Good ideas. However, here is a sleeper that can rapidly restore leadership to the USA. Support Green Swans. These are highly improbable, but very real, new technologies with huge potential impact.
They can quickly encourage wide public support for extremely fast replacement of gasoline & diesel and they eliminate fuel cost! No government action needed!
In addition to the huge savings, a surprising new source of income for vehicle owners will be the icing on the cake.
H2 Global, a small firm in Florida, can demonstrate that engines can be converted easily and cheaply to running on water instead of gas.
Within 2 years you will be able to drive in to a conversion station in the morning and drive out on water in the evening. The water can come from the air. For an introduction to the new science, see Moray King's book: WATER - The Key to New Energy. This is not electrolysis.
By fitting a larger alternator, vehicles running on water can be power plants when suitably parked – employing much wider use of existing technology. Millions of cars, trucks & buses running on water could gradually supersede central power stations burning coal or natural gas.
The huge savings in fuel costs will rapidly enlist support by the majority of the population - which will also celebrate a substantial new source of income: Gained by selling electricity when parked – typically 23 hours each day.
See MOVING BEYOND OIL under MORE at aesopinstitute.org to learn more about water as fuel.
Bad title. There is no such thing as a winner in the green race, unless you mean humanity.
9
Who cares who "wins" the green race, as long as it's won?
4
Park this failure at the feet of the Republicans who think anything green other than money is vile.
1
Kerry: We have to compete for our values against a totalitarian dictatorship!
Kerry: Oh gee, a totalitarian government is better than us at directing money to companies it favors!
Kerry: Let's compete with the totalitarian dictatorship by doing the things they do!
So, John Kerry. Maybe you should reconsider your presidential preferences and support someone who stands firmly for the Green New Deal. In keeping with the general approach of this newspaper, I won't mention that person's name.
Last I looked Houston, K Street, and Fox News were not in China, so I guess this column is 'whistling' in the wind, to paraphrase Jerry Jeff Walker.
Spitting in the wind.
The US is one of the most backward countries in the word politically speaking in the sense that if an idea is supported by science, it is automatically a nonstarter.
So don't let China win? Fuhgeddaboutit. They are already ahead of us in the race, and they will soon be paddling our behinds.
2
This article perfectly exemplifies what is so wrong-headed about the corporatist-politico understanding of global warming and the responses needed: What kind of idiotic notion is "winning the green energy race"? This is exactly the problem: The world system that creates narcissistic, egotistic competition among nations, rather than working to fostering mutual consultation and collaborative problem-solving. John Kerry is hardly the guy who should be advising on how to approach this issue. Give me someone of mature vision: Give me Greta Thunberg anytime.
2
People forget that Chinese were the most civilized civilization until recent history. They found a way back by recognizing their faults and by rectifying. They have one mind to achieve their goals, whereas America is devolving into a corrupt, inept kleptocracy. When accountants dictated how cars should be built at GM and how GM and Firestone dismantled the rail systems in the US for profit....the scourge of profit for profit sake will be the death nel for American supremacy.
2
We won't under the current administration. That is just 1 more reason to elect Democrats.
Well, it's not surprising, given that our Secretary of Education is more concerned with privatizing the entire education system and implementing mandatory Christian education while disregarding teachers' livelihoods and actually funding schools instead of, oh I don't know, equipping our kids for jobs of the future or skills that'll enable them to develop sources of energy that'll not destroy this planet that God has given us?
Or a Secretary of Transportation that can actually figure out how to convince people there's no shame in public transport, improving infrastructure for mass transit instead of.......actually, what has Elaine Chao done so far? At least we can see that Betsy DeVos has been relentless in making us the Christian version of certain Muslim-majority countries where Islamic studies is apparently more important than engineering and the sciences.
You're missing the one big thing you both can do today, in this Congress, to help renewables - extend the 30% Investment Tax Credit for renewables, which has been single handedly responsible for the growth of solar and wind across the country. This tax credit is set to step down in January. Can you both step up on this and make a big change today instead of focusing on benefits that are years down the line?
10
Thank you! We should not be investing in outdated technologies just because our president can't comprehend things that don't run on coal to produce steam. We are well equipped to create and develop the technologies that we need to decarbonize our economy - and if we do not do this we will be buying them from Europe and China and India in short order. Trump wants to force us all to live in a past that he understands - high flow toilets and showerheads and incandescent bulbs and coal coal coal - rather than prepare for a future that we can all benefit from.
44
I see more electric buses on the streets every day in Shanghai. They are beautiful, clean, and absolutely silent. As China makes such examples of concrete progress, as well as those outlined by Kerry, it's once again despairing that from the US there is not congratulations on the successes, but the same old view that this is a competition, a "race". Capitalism has infested all of the endeavors of the American world. Puzzling to me, since I've been teaching the idea of collaboration, not competition, for years. For the US, it's never collaboration anymore, it seems. Collaboration is just another word for communism to them. Sorry to say, but the US is no longer a world leader, unless we count pollution, crime, violence, debt...
38
This is not the time for macho posturing. The competitive belligerence of this article is exactly part of the problem. We need to pursue more climate-friendly policies because a disaster is looming, not because China is winning some "game." We are in large measure responsible for creating it, but the whole planet will suffer, including us. Good on China for showing some responsibility. May they continue to show the way, since we apparently can't be bothered unless we're asked to "surpass" somebody.
78
@MP
Amen: macho posturing about technology competition is harmful because it is a distraction. Competition makes hurting your rival is an effective way to "win", but it is ineffective for saving our one, shared planet.
The US has got to get a bit of humility about the size of the challenge, and realize that the single biggest contribution it can make is political, not scientific. This is a global challenge, and the US only makes up 4% of the world's population, and even a perfectly carbon-neutral US doesn't "solve" the climate crisis. The world doesn't need the US, or any particular country, to "win" the tech race. Other countries can (and probably will) develop the technology.
However, the US is the key political obstacle to global progress. The US is source for literally billions spent on disinformation at home and abroad, the home of denier Think tanks, and the political obstacle that fights against coordinated action. US interests stalled Rio, killed Kyoto, and is doing everything possible to undermine Paris.
When in a hole, stop digging: to stop the political fight against global action would be the best contribution the US could possibly make.
12
@MP
This is not macho posturing. The point is simply to inform Americans of the vast disparity between the facts regarding China's huge advantage over us regarding renewable energy and the misleading constant disparagement of China as a backward, tyrannical, human rights abusing nation.
If all we hear about China is the baloney that comes out of Trump and the theft of intellectual property and their unfair practices and if all we know of the lifestyle, education, scientific research, and middle class is made out to be the mistreatment of Uighurs, then we will wallow in our superiority.
John Kerry is simply telling it like it is so that the day China is the undisputed global leader Americans won't be surprised.
11
We're too busy wasting trillions trying to get control over Middle Eastern oil fields.
But don't give China too many accolades. They're still burning coal at record rates and polluting their nation like mad.
Meanwhile we're burning off natural gas coming from fracked wells - too impatient to wait until pipelines are in place to collect and transport it. I'll never understand the waste you see in this country.
If we're going to make ourselves extinct perhaps we can speed up the process and limit how much more damage we do to the planet.
It’s not a competition...we should ALL be working on green solutions so the PLANET can be the winner.
2
China isn't short-sighted enough to not sign international climate change agreements like USA was, as they see that being environmentally friendly gets you trade deals and also gets export orders for your nation. Unbelievable that China is cleaning up their environmental mess as they know they have suffered the consequences and effects of not being environmentally friendly. Never in a million years would any law in NZ allow people to see chlorinated chicken. If you want a nice healthy free range and chemical free Turkey for Christmas you should order it off a butcher in NZ.
1
Our government only like to spend money on war. Therefore we need a green war with China to save the environment.
1
Have we considered requiring fossil energy purchases include the cost of commensurate carbon offset? This makes renewables the cheaper option. Alternatively, take matters into your hands and become carbon neutral. Visit www.goldstandard.org
This should be a platform for Dems. The youth of America want this. The youth of Asia could care less about “green”. This should be a natural forward momentum for America.
When the US passed progressive laws like the New Deal and The Great Society, the average education of the voters was much lower than it is today. When American tech and auto industry became global dominant players, our news organizations dished out superficialities on television and our presidents lied to us constantly: LBJ about Vietnam, and Nixon about everything. There’s no reason to give up on the corrupt, tired old nation because of the lies on Facebook and Twitter, or because the electorate is too dumb to be able to see that Fox lies. The pendulum will swing, is swinging because of how outrageous Orange is, and then we will need to do much more than the two writers say here. We need to replace our entire fossil fuel industries, all of them. For starters.
I HOPE THEY DO. In fact it would be great if China and India both did.
1
I don’t care who wins the green race as long as governments are in it. Sputnik got us to to the moon; maybe we need the motivation.
1
The other problem is that while China is making the trains run on time, China is a dictatorship run along the lines of Stalinist Russia, complete with gulags. Those who call for cooperation are fooling themselves when the proposed partner has a self professed goal to be the hegemon of their region and beyond, through military supremacy. Plus they are implementing the dictator's personally directed policy to enforce racial supremacy with full public support of the policy of racial supremacy, and incorporation of minority occupied territories, Tibet and Xinjiang in particular, through ethnic cleansing and population replacement. Enforced by putting millions into prison camps as slave hostages subjected to torture. So not exactly a partner we can work with.
