China’s Lead on Green Energy Technology: My Interview on Minnesota Public Radio
Earlier this week I appeared on Minnesota Public Radio with Georgetown University’s Joanna Lewis for 45 minutes of conversation on how China is taking the clean energy challenge by its neck and running with it. Here’s the full audio to the discussion:
The show was clearly motivated by the recent New York Times front page story by Keith Bradsher on the same topic, and to a lesser extent, the series of op-eds by New York Times columnist Tom Friedman (see here, here and here). But really, this has been the story of this blog for the two over years of its existence. China is serious about green technologies, but more importantly, as I point out in my interview, what distinguishes China from the United States is its long-term planning, with the Medium and Long Term Development Plan for Renewable Energy, with national targets for each renewable energy technology type for 2010 and 2020, being a case-in-point. Such national targets send clear signals to the market that the government is committed to this new low-carbon industry for the long haul, thus stimulating private and provincial investment.
This discussion dove tails nicely with a presentation I made at RETECH 2010 last Thursday (Feb 4) in Washington D.C–that China is adopting comprehensive clean energy policy, not just in manufacturing, as we’ve all come to understand as China’s strength in the clean energy technology sector, but also in clean tech innovation and deployment. I’ll post the outline to my presentation at RETECH in a separate post (tomorrow, when I’m finally back in the office after being locked at home dealing with the D.C area’s biggest snow storm in history).
Stay tuned!
