China Installed More Solar Panels Last Year Than the U.S. Has in Total
China Installed More Solar Panels Last Year Than the U.S. Has in Total - EcoWatch
China Installed More Solar Panels Last Year Than the U.S. Has in Total::China installed more new solar capacity last year than the total amount ever installed in any other country.
Good news for one of the planet's most polluting countries.
That is producing for the rest of the world and especially for the west. It’s hypocritical to blame china while buying stuff that had to be cheaper and cheaper.
The average consumer doesn't actually have a choice in the matter. Unless you are wealthy enough to purchase only local artisan made goods near everything you can afford is made in China or made in China adjacent.
I don't think that absolves China of any blame. They're still choosing to produce cheap goods at the expense of the planet, because it's good business for them too.
You‘re right. We should move production to cleaner countries.
No, it’s not hypocritical. Yes, anyone with half a brain knows China makes a huge chunk of the world’s stuff.
A nation can make choices as to what energy sources they use and China went balls to the wall with coal. That wasn’t a choice the buyers of Chinese products made.
Only way many western countries were able to slow their rise in CO2 emissions. Despite outsourcing their emissions to China, the US still emits twice the CO2 per capita compared with China.
Lots of that is cattle for meat, BTW, not just energy production.
And why are they one of the most polluting countries?
Bad manufacturing practices that exploits a poor labor force. They use this to their advantage to persuade western companies to provide cheap service at the cost of their workforce and sustainability. They then turn around and make these grand plans of Eco friendly targets while their populace regularly burn their trash with little regulation. Then some regulation agency comes in and turns a blind eye to some foul shit as long as they are paid accordingly to play ball.
Because they pollute a lot
Actually they are poluting for you to buy your stuff cheaper, who is responsible for the polution of your stuff? Dowa not make any sense to blame them for factories that the west choosed to put there.
They could always say no
polluting to meet the online shopping demands of western countries
A lot of people don't realize how quickly China is changing. Things that were true just a few decades ago are often no longer true.
Once China decided that pollution was a problem they went all in on addressing it. China has massive reforestation projects, huge incentives to switch to EVs, and much tighter energy efficiency standards.
Solar isn't even their only renewable energy source. China gets about equal amounts from solar, wind and hydro https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/013124-coal-still-accounted-for-nearly-60-of-chinas-electricity-supply-in-2023-cec together they make up a little less than half of their total energy production and the ratio keeps improving. correction: those are projected ratios, not current ratios.
Of course, on a per capita basis, China isn't even close to being a top polluter. Unless you think that people in smaller countries deserve to pollute more, per-capita is the better measurement. China looks a little worse if you do that but it's still far from a top polluter by that metric.
87% of China's energy comes from non renewable and they aren't one of the most polluting. They ARE the most polluted country on the planet.
And saying China leads the way is bogus. Per capita for renewable they are one of the worst.
Saying China made the most solar panels is bullshit when they have over a billion people, the USA is actually far ahead of China when it comes to renewable energy.
I expect nothing less from a news site that has been caught multiple times in the past for spouting pseudoscience.
Fantastic. Remember guys, we're all on the same side on this one. This should be a signal for the US to get its ass in gear to do the same, but it's not like China expanding its renewable energy capacity is anything but great for everyone.
There's a reason the US is targeting China from various fronts (trade restrictions, sanctions, etc.). China is a powerhouse and the US is terrified of being left behind.
I don't get why you're getting dowvoted. I guess there are a lot of Americans over here. But your statement is absolutely true. The US attempts at restricting China's access to various technologies only make sense if they feel threatened by them.
We're watching The Thucydides Trap unfold in real-time
Here's the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
The Thucydides Trap, or Thucydides' Trap, is a term popularized by American political scientist Graham T. Allison to describe an apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon. The term exploded in popularity in 2015 and primarily applies to analysis of China–United States relations. Supporting the thesis, Allison led a study at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs which found that, among a sample of 16 historical instances of an emerging power rivaling a ruling power, 12 ended in war. That study, however, has come under considerable criticism, and scholarly opinion on the value of the Thucydides Trap concept—particularly as it relates to a potential military conflict between the United States and China—remains divided.
China is doing a lot of shady stuff though.
If the US really wanted to resolve it they would do more about patient infringement and spend more money on research.
Oh my God, that's awful!
I hope the US responds by installing more solar panels this year than China ever has!
Let's install solar panels on the moon! That'll fucking show them. Beam the energy back to earth with giant fucking microwave dishes. Ohhh that would really piss off them damn reds
Until it’s a new moon…
Actually that raises an interesting point…the best time for solar, on earth, is when the panels are most directly hit.
So since the moon is tidally locked to the earth, that means that there would be better ideal tilts at each longitude, so that whenever the sun is out, they are tilted to receive as much light as possible. But that also means that the panels only even receive light for half of the lunar cycle, at most.
Right? Am I overthinking this?