1
why is this a competition. why can't we both win it together. this is so absurd.
1
This is a race that everybody wins, or everybody loses. We all win, or we all lose. But we're not even running right now, because the Republicans are determined to lose. Ever since Reagan had the solar panels removed from the roof of the White House, they have been working to block progress of any kind.
A third of a century ago, we were the world leader in this area, but we have absolutely squandered every advantage we once had, and that's virtually ALL due to Republican policies.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carter-white-house-solar-panel-array/
1
Remember the Model T? How it transformed the world? where is our Everyman (and woman) Electric Truck, O Ford!?
2
The editorial fails to mention that China has completed 48 nuclear power plants in the last 30 years with 10 more in construction, has trained thousands of nuclear scientists, builds reactors in less than five years at a cost competitive with other renewable energy, has developed its own Chinese design which it is now selling on the international market, and is building its own next gen thorium reactor. Meanwhile US nuclear is stopped dead by an irrational public fear of the technology and unwillingness to support the effort necessary to advance to 4th generation designs.
7
If we don't get money out of politics we will never win the Green Race.
No one owns the sun. So there isn't any graft involved. Our political system is totally corrupt. We give politicians "campaign contributions" which are thinly described bribes. Since the rate of return on solar and wind products is less than that of natural gas and oil there's more graft in oil and gas Even though solar and wind are cheaper, safer and employ more people.
The 17th-century Burkean doctrine that central control is impossible because of a lack of data is no longer applicable in the 21st century. We have lots of data. And it shows that fossil fuels spell disaster and that wind and solar are cheap and safe. The Chinese understand that. The European Union also understands that they can't continue using fossil fuels. We won't get to that place in the United States until we get rid of the oligarchs. Right now the fossil fuel industry has the money and the politicians take it and dance to their tune. To change we need to get money out of politics.
Get involved. Join makeitfair.us. Look up the American anticorruption act. Vote for politicians who refuse to take money from the fossil fuel industry. It's the only way to foster the green new deal and when the Green Race.
5
@Stuart Phillips You state that solar and wind are cheaper but the rate of return is less than oil and natural gas. How can this be?
The U.S. should first impose a high carbon tax with the tax revenues rebated back to consumers on a per capita basis. Americans will then start buying electric vehicle (Tesla perhaps an American company), installing solar panels, and finding ways to cut carbon use. Leave it up to the market then and don't try to pick winners and losers. We may buy Chinese solar panels, German or U.S. made or all three.
The primary government policy we need immediately is a high and rising carbon tax. The oil and gas and coal industry are not going to let us do that to save our Planet and ourselves as yet.
4
This is a race we can't win and have already lost. We've lost because of a dysfunctional system where large corporations, particularly in the oil and gas business, dominate the political process. These corporations can't see past the next quarter; the politicians depend on their contributions. Under these conditions there is no such thing as long term strategy. Our current president doesn't even see the problem; he's more focused on coming up with mean and clever nicknames for his political opponents like he's in middle school.
This has already put us on a path of a long term slow decline that I don't think we can come out of.
5
Huge green energy investments could be easily made by making smart defense budget cuts. Does the US really need more aircraft carriers that can now be sunk by a single Chinese missile? More stealth aircraft that are most likely now detected by Chinese and Russian defenses? Want to talk about National Security? Energy is the ultimate national security issue!
4
If the most populated country in the world becomes less polluted and dependent more on solar or wind energy, good for it, why do we have to be worried if we are not number 1. In my humble opinion we do not have to be playing the super power at everything or be worried that we may be like every other country. Don't worry be happy if China contributes less to climate change because it leaves a lesser carbon foot print. It will decades in the future when China and India stop using coal and fossil fuels.
4
Even when done in the US, the engineering and research is dependent on foreign talent. Just look at who is studying and teaching engineering in American universities. That is harder than cheerleading and quarterbacking and therefore not appealing to Americans.
7
Sounds like a winning platform and roadmap for the Democratic Party. Here is a very clear set of differences with the Trump Republicans. Either the United States participates in the green revolution, or the 21st Century is the Eurasian Century.
I live in China. Much of the technology is stunning and becoming integrated into China's society, and accelerating at such a pace, that the US won't be able to catch up.
But it also doesn't have to be a war cry either. Cooperation must be part of the solution.
10
When India became independent, but the United States and the Soviet Union presented her with combine-harvesters. The latest and greatest in agriculture technology.
But soon Indians realized that they do not need high tech but appropriate technology like a simple tractor.
High Speed Rail for America is like a combine-harvester for India. We need basic technology like railroad on modern 25 KVAC traction which is only from New Haven to Boston. Let’s electrify the railroad first.
We are not ready for high speed rail. I was keeping track of the building of SF to LA HSR and they were doing all the wrong things. They brought Japanese and French railroad experts and their opinions went to dust. There were to many special interests wanting to milk the project.
Japanese, French and the Spaniards build their HSR based on Science and not Special Interests. Japanese built HSR is earthquake proof.
We need to talk before we can run. Start by electrifying the railroads.
3
Seriously? Have you seen what’s happened to California’s attempt at high speed rail? Also, the US reduced emissions last year but China’s continued to rise. There is a better way but China is not the model.
1
@Aaron Hart Well, China at least has a strategy. If it isn't the model, what is?
6
"We aren’t winning the clean energy race today. In many ways, we aren’t even trying....
"America can mobilize around a national strategy to lead the world in clean technology that will attract bipartisan support from both coasts and the heartland."
It's hard to know whether to laugh or cry. There is no way to bridge the gap between these two statements. Of course, the US could compete with China for leadership in green technology, if it really wanted to. But our current leadership explicitly rejects the premise. Trump denies the reality of climate change. Trump celebrates hydrocarbon development in all its forms. He is the ultimate fossil fool.
And unless the Democrats win both the White House and Senate, there will be no possibility of a "national strategy to lead the world in clean technology". It is delusional to suggest that there is bipartisan support for such an effort.
We should applaud China's attempt to lead the global conversion to clean energy. Somebody has to do it. If the combination of Chinese ambition and discipline results in its gaining a dominant position green technology markets, so be it. It will have earned its success. And we with our arrogance, greed and shortsightedness will have earned our failure.
America will not have been defeated by China; it will have defaulted. The true test of national greatness is seeing a problem clearly and honestly, then responding in an efficient and appropriate manner. Such a response is presently beyond our reach.
18
This effort is a great example of America's competitive urge to always be first, especially with respect to China.
I'd rather see us congratulate China for their good work here and offer to cooperate with, and learn from, them.
But when it comes to China, we have one, and only one, reflex--kicking them.
It's as Trump says, sad, so sad. Especially when our efforts to save the planet could bring us closer together. This kind of
thoughtless competitive urge is going to be our undoing, and the natural world will then be better of without humans in it.
5
Yes, we get that US always want to be No. 1 Strangely more often than not I hear Americans claim China as the biggest enemy to green energy progress......maybe time to recheck ourselves if we want to be No. 1 in action?
1
Between 2016 and 2030, China is adding more coal fired electricity capacity than the total coal capacity in the EU, a new plant every week or two. Wow, that's some huge environmental leadership we should attempt to emulate. That is on top of already being the biggest producer of manmade CO2 and doesn't count the coal fired plants it is building in Vietnam, Kenya and the rest of the third world. But they do need energy to fuel those electric cars.
1
@ebmem the US remains one of the highest per-capita CO2 emitters on the planet. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of renewables, and it's already started on a $50 trillion multi-national renewable energy grid, and of the world's 425,000 electric buses, China has 421,000 and the US has 300.
Further, in historical emissions the US has emitted around 400 billion tonnes of CO2, whereas China has around 200 billion tonnes, even though China's has > x4 the US's population.
7
A few observations from a recent trip to China.
The new high speed train from Urumqi to Turfan takes only 1 hour (⅓ the time driving took 20 years ago) and much of the distance is through forests of windmills. Trains are scheduled hourly.
From above the 3rd ring road at Beijing’s Suangjing Qiao there is literally is no observable morning rush hour, at least not the rush hour standstill I had to cut through 10 years ago. The subway line, 1 of 20 new ones, is packed though. Tickets are a fraction of public transportation fares in the US.
Technology’s triumvirate of faster, cheaper, better is playing out every day in China’s economy, much of it due to more efficient use of energy. Delivering greater wealth and rising material comfort without a scintilla of Trump’s lies of the pain his tariffs impose.
5
@DWS
I didn’t have a recent trip to China, I lived there. The Chinese build high speed rail lines every month. No environmental studies on the impact the construction has on the country, no regard to individuals property rights or compensation or the human impact of being displaced from their homes.
The funding comes from selling products to the US and the EU from cheap labor and a polluting culture which exists today.
Please spare me the “through forests and windmills” rhetoric.
3
@Kelly Smith We aren't really talking politics here. The Chinese system may be brutal, and not what would be accepted in the United States, but it has produced many breakthroughs in green technologies. Let's borrow from the Chinese for a change and settle on a strategy that fits the US. The article is a good start.
