Sept 8, 2020
Over the weekend, President Trump criticized the Biden camp and the State of California for their support of sustainable energy technologies. He pointed out that California’s stupidity had resulted in their energy shortage, starting with August 16th. You know, the climate hoax. Then he went on to complement Russia and China for not being so stupid, implying clearly that neither country thought sustainable technologies were important. China/Russia – smart! California and Biden – dumb!
The President is misstating the facts on this subject and is showing himself uninformed. Regardless of who you support, it is important to have the facts correct. So, I decided to volunteer some of my time this morning to make sure our kids actually know what is going on.
From MIT Technology review, Sept. 2020, “China: Clean-Tech Superpower.”
- “China has transformed itself into a clean-energy powerhouse that now produces most of the world’s solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries.”
- “Market dominance, manufacturing expertise, and established supply chains give China huge leverage over the global clean energy sector. It could enable the country to dictate technical standards and terms of trade, while seizing most of the jobs and revenue that arise from the shift away from fossil fuels.”
- 2019 stats: China produces way above 100 gigawatts of the world’s growing supply of photovoltaic solar cells. The US produces about 10 GW.
- Since December 2009 until May 2017, China used automation and other innovations to drop the manufacturing cost of photovoltaic modules from about $2.4 per watt to about$.10 per watt.
- China has installed nearly three times as much solar generation as the US, and 55% more than the EU.
- China owns 75% share of global lithium-ion cell manufacturing.
- China’s share of wind turbine assemble capacity is 54%.
- Maybe most disturbingly, China dominates in production of lithium-ion batteries.
From a very large and respected investment firm, consider this:
- $300 billion a year is being invested globally into new wind and solar capacity.
- During the past 10 years, the cost of solar has dropped by 90%; wind by 70%.
- Unsubsidized by the government, wind and solar are now fully competitive to natural gas and only 40% as expensive as coal in many parts of the world.
- 77% of all new investment in energy during the next 30 years will be made in renewables.
Finally, from recent news stories, Musk’s new battery factory in Nevada will produce 35 GW hrs. of cells annually which is equal to the entire battery industry production in 2013 and will power 500,000 EVs. On the other hand, China is bringing up one mega battery factory every week, while the US is bringing up one per month. This is important because California’s current problem is storing the energy they create with Clean-Tech. Apparently, they were not sufficiently careful and prudent in shutting down fossil fired electricity capacity and left themselves vulnerable to a heat wave never before seen in Southern California. The advances in battery technology will eliminate this issue forever within the next decade, or much sooner. If you need to learn more, go to YouTube and click on Tony Seba’s lecture on the “disruption of clean energy” and get a glimpse of a future than our kids and grandkids will live in.
Mr. Trump, apparently, is completely unaware of what is actually happening in the real world. This would be unimportant if he were a sports hero or entertainer. Unfortunately, as President of the United States, he is the most listened to person on earth. Our kids are listening, and they are getting really bad information and I thought it important to comment on that. Thank God, these changes are now being driven by hard economics and are virtually unstoppable, except by shear government ignorance. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump put a big chunk of that on display over the weekend.
