Georgia Magazine - March 2010 - (Page 16)

SPECIAL ENERGY REPORT Apples to apples? No real comparison of U.S. and China on green energy BY BILL VERNER M any respected nationally syndicated columnists and pundits have attempted to portray China as leaving the U.S. behind in green energy development. In the words of the late Paul Harvey, here is “the rest of the story.” While it’s true that China leads the world in wind power development, it is disingenuous to ignore that the People’s Republic of China gives the power of eminent domain a whole new meaning. When acquiring land to construct wind farms and associated high-voltage transmission infrastructure (or an interstate highway system, Olympic stadium, etc.), China swiftly forces the relocation of any property dwellers to build the desired facilities. Relocation protesters? Doesn’t matter. Endangered Species Act? Nope. Migratory birds? No problem. View shed concerns (i.e., opposition to the Nantucket Sound wind farm)? Sorry Charlie. Financing? Not a problem. These concerns don’t apply in the People’s Republic of China. Ditto with solar farm developments. And if you think access to high-voltage transmission lines isn’t vital to such projects, just ask T. Boone Pickens (an American financier who chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management) about the fate of his mammoth wind-power projects proposed here in the U.S. Speaking of relocations, anyone care to guess how many Chinese were relocated in order to build the massive Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River? Chinese authorities report 1.5 million citizens were relocated. While on a three-day river trip down the Yangtze in 2002, a Chinese scientist I met estimated that 5 million to 10 million people had been relocated. By the way, the massive Three Gorges Dam, estimated to equal the electricity generation of 18 nuclear power plants, is counted as a renewable energy source in China. Only “micro-hydro” and “incremental hydro” count as a renewable source in pending congressional legislation— meaning virtually all hydro projects in the U.S. would not be counted as renewables. China has quickly eclipsed the U.S. in annual CO2 emissions from coal use over the past two decades. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that China accounted for 85 percent of global growth in coal demand last year. One municipality (Jiquan) alone plans to build 9.2 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired generation (more than entire generation capacity of Hungary) to use when the wind isn’t spinning 12.7 GW of wind turbine capacity, due to be installed by 2015. In a May 2009 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report on global CO2 emissions from the use of coal, annual CO2 emissions from coal in the U.S. are projected to increase 0.7 percent per year through 2030 compared with annual increases of 2.7 percent for China over the same time period. In 2006, the last year for which this information is available, CO2 emissions from coal use in the U.S. were 2,134 million metric tons versus China’s 4,947. Only four years earlier, in 2002, the U.S. emitted 2,093 million metric tons of CO2 while China emitted 2,689. By 2030, our very own U.S. DOE forecasts that China will be emitting a staggering 9,323 million metric tons of CO2 per year, compared with only 2,521 for the U.S. Sure, we can do more to spur renewable technology and investment in America and take practical, responsible steps toward reducing CO2 emissions, but we don’t have to wreck our economy—to the benefit of less environmentally responsible www.georgiamagazine.org Bill Verner, left, is shown here with a river guide on the Yangtze River in 2002. nations—in the process. America’s elected business and civic leaders have already put in place some of the strongest environmental policies on the planet. Unlike China, our citizens can breathe, swim, fish, farm and drink without worry throughout the vast majority of our great country. We must not lose sight of the required investment (hundreds of billions, perhaps trillions, of dollars) American consumers, businesses and property owners have made—and continue to make—to comply with our environmental rules. China deserves recognition for beginning to address some of its environmental damage, but let’s be sure to make apples-to-apples comparisons before jumping to conclusions that the U.S. is falling behind China in environmental stewardship. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like China has a lot of catching up to do. One can only hope that China will address its record on human rights with equal vigor. Atlantan Bill Verner is vice president of external affairs for Georgia Electric Membership Corp. GEORGIA MAGAZINE http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - March 2010

Georgia Magazine - March 2010
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Picture This?
Georgia News
Calendar
Currents
Special Energy Report
Rising Stars
Surviving Well
Around Georgia
Georgia@Home
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Light Weight Cooks
Cookbook of the Month
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - March 2010