5
@DWS
It makes one wonder why there isn't an immigration influx into China. What made you return to the US since China is such a paradise?
Mussolini made the trains run on time.
1
There is little chance that America will turn itself into a climate conscious nation because too many voters are science doubters and there is no political leadership to overcome this backward element. It is nice to read an article full of facts and figures relating to US and Chinese engagement with alternative energy sources and uses, especially electric autos. As the world's largest marketplace, China has the means and ability to transform their marketplace to only electric autos in the near future.
I have been to Shenzhen many times-my wish is that all Americans could see this planned city on the Pearl River-the centre of electronic manufacturing in the world and also a world leader in clean city transport. Shenzhen is a model for world cities of the future.
Americans who care about the future of the planet must try harder to take command of the political process and turn around the direction of America in politics and foreign policies. The alternative will see China become the worlds most advanced culture-one which is able to respond when the world needs a massive response to climate change. If America cannot make the decision to turn away from current policies, the country will be complicit in committing social suicide for the human species.
4
The United States has no political will to invest in green energy, not now anyway. This adminstration under Trump has given up on climate change, revised its addiction to fossil fuels, reversed decades of progress in renewable energy research and development, deregulated EPA rules from lighting to transportation. To catch up with China or the rest of the world in developing green energy? Good luck.
2
@CW
What did Obama accomplish, since he was supposedly a true believer?
It is impossible to reverse progress in research, BTW.
1
"We should pledge that by the end of the next decade, America will surpass China and win the clean energy race."
Given that we share a planet with serious environmental threats, shoudn't this be a joint venture rather than a race?
13
If only! It all makes so much sense. Republicans hate any kind of regulations. They hate efficient light bulbs. They hate the idea of climate change. They want to expand coal production, wipe out the EPA. Trump won't even let the Defense Dept assess the effects of global warming.
They deny everything but the market, don't want to invest in the future.
How did this all happen?
Let's hope and pray for our own sakes that we take a stake in our future and our children's future and carry out these ideas.
4
"Republicans hate any kind of regulations."
They LOVE to regulate uteri, though!
We must remember that we aren't in a contest or battle with China or any other country when it comes to climate action. We are trying to save humanity from a crisis of our own making. Wasting time on combating China is counter-productive.
Action at every level from family to nation is needed now! Everything else is a distraction.
15
This piece, while laudable, doesn't get to the core of the problem, which is corruption. While we allow corporate lobbyists to write bills and "representatives" to take dark money from corporate interests, public needs go unmet.
Get the money out of politics and perhaps our congressional reps will represent the people for a change. Maybe we'll have a Congress that respects science rather than blowing smoke. Maybe we'd spend real money on infrastructure rather than giving yet more money to the already wealthy.
9
@Rich
the only people who benefited from Obamacare were the corporate big medicine cronies. The same thing is true of the corn ethanol replacing gasoline in automobiles and replacing coal generation with wind and solar.
No mention is made of the environmental degradation in China that is the consequence of their solar panel output and processing of their monopoly position in rare earth minerals.
1
Apparently, the ,US has to be No.1 in the world forever, in every field. I got it.
2
Yes as the biggest polluter for two centuries we should lead the transition and cleanup. Someone need to lead ... it sure won’t Be Australia with your current climate deniers in charge as the nation burns
"Don't let China Win" misframes the issue because it allows impeding China as an option. This option impedes progress.
3
@Alan Engel There is not one word in the piece about impeding China. The entire emphasis is on expanding American investment in research and development. The focus on China serves as a goad to stimulate sacrifices on our part to achieve a more efficient, less environmentally harmful approach to economic development.
When we competed with the Russians in the 1960s to reach the moon first, we did nothing to retard their progress. Instead, we sought to use our technical expertise to develop a capacity for space travel.
8
Why no mention of nuclear energy? We will not solar or wind our way out of this problem.
8
@Wendy McFarland , Because nuclear to too expensive, takes too long to build, and requires the public to cover the risk of accidents since no insurer will do it.
We can indeed solar+wind+storage our way out of it.
8
@Wendy McFarland
China has at least 11 nuclear reactors under construction. The US has started up exactly one nuclear reactor during the twenty first century and Obama doubled the cost of the two under construction in the US, resulting in one being abandoned. The rate payers are going to pay for the stranded investment in stranded investment despite the fact that they will never get a kilowatt hour of electricity from it. The rate payers are going to also have to cover the excess costs of the surviving plant, whether or not it is completed. It brings back memories of the Shoreham plant for which Long Island ratepayers are still paying off bonds.
US politicians have no interest in solving problems that might result in vocal minorities disliking. They would rather talk about their virtue that will benefit some donor class.
Al Gore followers believe that renewable energy will be inexpensive.
@Rich
Exactly how much have Americans paid to cover the risk of accidents during the last 60 years? Check it out. The tab is zero.
How many people were killed, made sick or injured by radiation from the Fukushima catastrophic reactor meltdowns? Once again, the answer is zero. Even among the heroic workers who remained at the site to bring the plant under control, and were exposed at multiples of the industrial radiation exposure levels, not one got sick.
American energy policy is not derived from scientific evidence. It is emotional, driven by government policy that would prefer to give billions to the Warren Buffetts of the country to build wind farms and to pay off Chinese oligarchs who sell solar panels.
No politician on the left has ever supported nuclear power because it is resisted by ignorant anti-science people.
It's sad that the US drive into renewable energy does not stem so much from an inherent regard for the environment but rather a perceived need to counterbalance China on climate leadership. China is really helping the world if it is spurring America to pull up its socks on climate change.
China is far more systematic in pursuing national policy objectives than the US. The article would have done well to give breakdown of the increase in solar power (megawatts added) in the past five years alone in China. Can you believe the US is currently pitching to become an exporter of shale oil even as the climate crisis unfolds?Approval for new fracking methods was actually granted during the Obama administration. What this means is that apathy towards the climate really is a bipartisan problem, not merely a Republican problem as many would naively prefer to believe.
Lastly, what China (and even India) is doing by increasing solar power usage is highly commendable. Developing countries are not responsible for the historic bulk of CO2 emissions. Even China's per capita emissions are far lower than that for any developed country. China could well have chosen to focus singularly on economic development and renege commitments to fighting climate change. However, it is balancing these priorities remarkably well. I think the US embassy in Beijing should stop publishing air pollution (PSI) readings and the US should evaluate the progress China has made from a more objective plane.
5
No mention that China has massively expanded its coal fired energy production by an amount greater than the rest of the world has reduced.
4
@Gary
Can you attach the link for your claim for our perusal please?
Also, China's economy may have reached the middle-income stage but it was until recently a very poor country. Even now, it has less financial resources per capita than the US arguably (lower GDP per capita). The main priority from the time of its 1979 reforms really was to put food in people's stomachs and raise per capita incomes. Now that it has achieved this somewhat, it can focus more on investments in climate change.
Frankly, it is shameful, that the US which retains a larger economy and a much higher GDP per capita has been stingy on investments which could fight climate change. That a developing country with a smaller economy can invest more in R&D on climate change should put the US to shame frankly.
2
@Jack
Google "coal fired capacity in China" rather than relying upon the NYT for objective information.
China's Paris Accord voluntary commitment is to continue to increase CO2 production every year between 2016 and 2030. During that fourteen year period, China will add more CO2 to the atmosphere than mankind has added since the inception of the industrial revolution.
As a third world country, they need a high rate of increase of energy production, so they have been adding it in the cheapest forms, heavy on the coal and nuclear. They are also rerouting rivers to hydroelectric. In a communist society, no one protests the flooding of valleys and relocation of millions to accommodate the communist dictators.
They are not investing in energy R & D. They just steal whatever they want. We'd be happy to share emission control technology with them, but that doesn't appeal to them. They also don't concern themselves with safety.
1
Could not agree more with Ro and Kerry in their ideas and goals. I am a little confused by Kerry's endorsement of Biden if he is so concerned about the environment, though, and I wish he would explain that.
4
I for one am glad that at least one country is taking the climate emergency seriously and making great strides to combat it. I wish the US would also jump in, but our collective belief in large and daring advancements seems to have died after the space race ended. We can't even fix our own bridges, and our current strategy is to bring back coal while we cut automobile efficiency standards. I'm still expecting big oil to find a way to crush Tesla, one of the few bright points in the USA.
It's sad to say, but in this cold war, we are the Soviet Union, and China is the USA. I hope they can save the human race.
10
We could be doing all these things but as long as corporate money elects our politicians we'll keep falling further and further behind. China has 10 year plans while we can't focus further than 3 months. We're almost a 2nd tier nation.
7
we can't even get our leaders to accept climate change. Well I've seen those pictures from China where visibility is poor due to smog, not fog.
China is trying to keep the idea of a future for humanity;
. America doesn't seem to want to survive. Go figure.
9
Nobody is going to win this race.
3
Secretary Kerry, I agree with you that we should not falling behind China's clean energy plan. This is not the only area that we should pay attention with China. China is trying to modernize almost all issues relating to energy and public health. Forty years ago China was a country of poverty and today China is trying to catch up with the US. China is a competitor. We should have an overall plan about how to make America better. China has a national plan under the dictatorship of Xi Jinping. We don't have to agree with Xi but he is doing the right thing for China. Is president Trump and the US Congress doing the right thing for Americans? Too much time spent on impeachment and Trump is not the only problem. Both democrats and republicans should work together to compete with a rising China.
