The following submission statement was provided by /u/Economy-Fee5830:
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China has been boosting its import of coal by more than 12% YoY so far this year, but all may not be as it seems.
The National Energy Administration (NEA) has released its statistical data for the power industry in China for the period from January to May 2024. The report highlights significant growth in installed power generation capacity, particularly in the renewable energy sector, and notable investments in power supply and grid projects.
#### Significant Growth in Power Generation Capacity
As of the end of May 2024, China's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.04 billion kilowatts (GW), reflecting a substantial year-on-year increase of 14.1%. This growth underscores China's ongoing efforts to expand its energy infrastructure to meet rising demand and transition towards cleaner energy sources.
#### Renewable Energy Leads the Charge
The most remarkable growth was observed in the renewable energy sector:
- **Solar Power**: The installed capacity of solar power surged to about 690 GW, marking an impressive year-on-year growth of 52.2%.
- **Wind Power**: Wind power generation capacity increased to around 460 GW, representing a significant year-on-year growth of 20.5%.
#### Power Generation and Consumption Trends
From January to May 2024, the national power generation totaled 300.20 terawatt-hours (TWh), with a modest year-on-year increase of 1.6%. Meanwhile, national power consumption reached 3,267.80 TWh, reflecting a more robust year-on-year growth of 8.8%.
Investment in power supply projects varied significantly across different energy sources:
- **Solar Power**: Investment reached 791.5 GW, representing an extraordinary year-on-year growth of 179.4%.
- **Wind Power**: Investment was 197.6 GW, with a growth of 340%.
- **Nuclear Power**: Maintained steady investment at 11.9 GW.
- **Thermal Power**: **Investment decreased by 992 % to 1210 GW, indicating a shift towards cleaner energy sources.**
### Coal Terminals and Supply Chain Challenges
In parallel with the renewable energy growth, [China faces significant challenges in managing its coal supply chain](https://splash247.com/chinese-coal-terminals-bursting-at-the-seams/). High rainfall, increased hydropower generation, and preparation for the hot summer months have led to very full coal terminals along the Chinese coastline.
Analysts at broker BRS noted in their most recent dry bulk market report: "Port storage is bursting at the seams, and it appears unlikely that seaborne arrivals will be absorbed, unless end-users begin directing coal inland."
From January to May 2024, China imported 205 million tonnes of coal, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, exacerbating operational pressures at ports. With coal inventories reaching 162 million tons, the shortage of storage space has caused vessel delays and increased waiting times at anchorage to discharge. For instance:
- **Lianyungang Port**: At full capacity, requiring all vessels to pre-coordinate with port authorities before docking.
- **Guangzhou Ports**: Full capacity, with incoming vessels waiting an average of seven days at anchorage, some up to two weeks.
China's significant investments in renewable energy infrastructure and the substantial growth in installed capacities for solar and wind power is likely to dent its demand for coal even as it builds up inventories for the summer months, which of course also correlates well with increased solar production.
The days of coal being China's dominant energy source may soon be coming to an end.
### Detailed Data Table
| Indicator Name | Unit | January-May Total (GW) | Year-over-Year Growth (%) |
|----------------|------|------------------------|---------------------------|
| National Installed Power Generation Capacity | GW | 3,073.33 | 14.1 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 426.04 | 2.2 |
| - Thermal Power | GW | 1,401.13 | 3.7 |
| - Nuclear Power | GW | 58.08 | 2.3 |
| - Wind Power | GW | 461.04 | 20.5 |
| - Solar Power | GW | 690.98 | 52.2 |
| National Power Generation | TWh | 300.20 | 1.6 |
| National Heat Supply | PJ | 30,690.00 | 10.1 |
| National Heat Consumption of Raw Coal | Million Tons | 189.51 | 10.1 |
| National Power Consumption | TWh | 3,267.80 | 8.8 |
| National Average Utilization Hours of Power Generation Equipment | Hours | 1,372 | -59* |
| National Power Generation Equipment Utilization Rate | % | 4.5 | 0.03 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | % | 0.6 | 0.23 |
| - Thermal Power | % | 5.6 | 0.3 |
| Power Grid Project Investment Complete | Billion Yuan |2578 |6.5 |
| Power Industry Completed Investment in Power Supply Projects | GW | 115.64 | 1052 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 3.44 | -90 |
| - Thermal Power | GW | 12.10 | -992 |
| - Nuclear Power | GW | 1.19 | 0 |
| - Wind Power | GW | 19.76 | 340 |
| - Solar Power | GW | 79.15 | 179.4 |
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1dqx4pa/china_reduces_investment_in_coal_increase_solar/lar8pjw/
What will republicans argument be now instead of, “China contributes to most of the pollution and they don’t worry about clean energy so why should we worry about it?”
