U.S.-China Alliance in Clean Energy

Green Street Journal - U.S. and Chinese Presidents, Barack Obama and Hu Jintao, more or less announced their partnership in clean energy technology last Tuesday. Specifically, the two signed official documents declaring their “cooperation on climate change, energy and environment.”

Their first task will be constructing a U.S-China Clean Energy Research Center in a joint effort to promote clean energy. The $150 million research center will facilitate research and development of clean energy technology by groups of engineers and scientists from the U.S. and China. The center will be both publicly and privately funded evenly between the two countries over the course of its predicted five-year construction period. Their current research priorities include energy efficiency, clean coal including carbon capture and storage, and clean vehicles.
In addition to the research center, the two presidents agreed to launch an Electric Vehicles Initiative. The initiative includes joint standards development, demonstration projects, technical roadmapping, and public education projects. The standards include common design standards for electric vehicle plugs and batteries among other devices. The demonstration projects will entail large electric vehicle demonstrations in major cities to promote production and consumption. Technical roadmapping will analyze the needs of research and development in regards to the production, introduction and use of electric cars. Lastly, public awareness will be promoted through events similar to the hugely successful U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Forum which made its debut in September of this year.

As part of their partnership, Obama and Jintao also announced a U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan. As consumers of over 40% of the world’s energy, the two have decided to undergo a comprehensive energy efficiency upgrade in buildings, industry and consumer products. As a result, U.S. and China plan to cut spending on polluted, imported energy and focus on investing in new sources of energy to stimulate jobs and economic growth from within.

This alliance shows tremendous initiative and awareness on both countries’ behalves since they are world’s largest energy consumers and greenhouse gas emitters. They are also the leading producers of energy, however they finally show some accountability for the type of energy they make. This is no small feat given the magnitude and scope of their power and influence in the world. They are leading by example and quietly acknowledging their mistakes, hoping to start a trend for generations to follow.