4
I don't think we have to worry about who's winning the "green race" (if there would be one) the real worry should be that none of the big players is even competing.
3
I am inspired for the planets future with hopeful people making encouraging goals of, we can do it. Conversely I am greatly discouraged for the future by negative people. I hope we have more of the former.
Thank you Mr. Kerry and Ro Khanna and all those who believe in setting goals for a healthier (on all fronts) future.
5
We deserve ZERO credit because we are a country who benefits the wealthy and penalizes the rest. CONservatives continue to focus on scam and hold positions with nothing so show for the 3+ years except richer corporations and stock holders. Where are the roads and bridges let alone solar panels??? NO CONservatives focus on the WALL and supporting a CRIME BOSS POTUS more than anything constructive. CHINA will win unless the DEMS take both house and senate and presidency.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/04/25/china-enters-global-tech-race-for-small-modular-nuclear-reactors
As with a half-dozen other high-tech segments, we're just now beginning to wake up to how we frittered – for clarity, in a bipartisan way – away 16 years of global science and technology leadership...
Residential solar in the US Northeast is about as viable as Amtrak outside of the US Northeast, once the subsidies are pulled...
2
Just saw this recently:
2018 CO2 emissions in billion metric tons:
U.S. 5.15
China 9.43
Change since Kyoto protocol:
U.S. -12.1%
China +54.6%
4
What a joke. China is building more coal plants than anyone.
4
@Dave So what? Are you suggesting that this is a reason we shouldn't try to become competitive in developing other energy sources?
3
@Joe
The title of the article says "Don't Let China Win the Green Race". It pretends to be a comparison.
Dave's comment is addressing that comparison, not whether we should develop alternate energy sources.
2
Historically - competition - in the form of hot or cold war has caused technological advancement and the betterment of peoples lives. When the war was won the people lost their previous value to power and were screwed by their own nation. This competition with an accelerating China may again do well for the people and help the planet.
It's interesting and somewhat dichotomous that China is spending hundreds of billions to build coal fired power plants abroad. Perhaps, they will use the profits of those plants to invest in more green technologies.
4
@robsea69
China is starting up a new coal fired plant in China every 15 days and will continue to increase coal fired power capacity until 2030.
China's fossil fuel consumption is growing even faster than their "renewable' energy.
They have a really good propaganda policy, that has them representing themselves as leaders in the energy field.
People who follow news trends and science and also have scientific training and critical thinking skills are frequently amused by articles in the NYT. It seems likely that John Kerry, as a former Secretary of State, is familiar with reality and the facts. China is an international leader in global warming only if you consider adding ever increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere a leadership practice.
One has to wonder what Kerry's and Khanna's objectives are in advancing of Chinese communist propaganda.
It's remarkable that our country finds resources to build weapons and enrich corporations and the wealthy while being unable to find resources for the general population's access to health care, education, and infrastructure like high speed rail. Of course, these two issues are two sides of the same coin since the success of one impedes the success of the other. Meanwhile, Rome burns while Nero plays his fiddle.
3
Maybe we need to rebrand the whole endeavor as some sort of war, because we have no trouble coming up with TRILLIONS of dollars to fight wars. Since 2001, the US has spent nearly $6 trillion on wars in the middle east and Asia. So maybe we should call it something like World Climate War I. Maybe that would inspire vastly more spending that the paltry amount spent so far, we'd mobilize the military, and give huge contracts to defense contractors.
5
Good to see that there are commenters here who are able to step back and look at political governance as the fundamental issue. For too long, the west has the closed-minded, blinkered view that everything is about "democracy" versus "authoritarianism", condemning one and touting the other as universal cure for everything.
Once, when speaking with an american, I commented that effective governance should be the key, not "democracy" or "authoritarianism", because we need to get things done, like China, and not talk and debate endlessly. His response? An immediate reflex: but are they getting the "right" things done?
Anecdotal, but so representative.
Obsession with "democracy" seems to make people stop using their brains. Can anything, even "democracy" that stop people thinking be a good thing? When you stop questioning your own fundamentals, that is when your decline starts.
3
@Andrew Ton You successfully undermined your own argument. The guy asking "are they getting the 'right' things done" was questioning the fundamentals. He was using his brain. You just didn't like his question.
While it's certainly no guarantee, the talk and debate that you don't like serves to reduce the likelihood of a pursuit of invalid objectives.
"China surpassed us for the lead in renewable energy technology, too, with 150,000 patents — making up 30 percent of the world’s total. We are second with just over 100,000 patents, while Japan and the European Union follow with about 75,000 each."
No, let us NOT and NEVER use patents, let alone patent counts(!!!), to determine inventive and innovative progress. That's not progress, that's the kind of obsolete intellectual-propertyist thought that helps patent trolls like MPEG-LA shake down music down- and uploaders and encoder writers with their bovine sewage. Nope!
What we NEED to quickly measure is how many of those patents are owned by good-faith companies and non-profits over how many are owned by fossil-burners, who are KNOWN to "catch and kill" them all Enquirer-like, and maximize that ratio to the former's favor.
Better yet, just End The Patent and make inventions the property of The People, so that no one has to worry their revolutionary energy technology will get snuffed by ExxonMobil, coal barons like (E. S.) Bob Murray, or the Uber-Lyft street-flooding cartel at our climate's expense!
We spent 2 trilion in Afghanistan and probably twice that much in Iraq. We have roads with potholes, outdated and crowded airports, but lots of self esteem, confidence and pride in what we do wrong.
6
@ELB
I've been to Denver many times, it is nothing like you describe.
1
@ELB "It would be nice to spend billions on schools and roads, but right now that money is desperately needed for political ads." -- Andy Borowitz
3
According to an article in Wired two weeks agao, China has 1,000 gigawatts of existing coal plant capacity, and has 121 gigawatts of coal plants under construction, which is more than is being built in the rest of the world combined. China is not winning any green race no matter how intensely they court former US politicians to their public relations cause.
9
@Wilbur Clark Those figures are misleading. Firstly, China's population dwarfs our so a large coal capacity is understandable. Secondly, the new coal power plants under construction are High-efficiency low emissions power plants that are set to replace older, lower-efficiency coal power plants. Thus, you have just highlighted another front that the Chinese are fighting climate change; making their current infrastructure leaner until renewable energy can be depended on.
7
@David No. There is no such thing as a "high-efficiency" coal power plant. And they aren't replacing older power plants -- they are creating NEW powerplants.
The Chinese are publicizing their supposed "green initiatives" and doing the exact opposite behind our backs.
2
@David
"China's population dwarfs our so a large coal capacity is understandable."
No, that is not understandable.
Our Earth does not care who many people are behind the emissions, only cares about the amount.
Sorry but the Republican response to clean energy is a) there is no climate change and b) we are going to burn as trump puts it "clean coal". It is in the Republicans interests to support the fossil fuel industry a major contributor to Republican politicians and causes. Now with Citizens United the fossil fuel industry has an even bigger voice. Want clean energy, want to excel at clean energy solutions, vote Republicans out of office.
13
@Steve
If you were to make a list of the non-profit educational organizations that are structured exactly like Citizens United and actively involved in politics, you would be amazed. ProPublica, Planned Parenthood's subsidiary, Media Matters, moveon.org, NAACP, ACLU,ACORN [until it went into bankruptcy after leaders were convicted of voter fraud and other leaders embezzled money], the Bloomberg Foundations subsidiary that is financing the NYS lawsuit against Exxon.
Hillary objected to Citizens United, made a complaint to the FEC and got them silenced for failing to disclose their contributors, as required by McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform for organizations structured as corporations.
Try reading the Scotus decision instead of relying upon Democrat talking points and Obama lies for your opinions.
Scotus could not figure out how to silence CU without also silencing all union political speech and ProPublica, Planned Parenthood's subsidiary, Media Matters, moveon.org, NAACP, ACLU, ACORN, the Bloomberg Foundation's subsidiary that is financing the NYS lawsuit against Exxon. They decided that free speech and the first amendment beat the single provision of M-F they voided.
Dark money is overwhelmingly provided by Democrat billionaires, not Republican, libertarian or conservative billionaires.
Hillary wanted to silence one of the few right leaning NGOs but had no problem with the leftist ones that had been operating for decades.
There is no free lunch.
High speed rail is an old joke. Passenger railroads simply cannot support themselves without huge government subsidies. Since the beginning of rail roads the only money to be made was in freight. Passenger roads always failed. Building high speed rail would be a huge waste of infrastructure resources
America is a car culture and that's it. Electrified cars are the only answer BUT battery manufacture is very dirty, and requires huge amounts of "blood" minerals like cobalt that slave labor in Congo produces for Chinese masters
In order to utilize renewable energy resources we have to rebuild the grid. We could but this is a country full of NIMBYS that don't want transmission lines going through their counties. There are also all kind of local regulations and private land issues.
3
Below is an excerpt from Warren's specific plans for getting to the goals Kerry and Khanna advocate. It should be the followup article to theirs.
