Thread: Trump's climate order puts 'China first' in clean energy

Trump's climate order puts 'China first' in clean energy

Maria Gallucci
Mashable•March 28, 2017
6 Comments


President Donald Trump is vowing to put "America First" — just not when it comes to the global clean energy race.

The president on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive order that experts say could leave the United States lagging behind China and other nations as manufacturers and investors throw trillions of dollars into renewable energy projects.

The order will start unraveling the Obama administration's key efforts to address climate change. Flanked by coal miners and cabinet officials, Trump vowed to revamp fossil fuel production and erase "job-killing" restrictions on power plants and pipelines.

SEE ALSO: Looking for hope on climate change under Trump? Cities are where the action is.

"Together we are going to start a new energy revolution," Trump said, after outlining his plan that favors centuries-old fuel sources: coal, oil and natural gas. He declined to mention any type of renewable energy, or acknowledge the existence of human-driven global warming.


President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence (left) and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.
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Image: ron sach-pool/Getty Images

"We will create millions of good American jobs, so many energy jobs, and really lead to unbelievable prosperity all throughout our country," the president claimed.

Trump's executive order kicks off a lengthy process to undo the Clean Power Plan, which curbs carbon emissions from the electricity sector. It also lifts a moratorium on the sale of new coal leases on federally owned land, and it scraps mandates for reducing leaks of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — at oil and gas well sites.

While the U.S. chases fossil fuels, however, China is aggressively rolling out solar plants, wind farms, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies.

As the world's most populous nation — and the No. 1 emitter of greenhouse gases — China is particularly poised to fill the leadership vacuum that Trump created this week, energy experts said.


Image: REN21

"China sees a strong economic interest in making this transition with regards to air pollution, but also it wants to build an industrial base for clean energy technologies that can dominate the world market," said Paul Bodnar, who oversaw international climate issues at the National Security Council during the Obama administration's second term.

"Chinese leadership is pretty confident this is a long-term, irreversible trajectory toward clean energy, and it creates a big market opportunity that they want to capture," he said.

China's energy agency in January said it would invest 2.5 trillion yuan, or $361 billion, in clean electricity projects by 2020 as part of a broader effort to shift away from coal-fired power plants.


A technician from Yingli Solar prepares solar cells in Hebei Province, China. More
Image: kevin frayer/Getty Images

Although coal has helped drive China's manufacturing growth in the past decade, the facilities have also created a slew of public health crises, including dangerous smog and toxic water pollution. China is now shuttering coal plants near Beijing and has scrapped plans for new ones.

China's National Energy Administration said about half the country's new electricity generation will come from installed solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear projects by 2020 — an effort that should create more than 13 million jobs in the sector.

The United States has also made substantial strides on clean energy, thanks to a wide mix of federal and state policies, private sector investment, and broader market forces — namely the plunging price of natural gas and falling technology costs for solar and wind power.


China is doubling down on clean energy, while the Trump administration is eyeing coal. More
Image: kevin frayer/Getty Images

In 2015, the U.S. public and private sectors together committed $44.1 billion to the sector. Only China invested more in clean energy, committing $103 billion to renewables that year, according to annual global estimates.

U.S. clean energy jobs have also ticked up. Last year, the nation's solar power workforce grew by 25 percent, to about 374,000 people, compared to 2015, the Department of Energy reported in January. Wind industry employment rose by 32 percent, to 102,000 jobs.

Overall, "low carbon emission" sectors employed about 800,000 workers last year, while 1.1 million people worked in the traditional coal, oil and natural gas industries, the department said.


Image: U.S. Energy information administration

This clean energy progress can still continue under the Trump administration. But the pace could be substantially slower — particularly when compared to renewables-hungry nations like China.

"The U.S. power sector is getting cleaner every year, thanks partly to state and federal policies, but largely to market forces that the Clean Power Plan is designed to accelerate," Bob Perciasepe, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, via email.

"Withdrawing federal leadership will only jeopardize this promising clean energy transition and the jobs that go with it."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-cl...214019453.html

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I'm a little concerned about Pres. Trump's strong support of fossel fuel, if it is at the expense of the development of alternative cleaner fuel.

It doesn't seem to me that coal is something we should be touting. It just seem so detrimental to the environment.

I do think we should continue with our development of fossil fuel, because we are no where near ready to do anything else, on a large scale.

One thing I would like to see is for us to be independent of foreign oil, and stop exporting oil - or refined petroleum products.


Certainly, we need to scrap the insane ethanol idea, but move forward on alternative energy in the right way. We don't need to pander to contributors or give government money to 'friends', or allow anyone to waste taxpayer money.

It is in it's infancy right now in this country, but like any new technology, it needs to be improved as we go along.

China may be developing alternative fuel, but they are/were very busy in developing fossil fuel supplies - especially in Africa.

It is in our best interests, however, that China does develop cleaner energy. From what I read, their environment is very, very bad right now. Whether we like it or not, we are one world and what China puts in the air, we end up either breathing or drinking.

So more power to them.

Everyone wants to prattle on about "free markets", well, that's what we'll have! All types of energy companies competing with each other to provide all different types of energy sources. That's what we need, that's what we want. Picking winners and losers doesn't work in our economy. You don't shut down pipelines and coal mines to make solar energy. You keep them all going so you have pipelines, coal mines and solar energy. That's free markets.

The U.S. solar industry employs nearly 374,000 Americans – more than coal, oil, and natural gas combined. Meanwhile, the U.S wind industry supports over 100,000 jobs in all 50 states. More people are employed in Pennsylvania’s clean energy industry at 66,000 than in its coal industry, which dwindles at 6,600. In light of these facts, the President’s policies stunt the growth of renewable energy.

Stats from PennFuture.org

Originally Posted by Judy

Everyone wants to prattle on about "free markets", well, that's what we'll have! All types of energy companies competing with each other to provide all different types of energy sources. That's what we need, that's what we want. Picking winners and losers doesn't work in our economy. You don't shut down pipelines and coal mines to make solar energy. You keep them all going so you have pipelines, coal mines and solar energy. That's free markets.

Right now, the winners have always been fossil fuel - and coal to some extent. That has happened because the government has picked those winners.

Free markets would be a good thing, but when any business is detrimental to the environment and health of the people and the country, then I think there is room for government involvement. Perhaps just to be sure the people are the winners and not just corporations.

Truly, I agree, we should not put all our eggs in one basket - as we have in the past with fossil fuel. But no one can say with a straight face that the oil companies have not benefited from government involvement. With good reason, as for a while it had to be the primary and almost only source. That isn't the case now.

I realize coal provides a lot of jobs, but truly it is a nasty, environmentally destructive source of power.

I have seen a once beautiful green, clean area be severely and perhaps permanently dirtied by coal mining. Underground water tables, especially the shallow ones, used for family wells, have been drained and polluted. Old growth forests have been decimated. These were forest needed to clean the air.

I saw my first greasy smog cloud in East Texas a couple of years ago, due to the coal plant. Had I not seen this in Utah, I would have had no idea what it was.

In short, it just isn't necessary and it is not a good thing.

Now maybe the Chinese will get busy and develop some alternative energy technology for the entire world. That would be a good thing - for all of us.

Maybe they will market home solar power that people can afford, or small home turbines. We will have to see if the energy companies lobbyists will allow it to be imported, though.

Money and profit is important, but it cannot always be the overriding factor in our decisions.

Koch brothers and big utilities campaign to unplug solar power

82,000 Tons of coal ash spill into North Carolina river

Millions of Leaking Natural Gas and Oil Wells Set to Foul Our Future

Yeah, Obama should have done something about those while he had the chance.