04-04 China

It was a surprise seeing so many people in Beijing in 1985 wearing gauze masks to purify the air from all the coal-related pollution. And, although coal was king when it came to the generation of electrical energy, most of the pollution was coming from people’s homes where it was used for heating and cooking.
The answer. Move people out of their homes into apartments where they are heated by hot water or steam again powered by coal. Clean coal, if you have heard the coal lobby in the US.
And to be fair, if coal is burned under heat and pressure, the nasties it sends into the air along with carbon dioxide can be substantially reduced.
For any of us that are looking at the future of fossil fuels and reducing the threat to our climate, we must study what is happening in China.
Studying the chart, China is obviously the big player in terms of installed wind turbine capacity. Denmark is the big player on a per capita basis which tells you a lot about Danish politics. And because Denmark was early off the mark it has its share of big players. But nothing like China.
And according to my research, China produces half of the world’s wind turbines. Here we are talking about low prices and an industry that is selling its products to the world. And now we can see where China diplomacy is paying off in places like African and Latin America. They are buying Chinese wind turbines.
And naturally, wind turbines represent new technologies where China wants to outperform the US. This is important because it means all the resources of the state are behind those giant Chinese power companies.
Becoming the dominant economic power of the world is China’s goal. And renewables are part of the master plan.
The photo shown here is taken at a wind turbine assembly operation. And it clearly shows just how large these turbines are. And where are theses turbines shipped? Mostly to the western provinces that are windy deserts. The problem, however, is that the consumers are miles away in the big cities of the east.
So, solving the problem of massive long-term distribution, China has been a leader in developing high voltage transmission systems. And the higher the voltage, the more current you can send. Think of a high-pressure pump sending more water through a pipe.
And putting on my political strategist hat. If China is trying to be the world leader in wind technology, assume they are trying to do the same thing when it comes to nuclear, solar, and electric automobiles.