"Here’s my plan for that: Invest $2 trillion over the next ten years in green research, manufacturing, and exporting — linking American innovation directly to American jobs, and helping achieve the ambitious targets of the Green New Deal.
My plan has three elements:"
Please read it in full at elizabethwarren.com/plans. It's so detailed in thinking how to get there from here and it gave me a vision of how proud we could be of our country.
I particularly like that Warren doesn't single China out as an enemy to beat. She speaks only of doing right by America. Enough of us vs them.
All plans are daydreams unless accompanied by funding sources and, as we all know, Warren has a plan for that.
So I think Warren's already anticipated Kerry and Khanna with detailed plans that strengthen America without putting another nation down.
2
I concur with much of the policies advocated in this article and with the need to expand R&D in future energy-related technologies, hopefully also accompanied by a necessary expansion in STEM education. However, I don't see how the US can effectively compete with China in the export sector of energy generation and consumption. The technologies used for generating and storing clean energy, specifically electric, as well as the machinery of using it (motor vehicles, public transportation, most industrial needs and building heating/cooling) have been commoditized and their cost is based on manufacturing labor and automation, which the Chinese are effectively monopolizing.
In the foreseeable future the US must definitely pursue a green agenda to combat climate change, even if that includes hardware not manufactured in the US. Installation alone will provide a huge number of jobs. But we should make every effort to manufacture competitively as much as possible of that hardware. An example here is the manufacture of Li batteries, where China has the advantage of also being the nearly sole source of the rare elements used in their production. In the past they have limited the export of these elements and could likely do it again. Thus a replacement technology needs to be found.
The present green technologies will likely not be the ones used in following decades, which is thus an opportunity to challenge China with innovations based on a vastly expanded US R&D infrastructure.
2
What is left out is that the US has successfully decreased their carbon emissions over recent years whereas China continues to increase their carbon emissions and is the worlds leading country for carbon emissions and they are expected to increase substantially. So despite them spending money on technology, they are failing the entire world when it comes to emissions.
5
The comparison between China & the U.S. is totally absurd. China is a command economy where the central government makes all economic decisions. It doesn't rely on the laws of supply and demand that operate in a market economy. A command economy ignores the customs that guide a traditional economy. If they make a mistake or blunder it gets covered up. The media reports what they tell them to report. We have no way of knowing how effective this is. They don't tolerate dissent, arguments or debates. It's do as we say or we shoot. Maybe we shoot you anyway. Fear is a great incentive when you need to get everyone on the same page. China doesn't recognize patent law. They steal and reverse engineer everything they can get their hands on. China games the system, weakening their currencies to lift exports. Holding down the value of its currency helps speed up its economic development. That and other policies helped China build a manufacturing sector that employs tens of millions of people and serves as a factory to the world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing some of this. But duplicating this would be impossible in the U.S. It would require a gigantic increase in taxes to fund all of these projects. That's unlikely to get through Congress. Even building a comprehensive high-speed rail in this country would be challenging. We would have to take a lot of land through eminent domain. Land owners would bury the govt. in litigation. Making this work in a democracy is very tough.
5
The USA is not a supply and demand economy. The US government uses tax breaks and subsidies to choose winners and losers.
America spends $20 billion per year to prop up the use of oil. Remove all government money from oil and it is not so profitable. Then renewables have a level playing field.
If American consumers load the true cost of gas at the pump, they would far more interested in EVs.
1
Excellent article. The unfortunate conclusion is that US politics are too dysfunctional to address these issues in a coherent fashion.
1
The Green New Deal offers America a 21st Century transportation, power grid, communication, built with good paying American jobs, living wages, a project that will last decades, resulting in a basic structure for our industries for the next 25 years. Over the last couple years, I have learned that Americans are just not interested.
2
Keep hearing about American Values. Democracy is the greatest blah blah blah...
When will the West realize it is not always right on every issue: especially when it comes to governance.
America's Democracy is broken. Trump is the best example of what has happened to our country.
Half of our country doesn't even believe climate change exists as amazing as that is to believe - or they say it exists but it's not cars and polluting houses and factories causing the change.
Our Democracy can't build high speed rail, can't even stop slow rail accidents, due to so many Protectionist Laws - Labor Union Laws, Private Property concerns. Democracies don't do some things well.
Effectively combating Climate Change is clearly one of them.
6
The real race is in saving more species from mass extinction. But I definitely agree we need to massively increase our green economic production. We need to make the solar panels and inverters not just install them. Batteries and electric vehicle should be made in America. Need technology is sure to be a major part of the economic future.
In 2009 South Korea announced a "Green New Deal" and avoided much of the recession that the US experienced. The neoliberal "free market" argument the undermines American industrial development needs to be abandoned, not just for Trump's narcissistic erratic deal making, but for the benefit of Americans and the world we live in. We need a Green New Deal that brings industry and a sane future to America.
2
As long as the US doesn't get rid of Citizens United, we will lag both Europe and China in the Green Economy.
Innovation per definition comes at the expense of vested interests. And vested interests will always have much more money to spend on campaign financing, in return for protecting their business.
This is why the authors, both moderates and connected to big corporations, are not credible and only come up with proposals that involve spending taxpayer money but mention nothing on laws, regulations and standards.
8
Just an argument for subsidizing green corporations.
2
@Stephen
Why not, we subsidize fossil fuel companies with tax credits...
China is so far being in cleaning up the pollution they still freely, copiously create, there is no conceivable way they will 'win' the green race in the near future.
China postures and window dresses as it pleases but they are not even at our clean act standards from the 70s
4
@CNNNNC China burns megatons of brown coal as well as other nations including Germany
1
HEAR HEAR! Get going, America. The world needs you to lead. Oust Trump, and get going. Your people love money, and there's money to be had in this. Loads of it. How this isn't the ultimate motivator is beyond me for a country that puts social well-being lower on the list. You'd think at LEAST this would do it for greedy American capitalists. The cash to be had.
4
Absolutely this! The right's opposition to clean, renewable energy is beyond mind-boggling. Making US a leader in renewables has so many obvious advantages even for those who think climate change is a hoax (which it isn't). It plays to US's natural advantages: innovation and technical leadership. It's makes US self-reliant when it comes to energy. That means no more shady dealings with the likes of the oil mafia (Middle East, Venezuela, Russia). It creates millions of new good paying jobs. Less pollution. Cleaner air and water.
6
China's coal plants, either ready to go on line or in the planning stage, almost equals the total number of megawatts for all of Europe. The paltry "green examples" in the piece are overwhelmed by China's dirty energy--and will be for the foreseeable future. Focus on reality--not gauzy hopes and pettifoggery.
7
@Kingston Cole Having seen it with my own eyes, you are wrong. China is blowing us away when it comes to leading in green energy. In fact, the US is the carbon hog wallowing in the fossil fuel sty. Per capita, far worse than China and far worse than most others.
5
often wondered if the great empires understood they were collapsing and did anything to fix it. Did not anticipate i would be able to experience it first hand. I guess our nation would rather wear silly red hats and pretend we are things we are not.
We could still fix this but i fear that we will not. So going from bread and circuses to reality tv shows is not as much change as i had thought.
4
This should be quite obvious to all. China is a country building infrastructure at a furious pace. They value education and teachers. They see green energy as the largest economic opportunity ever! The U.S, in contrast, has a president that only knows personal greed, supported by a party that openly dismisses science, and Republican voters that think government policy is a conspiracy against them. Rising oceans are only the tip of the melting iceberg. Societal collapse is the threat.
5
Most disappointed by the old, been-there-done-that feel of the content presented here. It's a back to the future idealism that promised us to be best. When will our government realize that are we are way past that window of capitalistic opportunity? That we now need to stop repeating the same old promises and actually do what has been said for decades now? What level of lunacy and peril do we need to finally realize who and why we - yes, all of we- are in this dying, loveless mess?
1
China, the paragon of green energy and climate protection? Ha ha. The truth is that with it's lack of regulation and dictatorial, corrupt government, the CCP is busy killing it's own citizens and environment with pollution of all types. I recently lived in the center of a wealthy mega-city in China, and regularly watched them dump raw sewage into one of the rivers in the middle of town. It stunk so bad everybody vacated the area. I wish people like these authors would acknowledge that little to nothing the CCP says is true, and start their commentary from there.
8
Why are Americans looking at everything as a competition? Even a statesman such as John Kerry is unable to exit this unhealthy prism.
For something as good to planet as green energy, could Americans not rejoice that China is being a good global citizen and approach this positively?
Why should everything be about shoving others aside and getting ahead of them?
How would there ever be peaceful coexistence between humans across borders if everything is a competition between nations?
10
wait, what? i keep reading how the chinese are unable to innovate. those patents are surely stolen!
1
Governments, all togheter, must invest to change the energy matrix. The market is going too slow.
http://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2017/12/como-cambiar-la-matriz-de-energia.html There is no other solution.
The solution will come from the spiritual side, look this spiritual being in London: http://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com.ar/2012/08/la-ayuda-de-maitreya-esta-muy-cerca.html
I am a vegan who does not own a car and minimizes use of public transit. This opinion piece is full of logical errors and faulty reasoning.
There is no such thing as a "green race". No country can defeat another's military or gain overwhelming wealth and economic influence by being more green.
