Reds Go Green

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China is leading the renewable energy race if recent investment is anything to go by. China will actually win the race for wind turbine supremacy, in part because the powerful conservation lobby in the United States tries to protect national parks at the expense of energy development. Chinas vast desert expanses have no such conflicts.

Coal remains the biggest energy source in China. But this will probably be the last decade in China that will be true. China has actively sponsored state green energy facilities and biofuels and other alternative energy sources that complement the pursuit of turbine power supremacy.

China may also exercise economic and business controls under conditions that non-Occidental nations cannot compete against. Underbidding to win state contracts may spur the process further, leapfrogging over the usual bureaucratic obstacles. Green business could become a giant green investment opportunity.

And that’s a concern when the originating country has had so many troubling issues in environmental pollution and manufacturing safety. China is so consistently associated with pollution and negative industrial carbon footprints that traffic around Beijing was virtually halted weeks before the 2008 Olympics.

While any nation as populous as China should be encouraged to embrace the renewable and alternative energy development cycle, certain common denominators in energy and utility markets may override benefits for such goals. Chinese native energy consumption will also rise with population and industrial concerns.

While the United States is operating under a mandate to switch to greener alternative and renewable energy sources, Chinese contractors working under a similar mandate can utilize new era business entrepreneurs see cheaper energy as a profit motive. International investors may become attracted by the profitable opportunities of generous land allowances.

The Chinese have a huge population to serve with resources like food and shelter and energy is a big drain on their emerging infrastructure. Metropolitan centers like Beijing draw a lot of energy with high energy skyscrapers and office towers. So, is China going green to save green?

Why the cynicism? Because any analyst will look askance at a country which professes to tap renewable energy sources for environmental reasons when progit based undertakings seem much more probably. The expanses of Chinese land available for renewable and eco-friendly energy development will render them a leader in the world energy markest right at a time when explosive fossil fuel dependence may occur.

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