Community | November 17, 2009 | 22 comments

China, U.S. announce they'll work together on clean energy

source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/79030.html

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WakeUpPeople
President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao agreed Tuesday that U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers will work together to speed the widespread use of electric cars, buildings that need far less energy and coal-fired power plants that don't pump out gases that cause global warming.

The collaboration will be a two-way street, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a phone interview from Beijing, where he was accompanying Obama. The U.S. stands to gain not only from an expanded market for exports and more jobs at home, but also from demonstration projects in China that serve as large experiments for working out problems in new technology, Chu said.

The work will be anchored through a new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The $150 million funding over five years will be shared equally between the countries. "That's more than talking," Chu said.

The research center and other clean-energy projects should help show international negotiators who are working on a global climate-protection treaty that the U.S. and China, the world's two largest sources of greenhouse gases, are serious about reducing emissions, Chu said.

China and the U.S. together are responsible for about half of the world's coal consumption, and they generate roughly 40 percent of the global emissions of heat-trapping gases.

"If you think about where we were both nationally and internationally just a year ago or two years ago versus where we are today, we're talking now about concrete steps where both countries recognize climate change issues, both countries want to work in this direction and want to help each other," Chu said. "If you work together to solve problems you go much faster. And both of us realized there's a great opportunity economically if we cooperate, and there's a pressing need for it."

more at link...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/79030.html
  1. groups:
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  2. tags:
    News,  Climate Change,  China,  Green Energy
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22 comments // China, U.S. announce they'll work together on clean energy

  • deadpool
  • Maitereya
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  

    • 150 MILLION?! Over 5 years?! Do they think we're idiots?! What a sham! They gave the banks over half a TRILLION dollars and those assholes robbed us blind. Guess what they're doing with the bailout money, too? Blowing it. Think about it... they gave all that money to a failing institution because they were DIRECTLY financially linked with the government... in that... they help provide money TO the goverment, among other things. So our entire species is becoming endangered and this is all it gets? Bah.

      That's outrageously low. That amount of money is barely a fraction of what we pay weekly to be at war... and it's coming out of our pockets still!

      I agree this is a step in the right direction, but as I see it, they're only doing this in order to keep the revolution from happening and to keep us all quiet and happy.

      This is bullshit. Chump change.

    • 2 years ago
  • Ank
  • WakeUpPeople
    • 0
      WakeUpPeople  
    • s_peak:

      I agree that it needs to be A LOT more, but I think it's important that they have both agreed to move forward together rather than waiting for one to lead and one to follow. Until we can get legislation through Congress, the president's hands are kind of tied on funding.

    • 2 years ago
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  

    • i have no idea how the above link got there. i didn't do it but i'll leave it cause the girl's a peach and the link is interesting.

    • 2 years ago
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  
    • Image

    • coal is what the u.s. and china have a lot of. i don't like it but it's going to get used. here's something to chew on; electric cars are running off of coal in the east and oil in the west.

    • 2 years ago
  • vans1170
  • stolenapples
    • 0
      stolenapples  

    • 150 is a start but that's nothing compared to the money China and the USA have. Maybe the USA has been hit hard by the crisis but China is still very strong. Well I guess 150 millions is better than nothing

    • 2 years ago
  • afitzgerald
  • WakeUpPeople
  • samthesixth
    • 0
      samthesixth  

    • Nice start, something to build on. China is currently on a building binge of "clean coal" burning plants. I have read some interesting posts from Jan and others about how clean coal is an oxymoron. As one of the largest consumers of diesel in the world, a temporary shift to biodiesel could do much for clean energy.

    • 2 years ago
  • AlbeeYap
  • 402Chicago
    • 0
      402Chicago  

    • good, not only will we be solving earth's problems, helping each other economically, but there will be a bond that will help move towards perpetual peace.

      I think Obama has done a fairly good job on foreign policy so far. I'd mark this down as another success.

    • 2 years ago
  • magnusdeus
  • Chique
  • Ank
    • 0
      Ank  

    • This is stuff I like to hear. Although a $150 Mil over five years sounds a little low. I think the planet's environment is worth much more than that.

    • 2 years ago
  • CalPal
  • loupetho
    • 0
      loupetho  
    • Ank:

      This is great, it's a shame that it's only $150 mil in 5 years though. I'm no great mathematician but it seems to be about 4.6% of the US military budget over the same time. Based on 2009 expenditure I figure that the US will spend around $3,256,000,000,000 on its military over the same time period.

    • 2 years ago
  • neonbunny
  • current89
  • Manatee_man
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