China likes electric car because they are not awash in domestic oil, their cities are enormous compared to ours and their capacity to enforce emissions laws is poor. It is easier to control or relocate power plant emissions than to regulate millions of cars and motorbikes in each of several cities. This is why California was able to set separate emissions rules.
There is no prize for being first in electric cars, but there is high cost. They are simpler to build than ICE cars, and many companies very good at making huge numbers of cars in the North America. When the technology of electric cars gets good enough to scale up, our manufacturers will scale it up.
High-speed passenger rail makes no sense in the USA outside of a few areas. The cities and passenger volumes are too small, the roads are too good and the distances are mostly too small or too great. Vehicles get more efficient every year. California could not pull off high-speed rail entirely within its own borders. Countries with more dense geography have a very different cost-benefit analysis.
When environmentalists spew nonsense, fraudsters profit and the public only gets more cynical about protecting our planet.
8
This would be a great talking point for Democratic candidates. Scaring Conservatives into knowing that China will be the world leader in energy production and that Trump is holding us back with his love of oil and coal and Russia and Saudi influence.
4
Saving the planet should be a race against time, not a race against economic rivals. Cooperation is essential to win.
12
By using the race metaphor, John Kerry and Ro Khanna are simply trying to stoke pro-active action on the part of Americans. At no point in the article are the authors saying that China is a paragon of the clean energy economy.
The authors are correct on two very important fronts. First, China is dominating the production of technologies and equipment for green energy. The number of American solar panel manufacturers is down to single digits as China dominates the consumer market and Japanese and Koreans dominate innovation. It stands to reason that even if Chinese companies use coal-generated electricity to manufacture solar panels, it still means that Americans are becoming dependent on Chinese suppliers. Second, China is rapidly adopting green energy in high-impact and high-value ways to reap the benefits of a cleaner environment. Many major Chinese cities are converting their buses and taxis and car fleets into electric vehicles, and the growth of bullet-train service has been nothing less than spectacular and now has surpassed Japan. The fact that U.S. still can't build a rapid rail system in the Boston to Washington D.C. corridor and that president Trump is trying to roll back Obama-era MPG mandates in California is depressing.
Kerry and Khanna are simply trying to get all Americans to act. It's amazing to think that all it took was a beeping Soviet satellite to move a nation to send people to the moon. The climate crisis today is much greater than Sputnik.
2
@UC Graduate
Our President is stuck on Sputnik still, with his Space Force idea. If we don't have a vision, it's tough to act.
3
Clean, green energy is critical to our survival. The tragedy is that Americans know this but the federal government, under Trump, refuses to see the handwriting on the wall. Tariff war with China is a rounding error compared the challenges posed by climate change. The United States can surpass China in clean and green energy only if Trump and Republican candidates are defeated in November 2020. Asking for bipartisan support on climate change under Trump will just not happen. Remember the Paris Climate Accord and the U.S? Are we serious about mitigating the catastrophic effects of climate change? Then we must vote our conscience in November 2020.
2
From what I understand the greatest impediment to widespread use of solar is battery storage. If that problem could be resolved in an environmentally responsible way (lithium is very harmful to produce) then millions could get off the grid. Also, we need to reconsider nuclear energy. Disposal of waste is the great problem, but surely over the next thousand of years or so we can figure that out. But it is a non polluting producer of energy and is not responsible for killing thousands of bats and birds as is wind energy production.
3
@Wan The technology exists. The newest hydrogen solar panels can simultaneously create electricity and convert sunlight directly into hydrogen using moisture in the air (no electrolysis), which can be stored on site.
This is the kind of technology the government should be subsidizing and accelerating, but startups and universities don't have millions to spare on lobby and political campaigns.
6
@Wan - Nuclear energy, specifically the waste issue, is a social and political problem. The engineers already have solutions, with at least one more generation of improvements ready to roll out. Holdups? Economic expectations (no, it won't be to cheap to meter) and NIMBYism.
4
Thank you for your reply. Can you provide a link or reference an article re these hydrogen solar panels? Are you saying, then , that they obviate the battery problem? I don’t understand. Thanks.
I don't have an argument with most of this, but as to its realizability . . .there are those pesky climate change denial, fossil fuel company politician buying, and private oligarch funding of election campaign aspects that need to be shoved out of the way first.
And I am not convinced that will happen before the sea is lapping at the foot of the Empire State Building, if ever.
2
Authoritarian countries can always get big projects done quicker than democracies.
Except when the democracies are under a real threat—the Great Depression, WWII, the Space Race.
Maybe this is one of those times and we need to dispense with some legalisms to get things done.
I wonder how that would sit with John Kerry and his lawyer friends.
3
So long as we are a debtor nation with a staggering imbalance in trade and budget deficits, we are going to continue to fall behind. In everything.
2
Falling behind technologically is an acceptable price for Republicans to please their oil sponsors.
But, Democrats are not doing anything meaningful either. None of our Democratically governed cities have a Low Emission Zone or tax suburban cars coming in, all of them have too many hurdles in place against rooftop solar panels to please the vested utilities and energy interests, bicycle infrastructure is lagging Europe by decades, etc.
Liberals are using Republican obstructionism as an excuse to hide inaction on things they can and should do.
6
This should not be viewed as a some kind of "war" with China that we need to "win," but rather as a party with China that we should join in.
7
@laolaohu Xi’s China is about dominating the world and suppressing dissent.
We should get closer to Europe, our natural allies.
5
@Anne - Ummm ... why not both? As with China, the US has ceded technical prowess in several areas to Europeans. We aren't the greatest, and perhaps not even great. Just too great to learn.
@Steve I would recommend watching the documentary "American Factory". Chinese employees are happy and take pride living in factory dorms away from their families and working long hours every day.
We've been trying to compete with that for too long.
2
It figures that this article would be penned by a pair of politicians since it is an attempt to deceive in the grossest manner.
It is a farce to even paint China as an entrant in the "Green Race" much less as in the lead. China's effort in solar energy and electric cars is a clever public relations deception by China. Proof? Consider:
China is the world's largest CO2 emitter by far (about 225% as much as the US). China consumes about 50% of the entire world's coal production, primarily used in its filthy electric generation plants which produce almost 50% of all the electricity generated by China (compare to only 28% of US electricity produced from coal). China continues to build more coal fired electric generation plants.
China plans to CONTINUE INCREASING it CO2 emissions for at least 11 more years, adding an additional 25% to its already massive level of emissions. This was stupidly authorized and approved by the Obama administration when it signed the Paris Climate Accord. China's planned increases in its emissions more than completely nullify even severe efforts by the US and Europe to reduce their emissions. China's emissions alone will cause global warming and climate change even if the US and Europe reduce their emissions to zero.
Worst, China is a very environmentally inefficient producer, emitting high levels of CO2 per unit of output. China produces only about 67% as much GDP as the US, but to produce only 67%, China emits 225% as much CO2 as the US.
22
@Errol
China’s emissions per capita are half of America’s. It doesn’t make sense to measure progress by reductions instead of levels—that’s basically saying countries that polluted the most in the past should get to pollute more going forward. By level, China’s per capita emissions is on par with Europe and much lower than the US.
China’s GDP is also more heavily concentrated in manufacturing, which has higher emissions. Relative to manufacturing output, China and the US have similar emissions, so it’s not the case that Chinese manufacturing is less carbon efficient.
10
@Errol Agree 100%. We can’t afford to grant the developing countries pollution rights on their path to advanced status.
The Paris Accords are counterproductive, in the sense of making it seem the world is doing something.
Even worse is recognizing China as a developing country.
The way forward is a radical shift to green energy and production, free trade between advanced countries (TTIP etc.), helping other countries with clean energy whilst rejecting products manufactured dirty with tariffs.
5
@Errol
I'm not sure what your point is. What China has been most efficient at is staggering economic growth and moving people out of poverty in numbers unprecedented in human history. They will have to continue to produce energy to meet this continuing challenge in an economy growing at 5% or better. Even they will not dispute that this has come at an environmental cost. That said, there is amble evidence China is moving toward a cleaner and independent energy future. I suspect they are fully aware of the carbon footprint incipient in our fracking. Nay-saying and pointing fingers is foolish.
9
Saving the planet shouldn't be a race. The US should do our share but the reason should not be to beat China in this but to save the planet for ourselves.
2
This is only one reason to support Bernie and the Green New Deal.
5
Thank you, John Kerry, for your service to America. Sorry that Florida and the Supreme Court awarded the President to GW Bush (Texas). Our country would have been so much more energy proficient if the Republicans (big oil) did not have their way. I do not believe we would have had the Iraq war and killed millions of civilians and thousands of Americans if you had been awarded the presidency. After all, you did win the popular vote.
2
For people in the US who care about these thing it must be pretty depressing to read this article.
4
Each day, Trump and his Republicans act to make our planet less & less inhabitable for our children and grandchildren.
The window of opportunity to effectively mitigate Climate Change is rapidly disappearing.
The remaining 2020 Democratic Candidates will try to cut & paste portions of Governor Jay Inslee’s comprehensive & actionable Climate Change Mitigation Plan.
We must go with the Real Deal.
