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.

  • hark@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    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.

    • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 months ago

      Agreed that wealth also is a relevant parameter. But it is also a function of the population because what fraction of your population’s power consumption is coming from a renewable source is a more interesting metric than your raw renewable power production.

      • umbrella@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        10 months ago

        global production is all outsourced to india and mainly china.

        their carbon emissions correspond not only to their own population, but to produce goods for most of the world.

        • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          10 months ago

          yes and hence why it is currently only reasonable to compare things like total renewable energy production vs total household energy requirements of a country. production energy is too global to tackle with this approach. and so why I just casually mentioned population is an important factor in how much renewable energy you should be producing.

          • umbrella@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            10 months ago

            yes, thats true, but the original point is that china has to invest heavily in energy solely because of its population, and thats not true when most of that consumption comes from globalized industry working there. that was my point.