We can do it, not because it's easy, but because it is hard.
Wait what? That's an awful reason to do something.
Good. I assume it helps that most of the world's solar panel manufacturing is based in China.
The rest of the world should be ramping up production, not relying on China for cheap labour.
I keep seeing more and more about the solar production in Georgia, USA ramping up!
It great to see the world really going into green industrialzation.
Good for them
Well, someone has to make use of renewable energy I guess lol
And opened more coal plants too lol, don't be quick in praising the CCP, there's always something shady in the background...
And systematically genociding their minorities too. Let's never forget that.
China's CO2 output is expected to fall in the coming year, and for structural reasons, stay that way for years to come.
China is doing something good: here's why it's bad.
China is still developing and allowing European countries and the US to pollute unchecked but clutch your pearls when China and other countries do the same is ideological.
This article is evidence that China is putting effort forward on renewables. Meanwhile, Germany is opening coal plants and the US can't get a handle on anything at all.
It's not really shady now is it? There is no way solar can provide enough power for the entire country of china.
You can thank conservatives for that. They are beholden to fossil fuel interests so they attack everything else whether it be solar energy or ev
“JESUS WOULDN’TVE INSTALLED SOLAR PANELS!!11!1!1”
hahahaha this is why I pay my internets
The rise of China is democratizing access to technology. My home government, supposedly a longtime partner of the US even doing its dirty work in Yemen, has struggled for years to get any tech transfer deal with the US, too many hoops to jump through. But were able to get many tech transfers from China recently. It was a major win and that technology includes solar panel manufacturing.
Too many hoops, like stop funding the terrorist groups that attacked The US on 9/11? Yeah, I can see how MBS might have some trust issues coming from The US.
Funny you accuse the Saudi government of what was an inside-job. The Saudi government exiled Bin Laden in the 1990s, revoking his citizenship, while the US was still working with him. Either way we don’t need it from you. China is making you irrelevant. You can’t withhold technology to bully the rest of the world. You can go pound sand.
Also funny coming from a nation where a genocidal maniac is the lesser evil, someone who is bypassing Congress to send weapons to Israel and bomb Yemen. You keep your electoralism, and I am keeping our free healthcare, free universities and high speed rail.
FYI, the US is guilty of multiple war crimes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. They are guilty right now of war crimes in Palestine. It is really tiring how you pretend to be the good guys. You are Homelander not Superman, and you are no longer the only player in town.
China's govt has been trying to make their country as self sustaining as possible, this is part of that initiative. No one can tell you shit if you're don't rely on anyone for external things.
Ya, it makes sense considering China imports 2/3 of their oil. Solar and EVs make a lot of sense when you don't have much in the way of fossil fuels. Not even considering the environmental benefits
BuT At wHaT CoSt
The enslavement of the Uighur people? I work for an American renewable energy company and a lot of contracts were disrupted by the US' Forced Labor Prevention Act. I suspect that the sudden jump in domestic Chinese installation is partially caused by Chinese exports being restricted by western nations.
Turns out at the same cost as always... since they're also still firing new coal plants.
In the third quarter of this year [2023], however, China permitted more new coal plants than in all of 2021, according to Greenpeace, even as most countries have stopped building new coal-fired power and are phasing out plants.
We'd have more if these right wing assholes would get onboard. You know they're assholes because they're attacking China in the comments rather than acknowledging this awesome milestone
But they still have their crazy mines that polute right? No number of solar pannel will change anything if you don't stop what you are doing that polutes.
Same for all countries btw...
China pollutes so much because the biggest consumer economy in the world deindustrialized and outsourced manufacturing to them.
China pollutes so much because George HW Bush and Bill Clinton pushed American jobs to China so CEOs could make bank on huge profits on cheap labor, unsafe work places, and near zero environmental regulation that was impossible in the United States. We built China by disregarding worker rights and the environment and we are paying for it dearly.
china also has more population than any other country
US total wealth: 139+ trillion (in USD)
China total wealth: 84+ trillion (in USD)
It's not a function of population. It's a function of wealth and the will to use that wealth to invest in clean energy. The US has entrenched interests in keeping the oil flowing. China isn't investing in clean energy for altruism, they do it because they don't have rich reserves of oil, but at least they're doing the right thing, even if it's not necessarily for the right reasons.
There may be differing opinions on government and ethics, but one thing China does well is push their workforce towards common goals like this.
China doesn't have oil and they want to be energy independent. Because of this they heavily invest in renewables.
It's not like they are doing it to save the planet, but it does save the planet.
Its because China isn't beholden to a bunch of invisible suits demanding money over all else. Apparently the US can't break from Citizens United, and tell this corpos whats what to literally save its own skin.
Lol XDDDDD
Thinking China isn't beholden to an invisible elite is the laugh I needed today
How did their presidential election go again?
China is from from perfect, missing tons of freedoms like speech. However do you think they have the same issues as the US regarding wealth hoarding? They have put billionaires in jail.
