A very blinkered account. The fact that China may be able to handle a 2-3C rise in temperature does not mean they want it, or have engineered it. The whole world has engineered this rise. China has not exactly cornered the market in renewables by devious or underhand means, rather they have just picked up the work that the West has abandoned. At the present time we are on a fresh cusp, with perovskites opening up a step change in solar panel efficiency, but whilst this research started in the West it is being developed in China. The much-vaunted transparency of Western society somehow managed to hide the manipulation and corruption of our governments by the fossil fuel industries. We didn't just miss the boat, rather for years before Trump we colluded with industrialists to maintain our fossil fuel dependency. Trump has brought it out into the open, but it was there long before him.
The bottom line is the factor that you completely ignore. Education. The West have forgotten the value of education, of culture, of science for it's own sake. China does not just do engineering, rather it has understood that a society that wants to more forward must encompass the full range of intellectual endeavour. Western governments still fund research where the politicians can see a return, but true blue-sky thinking gets you no where, in particular it doesn't get you a job. Scientific papers rom China are simply more intellectually stimulating. Just in case you can't see the relevance of blue-sky work, take a look at the history of perovskites.
And as for coal, take a look at the facts. China burns a lot, but it is peaking. They are driven by money, the need to generate as much energy as possible at the lowest cost. That means solar. In the West we are driven by the need to keep business people in line, to buy votes, to keep our political parties properly funded. The cost of energy really does not matter to US or UK politicians, so they have no need to back renewables save at the margin for a bit of greenwashing. Gemany is still mining, and burning, lignite, whilst the UK is giving massive subsidies to the nuclear industry
A very blinkered account. The fact that China may be able to handle a 2-3C rise in temperature does not mean they want it, or have engineered it. The whole world has engineered this rise. China has not exactly cornered the market in renewables by devious or underhand means, rather they have just picked up the work that the West has abandoned. At the present time we are on a fresh cusp, with perovskites opening up a step change in solar panel efficiency, but whilst this research started in the West it is being developed in China. The much-vaunted transparency of Western society somehow managed to hide the manipulation and corruption of our governments by the fossil fuel industries. We didn't just miss the boat, rather for years before Trump we colluded with industrialists to maintain our fossil fuel dependency. Trump has brought it out into the open, but it was there long before him.
The bottom line is the factor that you completely ignore. Education. The West have forgotten the value of education, of culture, of science for it's own sake. China does not just do engineering, rather it has understood that a society that wants to more forward must encompass the full range of intellectual endeavour. Western governments still fund research where the politicians can see a return, but true blue-sky thinking gets you no where, in particular it doesn't get you a job. Scientific papers rom China are simply more intellectually stimulating. Just in case you can't see the relevance of blue-sky work, take a look at the history of perovskites.
And as for coal, take a look at the facts. China burns a lot, but it is peaking. They are driven by money, the need to generate as much energy as possible at the lowest cost. That means solar. In the West we are driven by the need to keep business people in line, to buy votes, to keep our political parties properly funded. The cost of energy really does not matter to US or UK politicians, so they have no need to back renewables save at the margin for a bit of greenwashing. Gemany is still mining, and burning, lignite, whilst the UK is giving massive subsidies to the nuclear industry