoted green-lifestylers. In A Bid To Save The Earth, Christie’s has partnered up with NBC Universal and 4 awesome environmental organizations to celebrate the Earth and offer you some great celebrity experiences. To start with, between April 8 and May 6, a silent auction will be held. Here’s a sneak peak of a few...
Dumps, borders and beaches: Mexico’s garbage crisis
Rubbish is piling up in Mexico’s capital after the city’s largest waste dump, Bordo Poniente, was closed after the landfill was, for lack of a better word, filled. The landfill, in fact, was meant to close back in 2005, but the city managed to delay closure by 6 years. Now garbage is accumulating in illegal dumps in Mexico City, on street corners and even in front of monuments. The fact that Mexico lags behind in waste reducing measures, such as recycling programs,...
Tar sands: China invests in Canadian oil as U.S. moves out
The Canadian province of Alberta is home to a particularly dirty kind of oil field: so called 'Tar Sands'. The world's largest source of bitumen – a heavy, black form of crude oil extracted by surface mining – is located in the northeastern portion of the province. Most of the oil mined from Canada's tar sands is destined for refineries in the United States, but with American companies shying away from the oil sands due to environmental pressure and China...
Sealing Air Leaks at Home
A lot of people have heard about the importance of switching out Thomas Edison’s old incandescent light bulbs for energy saving bulbs such as LED or CFL. The same goes for replacing your old fossil fuel based car with one that runs on electricity. Energy efficiency and energy conservation is becoming increasingly important and people are starting to realize that everyone can contribute. In this article we are taking a closer look at something that takes up a few hours...
Perhaps we should all take Chávez’s advice and drink juice instead of Coke
photo by Esteban Maringolo (Flickr CC) Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is urging Venezuelans to stop buying foreign sugary sodas like Coke and Pepsi and switch to locally produced fruit juice. According to the Associated Press, Venezuela currently imports most of its food and drinks, so Chávez's advice is at the same time economic and health-related with an obvious political element. Besides advocating the state-produced grape juice Uvita, he has also promoted Venezuelan wine. Though Chávez's words are sure to anger some, especially...
Nature Makes People Nicer
A recent study conducted by the University of Rochester found that after looking at nature scenes, people became nicer. They felt closer to their community and the world around them, are willing to be more generous to charities and organizations, and care more about the outcome of things. Looking at man-made structures or scenes provoked none of these feelings. The researchers believe this is because a connection with nature also helps people connect with their basic values. The study included 370...
Videos of flood aftermath in Rio de Janeiro highlight Brazil’s rich-poor divide
Heavy rains in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro resulted in flooding and mudslides, killing perhaps hundreds of people. So far at least 107 have died in mudslides in the slums or favelas of Niterói, a city that lies across the bay from the well-known metropolis of Rio de Janeiro city. This raw video from AFP shows aftermath of the floods and mudslides as well as rescue and clean up efforts. Click on the below link to watch. Mudslides: Cranes clean...
Go Green: Ways to Stay Cool During Summer
This summer has been practically unbearable, as far as temperature goes. The sun is blazing, wildfires are sprouting up all over the place, and this past June had some of the hottest temperatures on record. Sure, you could turn on the air conditioner or a bunch of fans, but they use electricity and waste energy—especially if they are cooling off rooms that don’t need it. Here are some tips and tricks you can do to keep yourself cooled off, without...
Sustainable energy: Goodbye Canada, hello Africa?
According to Yale University’s 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) Canada ranked as the 46th greenest country in the world, a shameful and sudden drop from #12 in 2008. Why? Mostly due to Canadian ‘tar sands’ or ‘oil sands’ in the province of Alberta, where huge petroleum reserves lie in the form of bitumen, a heavy black form of crude that is energy intensive, highly polluting and more greenhouse gas intensive than conventional oil extraction. And now Canada has pulled out of...
Creature Feature: The Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog
We are heading to the US Southwest today to find one of the most critically endangered species in the country: the Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog. This little critter is so endangered that Animal Planet actually lists it on their Top 5 Endangered Frogs list. This creature is mainly found in the Sierra Nevada area of California. They range approximately between 2 and 3 inches (5 and 7.5 cm) in size, have orange or yellow coloring on their underside, yellow or red...
View all articles
You can also log in to post a comment.