The winning Democratic Party 2020 Ticket: President Warren (build a green economy) + Vice President Inslee (save a blue planet)! W+IN 2020!
+++++++++++++++
FYI: Here’s an excellent article by David Roberts of Vox which explains Governor Inslee’s Climate Change Mitigation Plan:
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/7/30/20731958/jay-inslee-for-president-climate-change-justice-plan-green-new-deal
3
@Phillip Stephen Pino I was very impressed with governor Inslee when I heard him speak the first time. A very decent human being. I wouldn't hesitate voting for him.
@JG Thank you for your input and insight. Appreciated.
Let the Chinese spend the money to develop the technology and then we can steal it. Turnabout is fair play, right?
1
It should not matter WHO wins the green war Mother Earth is at stake and if the companies and their greed cannot show leadership then “hats off to China”!
7
@Calleendeoliveira
"Mother Earth" is most definitely NOT at stake! Human society is.
The Earth will be perfectly fine even if humans should precipitate their own extinction. Life will go on.
4
@Robbie J. Right on!
china is there biggest polluter on the planet.
them going green will take 50 just clean up current pollution there.
3
They may emit the most CO2, but not per capita. They only produce so much because they have so many people- they have 4x the population of the U.S., but only emit 2x the CO2. That means each American emits 2x the amount of CO2 that Chinese nationals emit, one of the highest emissions per capita in the world and certainly of the greater world powers.
2
@Ethan Stratton
Again, so what?
As I said above, our Earth cares about the total amount emitted, not the per capita one.
This is a totally disingenuous article.
China is opening one new coal power a week!
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/28/asia/china-coal-plant-inner-mongolia-intl-hnk/index.html
6
From The Guardian, last month:
Elsewhere countries reduced their capacity by 8GW in the 18 months to June because old (coal) plants were retired faster than new ones were built. But over the same period China increased its capacity by 42.9GW.
The country has a pipeline of 147GW of coal plants that are either under construction or suspension but are likely to be revived. This is more than all existing coal plants in the EU combined.
China is also helping to finance a quarter of all the new coal projects in the rest of the world, including in South Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
This NYT piece is highly misleading, even by the dismal standards of an OpEd written by two politicians.
19
@JFB Not misleading at all. China is doing both, simultaneously. They are investing enormous amounts of money in both fossil fuel and renewable energy technologies. This piece focuses on the renewable side of the picture, and makes solid points as to why the U.S. cannot afford to fall behind.
3
Thats a lot of ‘could’ s there.
The fact is america is a country mired in corruption. Fossil fuels lobby the government to continue subsidizing their industry. And to deny climate change.
America also undervalues education and there is a vast chunk of the population who cannot understand the concept of scientific theory or the value of immunizations.
This same chunk cannot think critically and cannot tell the differnce between opinions and facts.
At this point i m happy that someone, even if it is china, are doing something.
Im beginning to doubt american values are worth much anyway.
19
@S White There is no such a thing as "American Values". There are only " values "and they apply to all.
I agree that we should have more investments in clean energy, but the race metaphor is troubling. We should have clean energy and high-speed rail because it would make life more convenient for ourselves and cleaner for people around the world, not to keep score with other countries. The race metaphor is dangerous because it will lead to vanity projects and because some powerful people will use it as a reason to hobble China rather than improve our own country.
12
@HO, Oh I can't wait for my train ride on high speed rail, from Salt Lake City to Atlanta 1600 miles. Let's see, average speed 200 MPH, probably 3 layovers @ 2 hours each. Gee, I'll make it home in about 14 hours instead of 3 1/2 on Delta. Like i said, can't wait!
1
@Ryan Bingham
Of course planes are the most efficient means of travel for long distances. But a high-speed train would be the best way to do shorter trips like Columbus to Chicago (and I bet a lot more people do that than SLC to Atlanta). Not to mention there’s no security or carry on limits for a train, and the train can drop you right in the city center and not a distant airport. We can also have both—the train should be an option not something people are forced to take.
2
@Ryan Bingham
Or that same route could be implemented with the Japanese maglev system, capable of speeds in excess of 300 MpH. Indeed, given the long open stretches of the Continental United States, they could probably relax any limitation on the speed of maglev and let it travel at the same speeds as the airliners.
That, combined with the possibility of city-centre to city-centre service, and much greater passenger comfort, could obsolete most domestic flights, like it did in Europe and Japan.
3
While I agree that we ought to be doing more with renewable energy, how does one judge a green energy race with a country that is still building coal powered power plants?
8
I can barely express my disbelief and despair that we have a president who is focused on the shortcomings of low-volume flush toilets, and the imagined cosmetic disadvantages of energy efficient LED lightbulbs. This is “crazy old uncle” territory. And a large portion of our citizens love his imbecilic rhetoric.
I agree with the commenter who would prefer a cooperative effort, working with China, instead of a competitive basis for achievement. Unfortunately, the American Way insists on competition as the underpinning of every human endeavor. That mindset helps explain our current disastrous health care delivery system.
It’s hard to be optimistic about altering our system of governance to be more cooperative and forward leaning, as all evidence indicates the mass determination to move in the opposite direction. If I have any faith at all for our future it’s in the power of pockets of benevolent wealth, like the Gates Foundation, and Branson’s enterprises.
Sadly, the America who answered most problems with a “yes we can!” enthusiasm has been replaced with a curmudgeonly “no we can’t!”. It’s abundantly evident in every discussion about improving our health care delivery system, as well as approaching the dire challenge of arresting climate catastrophe. Our moment as a Can Do culture was shockingly brief, as we quickly descended into constant tribalistic infighting over every issue, no matter how small or huge.
26
We never fail to daydream about high-speed rail whenever visiting family in Detroit. Every major city, reachable in a few hours, through low/non-polluting trains? How does this not sound like an improvement? Yes, please.
Step it up, America !
23
@Waabananang Paris-Brussels is 1h22m by train, so fast and profitable there is no air service anymore.
Chicago-Detroit would be obvious, as would connecting the East Coast by high speed rail.
I do not consider ACELA high speed, as it has railroad crossings (in Europe only bridges and tunnels), when I lived in Belgium I noticed the regular direct train from Brussels to the seaside runs faster than ACELA.
5
China should create a policy which sanctions US politicians and companies which block and impede the implementation of renewable energy. They should also implement policies to sanction US politicians and companies which support a range of other issues ranging from gun violance and those the criminalise homelessness.
4
This is a very strange article, reminiscent of the 'space race' against the old Soviet Union more about great nation chauvinism and economy than about environment.
The current administration sees that China is the main problem for US international domination, the president opening all kinds of military and economic doors for the Russian Federation. By taking on China, Kerry and Khanna strangely opt into some of the same logic the president uses.
There are many reasons for the US lagging in environmental technology, one of them being the nature of the ownership of property. There have always been vested interests preventing the development of rail transport, including the car and truck industry. Importantly, in the US it is almost impossible to build ultra-fast trains in populated areas because of municipally- owned rights of way.
In China, all the land and rail networks are owned by the central government and they can plan (do what they wish) with the land. In consequence, China is gradually phasing out the polluting industries or moving them out of cities into its vast countryside. By the way still has terrible air pollution in its cities.
Kerry and Khanna should be praising China for doing things that will improve their economy and the health of its population. They should find ways of collaborating rather than shooting them down with this talk of races and competition. Pollution does not respect national borders.
8
I was wondering about China’s continued construction of coal powered energy plants. Isn’t this a major problem?
8
The prospects for significant improvement in these technologies are slight. There are fundamental difficulties with energy storage that prevent renewables from ever being a significant contributor, at reasonable prices, to our energy supply. Throwing money at the problem won't change the science.
We'll live with a warming climate. It won't kill us.
3
You should read up on how fast green energy is growing and how the costs of generation and storage are rapidly dropping. If you did, you’d realize how wrong your post is.
3
China is already ahead of the United States in terms of solar energy electricity production. Ironically, their system of government actually makes it easier to implement a national energy policy. The Communist Party simply dictates what must be done, then it purely a matter or implementation.
America can look back to the election of Ronald Reagan as a pivotal point in losing leadership in renewable energy. Jimmy Carter was committed to putting America on the path having a vibrant renewable energy industry. Ronald Reagan was brought and paid for by the fossil fuel energy. When Ronald Reagan was elected he killed all of the Carter administration's renewable energy programs. It ended up taking another 25 to 30 years to revive the those programs.
Now Trump is repeating Reagan's policies by supporting the fossil fuel industry.
44
@Carl
Ah yes, that pesky democracy! Always in the way!
3
Re: China became the world’s largest producer, exporter, and installer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric vehicles, followed by Japan and Germany. The United States ranks fourth
What counts in the transition to clean energy is the installation of renewable energy per PERSON. And China has 5 times the number of people than the US has. Therefore, the numbers must be adjusted for demographics
Here are the data that Mr. Kerry cites
Clean energy manufacturing value added (2014, US$ billion)
China 38 Billion
Japan 7.5 Billion
Germany 7 Billion
US 6.8 Billion
And here are is the value in US $ per capita (2014, US$ Million) of Clean energy manufacturing value added
Germany 86
Japan 59
China 27
US 21
Note that China is third , once you adjust for population
That is not to say we should not pay attention to what China does, it is important, but to see what can be done we can learn more from other Nations.