Whelp, in this case, China's elite is not invisible. Their citizen know exactly who's the elite controlling the economy.
Pooh with an iron mit is not the same as the invisible kings of the countless corporations donating their free speech to our government. They are beholden to Whinnie, and he is out in the open. Yes, there are still a lot of economical politics over there. Yes, there is still capitalistic pressures and businesses are allowed to operate. Do they define money as free speech over there? Did they capture bribery and bind it to the law? I don't know, but I do know that is true for the US, and it is the reason you won't see enough renewables being built. Its the reason we will drag our feet to our graves, because it makes some dudes richer than god.
Laughs in CCP
Building giant empty cities in the middle of nowhere doesn't help the housing crisis in China.
Building giant solar and wind farms in the middle of nowhere does help with the pollution crisis.
Glad that they finally found something that uses dumping money in the middle of nowhere that can actually improve peoples lives instead of just prop up an economic bubble.
Bigger country does things bigger, more at 11.
“The United States occupies a total area of about 3.8 million square miles while China has an area of approximately 3.7million square miles. However, China has a bigger land area than the United States. The Chinese land area is about 2.2% bigger than the United States (3.5 million square miles).“
Cool.
And how many of them function properly?
Hahahhaa the correct comment! Lol
US Population: 332 Million
China Population: 1.4 Billion
This was done with the express purpose of having the title of it. Its a vanity project that wont last 10 years.
Those are installed, but are they connected to the grid?
Totally, you can get all the money from the government for it so you make the profit. Just look at the rent a bike industry in China or the EV industry
Currently seeing the US climate narrative shift from "why should we stop burning fossils and get our shit together when China won't? >:(" to "why should we stop burning fossils and get our shit together when Senegal won't? >:(" Can't wait for 20 years from now when we're balls deep in climate disasters, Senegal gets its shit together, and the US narrative moves to
hondurasEl SalvadorUgandacomparing itself to the Philippines.Holy crap you guys, it turns out that the narrative that the developing world is going to burn an ass-ton of fossil fuels is a lot weaker than I thought. It looks like there's a fuckton of equatorial and global south countries with renewables/hydro power, Honduras is even adding Geothermal. God damn it, USA, get off your ass and fix your shit already.
We've moved from 17% to 40% of total energy production coming from renewables since 2020. Thanks to Biden policies. Even though according to reddit he's an incontinent dementia patient.
Source? I haven't seen final numbers for 2023 from EIA yet, but 2022 was like 22%. The growth is accelerating as economics change, and in large part the IRA (thanks Biden), but it's not 40%. I'm speaking of electricity production, but I can't think of a reasonable metric that's anywhere near 40% nationally. Let's try to stick to reality here.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_States
The US DOE puts the US at 20% renewable energy.
https://www.energy.gov/eere/renewable-energy
I mean... It can all be true, right?
Same with EVs. After BYD became the largest EV manufacturer, suddenly EV is not cool anymore. Maybe if car manufacturers focus on making EV affordable instead of cramming more and more luxury features, maybe EV sales in US won't dwindle.
The anti-EV sentiment has been building much longer than BYD becoming the big boy on the block. About 8 months ago my state passed the equivalent of about a $100 per gallon tax on EV charging.
China needs a fuckload of power, they are building more of everything including coal. The only reason they aren't building more coal is people like seeing out their windows.
The US is actually winding down coal use. China is still expanding, this is a problem. The fact China also added a ton of solar panels is a nice distraction.
I seem to have been working on old info, as China has decommissioned 70 GW of coal plants, but it looks like they also just approved a whole lot more of them.
From Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/chinas-coal-country-full-steam-ahead-with-new-power-plants-despite-climate-2023-11-30/#:~:text=After%202025%2C%20it%20is%20unclear,and%20are%20phasing%20out%20plants.
Well, shit.
Anyway, I'm glad for the solar and nuclear capacity (LOTS of it!) that China's been building. I'm glad to hear that we are spinning down coal capacity, but I'd be interested to learn what we're replacing it with. It seems like natural gas is all the rage these days, and that still produces GHG emissions.
I'm not so sure about that. China is about to ramp up solar even more. They build a lot of solar and battery-related factories and secured mining rights for solar and battery raw elements in Asia and Africa in the past few years, sometimes to the point of fighting with the displaced locals (China tend to bring their own workers from mainland instead of employing local workers).
Renewables may be more plausible for some developing countries because of lack of competency or administrative consistency (sometimes to the degree of stealing everything which isn't nailed to the floor) for centralized grid with a few big producers, and weak infrastructure in general.
But of course it would be good if some things weren't stagnating in countries without such factors.
It's also easier to justify adopting newer tech in places that are less developed. If you made a billion dollar investment and are still paying for it, it's harder to scrap it and pivot.
It's more because developing countries don't attract the interest of corporations so much that they won't devote much energy to sabotage the installation of renewable energy.