China gets it

You cannot have a modern society without energy and you cannot burn enough coal to industrialize China and still breathe.

So you gotta go solar (wind IS solar, remember.)

China Leading Global Race to Make Clean Energy

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

Components of wind turbines at a factory in Tianjin, China. Shifting to sustainable energy could leave the West dependent on China, much as the developed world now depends on the Mideast.

By KEITH BRADSHER

Published: January 30, 2010

TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year. 

As China takes the lead on wind turbines, above, and solar panels, President Obama is calling for American industry to step up. 

China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coalpower plants. more