8
@Woof
Agreed. People’s sense of China is distorted by not realizing that it has 20% of the human population. We’d get a better sense of China if all data about China (good and bad) was reported in per capita terms.
Per capita, China is not a rich country (per capita GDP a bit below Mexico); is a big but not huge polluter (per capita carbon emissions similar to Europe and half of America); is not a manufacturing powerhouse (per capita manufacturing output less than half of America); and does not have a big trade surplus even if only counting goods (per capita trade surplus a small fraction of many other countries like Taiwan, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Sweden, Netherlands, etc.).
4
I totally agree with the points mentioned in this article. Jobs in clean energy are the future of our country.
The hostility to high speed rail is frustrating and meaningless. Look at the alternative- air travel is becoming a nightmare, and as for roads, never enough lanes for the sheer number of vehicles.
America can lead the way if it invests in its people. Unfortunately we have a backward looking administration determined to sustain an outdated energy policy.
10
Coal mines near power plants should be immediately converted to thermal solar. Put the miners to work recontouring the mine for optimum mirror placement. Then installing and maintaining the solar mirrors. Instead of shipping coal to the boilers ship high pressure steam directly to the turbines.
4
By the time we’re done arguing about climate change, it’s effects are going to make our negotiating position with countries investing in clean energy that much worse. If anyone thinks China is a threat now, try negotiating with them while we’re choking on air and they’ve cornered the market on green energy.
10
Sigh. Have you been outside in China the last 10 years? Little kids with Hello Kitty face masks breathing pure smog. Like here, influential sectors in China wield huge influence against the greater good. The "OPEC of 21st-Century" tag presumes more effective decision-making than is likely to be the case. In the US huge private efforts are underway in clean energy technology. Does anybody really believe that the heavy hand of the federal government will enhance these efforts?
The predictable fusillade of comments against Trump are actually pretty ironic. Chinese imports contain a far greater share of carbon than equivalent production in the US. Setting up barricades actually helps if it shifts production to less-dirty production sites.
The sensible policy would have been to place tariffs on goods based on carbon use. It is directly in line with the national and global interest and gets us off the ridiculous "national security" excuse.
We need a massive effort in this space. But "Red Scare" tactics are the lowest imaginable reason.
10
We can't even pass basic laws in congress, are you really expecting us to lead the world in green sustainable energy? We are a failing democracy that is running stagnant - we just have not yet acknowledged that. So yeah, let China run with it since we can't get out of our own way.
29
@Zigzag
The US is paralyzed by vested corporate interests.
Citizens United is permanent poison to our country and will ultimately hurt innovation and long term economic prosperity. This can already be seen in the automotive industry, which is troubled by emission standards imposed by the oil industry lobby or in the Boeing case where deregulation enabled Wall Street raiders to cut engineering quality for profit.
3
One of the benefits of an autocratic government is the ability to ram through clean energy edicts and force citizens to adopt certain behaviors. Infrastructure can be built without the pain that occurs in our country. With the ridiculous costs for the 2nd Ave subway per mile being 3 times the cost of London or Paris and the failure of high speed rail in California, progressives need to look in the mirror for such failure and not blame us Republicans who believe that the free market should drive the adoption of clean energy.
6
@Iconoclast Texan Couldn't agree. We over/under regulate instead of letting markets drive adoption of green tech
1
@Iconoclast Texan "Free market": that's simply laughable. We subsidize the fossil fuel industry over $20B a year. And that's only on the production side; another $15B a year goes to consumption-side subsidies. Were we to support the green fuel industry at a similar level, we'd make a massive leap forward in reducing our total carbon output, as well as the potential to mitigate some of the issues specific to the industry, such as storage.
But the vast army of lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry fight every step of the way to preserve their pigs at the trough-privilege. Given the way we fund our democracy, these same lobbies, in the end, simply own our government.
1
It is encouraging to hear once again the voices of American leadership. The race towards a sustainable future is a race that everybody wins.
It’s not that others haven’t spoken, but John Kerry has a unique understanding of America and its possibilities. I kept his lawn sign in my garage for a long time after 2004, as did many of my neighbors.
2
“Unless we have a strategic plan, China may become the OPEC of the 21st-century energy industry.“
Well, it’s game over then. With Trump in office, even if he’s replaced in13 months, the inertia of his influence will prevent critical thinking and reasoned strategy from being deployed for many more months into a new administration.
Cold comfort, but we’ve probably lost this contest already. Chinese students are far ahead and lead the world in important skill sets. None of the above however, are reasons enough to stop trying. Godspeed the scientists and rational reasonables among us.
Buy an electric vehicle.
Consider solar if you have a spot for it.
45
It is in our own self interest to move genetically on converting to renewable energy and moving away from fossil fuels and a throw away economy. I would prefer less emphasis on it being a race with China, but a quest for a better future. Otherwise this is right on message.
13
@John Warnock I meant to say "... move energetically..."
1
I disagree on a couple of points. First off, putting this in terms of constant competition and a contest for power is misguided and destructive. What the world needs is cooperation and a philosophical shift in economic advancement that sees mutual gain and global benefit as the driving force. If it is not obvious, let me spell it out: American-style capitalism is an abject failure. A greed-based system based on the desire for personal acquisition is exactly what has gotten us to this point. That needs to change. The US should be working with China to develop the energies and technologies of tomorrow, not locked in a pointless competition. Second, the US has demonstrated that it is an untrustworthy and incompetent superpower. It has grossly abused its advantageous position in the system. Thus, China's rise, especially if it acts as a counterbalance to and a check on American power, is not a bad thing. Once again, however, the problem of climate change needs global cooperation not competition. The faster we understand that the better it will be for everyone.
44
@Shaun Narine
Is there something about these facts and figures you don't understand? When I visit the american southwest the deficiencies just scream at you. As far as "pointless competition" goes, america was built on competition and without it nothing happens.
2
@Shaun Narine
As Adam Smith said in his parable of the baker, capitalism is the mechanism by which people cooperate for the common good.
2
@Shaun Narine
Sadly, we live in a country where all anyone cares about is "winning," so anything that is a win-win for us *and* somebody else has to be couched in sports metaphors.
You'll note that Kerry and Khanna pointedly avoid using the phrase Green New Deal. Because "Socialism!!!!!"
5
Absolutely! This is so sensible it's insane we are not doing this. The fossil fuel industry's stranglehold on our politics must be broken so we can compete in the 21st century. And where's that great Trump/Republican infrastructure plan we're still waiting for these past 3 years? There is no excuse for not having a national infrastructure plan to fix our ailing roads, bridges, etc. and create thousands of jobs in the process. It's a no-brainer, but so is our president, so vote Democratic across the board in 2020.
70
@Bassman The comparison between China & the U.S. is absurd. China is a command economy where the central government makes all economic decisions. It doesn't rely on the laws of supply and demand that operate in a market economy. A command economy ignores the customs that guide a traditional economy. If they make a mistake or blunder it gets covered up. The media reports what they tell them to report. We have no way of knowing how effective this is. They don't tolerate dissent, arguments or debates. It's do as we say or we shoot. Maybe we shoot you anyway. Fear is a great incentive when you need to get everyone on the same page. China doesn't recognize patent law. They steal and reverse engineer everything they can get their hands on. China games the system, weakening their currencies to lift exports. Holding down the value of its currency helps speed up its economic development. That and other policies helped China build a manufacturing sector that employs tens of millions of people and serves as a factory to the world. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be doing some of this. But duplicating this would be impossible in the U.S. It would require a gigantic increase in taxes to fund all of these projects. That's unlikely to get through Congress. Even building a comprehensive high-speed rail in this country would be challenging. We would have to take a lot of land through eminent domain. Landowners would bury the govt. in litigation. Making this work in a democracy is very tough.
4
@Bill Brown
Yes, it's tough, but we were doing it and gave up. The government is very capable of incentivizing growth in certain sectors and does it all the time. The U.S. government needs to get back in the game, even though it doesn't have equivalent influence as the Chinese government. Let's not give up so easily.
5
@Bassman Winning the clean energy race is going to be very challenging. We're divided politically as a country. There's no consensus on how to proceed. Every few years, someone publishes a road map for running a country or a state on 100% renewable energy by some date, say 2050. The resulting headlines look great, & people walk away with the impression that, if we wanted to, we could easily drop fossil fuels. But delve into these road maps & you’ll often find jaw-dropping numbers of solar panels, radical changes to existing infrastructure, & amazing assumptions about our ability to cut energy use that makes switching to renewables seem daunting. What's not being reported: are voters willing to pay more for energy. For this to “work,” the price of oil, coal, & natural gas has to go up to force consumers to use more expensive forms of green energy. President Obama’s former OMB director, Peter Orszag, told Congress that price increases would be essential to the success of any program to reduce greenhouse gases. The majority of U.S. voters will never go for this. They won't pay more for energy. Period. End of story. Every poll backs this up. The overall reality in that climate change legislation is hard to pass even in good times. It's a real killer in an economic downturn. Are we willing to vote against our own self-interests & approve higher taxes on fossil fuels? Are we willing to make the necessary sacrifices? Absolutely not. It's never going to happen. We all know that.
1