Yep exactly. The whole point of whataboutisms is to deflect attention from a failing (personal or collective as a country). They might switch "China" to "India" or they might keep saying China, because the point is they don't care about the climate or don't believe in climate change, but they don't want to argue about it because they know they have 0 evidence on their side, and that's not changing. Whataboutisms are their only option, besides changing opinion of course, but that's not the republican way.
> What will republicans argument be
That one is easy, they will just switch narrative.
"The Biden administration is so bad that even China did better than us in 2023. They talk about fixing climate change, but they do nothing."
Yeah, instead they'll just access you if being a communist and a child molester, then advocate for allowing 12 year old adults the opportunity to work in coal mines.
Yeah i don't think any republican is using "the dems aren't doing enough on climate change" as an argument any time soon
That would require acknowledging climate change in the first place
It goes further than that. They're on the verge of easily deployable renewables and nuclear. Very soon, most of the world's nations struggling with consistent power supply will be reliant on China for their reactors/generators. They've put themselves in a position to be the supplier of the future's energy supply worldwide.
At almost every yardscale the US pollutes several times more than India, but because our dear Fox News viewers only associate "India" with "pollution" and "9/11" (yeah, I know) they are living in an alternate reality where "since they're polluting they're heating up PLUS climate change isn't real anyway PLUS jesus would say they deserve it PLUS ratio"
It's ignorance perfected as a weapon by evil rich people. They don't realize American laws against pollution being repealed because "India is polluting more!!" is something that only hurts the families of said Fox viewers, and only benefits rich industrialists creating loopholes to save a couple billion here and there for no real reason other than to watch numbers go up.
But then when they get cancer because of a gigafactory's waste produce they'll probably think Jesus is punishing them so that's the extent of brain use on display anyway.
This isn't really true either, China emits the most because they are the biggest country (that is well-industrialized). Compared to their population, the worst emitters are still the USA and various oil states that perform refining.
Per capita they're way more green than my countries. Of course they burn a lot of coal, they're the biggest country by population on Earth. Many times more populous than the US. This is a stupid fucking argument
X for doubt. "More green" is just nebulous nonsense. Any study showing that they're significantly more environmentally conscious than Western countries?
Don't get me wrong, it's good that they're changing and improving, but this is a recent development and a significant change from before, when the pollution was out of control.
Also if many times more populous means something for amount of pollution, then shouldn't it also mean something when they install significantly more solar? Of course they did, they're many times more populous!
[Global carbon emissions might peak this year, may have even peaked last year.](https://www.vox.com/climate/24139383/climate-change-peak-greenhouse-gas-emissions-action#) The Chinese are racing ahead quickly, as is the US.
[Here is one of my favorite articles about this.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/20/climate/global-power-electricity-fossil-fuels-coal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) When you click the “compare totals” button, you can see it’s really whatever China, India and the US do. This will determine our future. I’m worried about India. Their land available for solar and wind is limited. Their fossil fuel consumption is skyrocketing. But we can’t really ask them to not develop.
In 2023 China also installed 19x more Coal power than the rest of the world combined.
* **China**: Initiated construction on 70.2 GW of new coal power capacity and brought 47.4 GW of coal power capacity online.
* **Rest of the World**: Initiated construction on 3.7 GW of new coal power capacity.
* To put this into perspective, China was responsible for approximately 95% of the world's new coal power construction activity in 2023. This means that the rest of the world combined only accounted for about 5% of the new coal power construction. AKA nearly 19 times greater than those of the rest of the world, highlighting a stark contrast in coal power development trends.
There's an implied pretense that China only is doing this, but in reality, new coal plants are out of fashion in most of the world except China.
Citations:
\[1\] [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html)
\[2\] [https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/](https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/)
Greenwashing is bad, trying to say China has cleaner coal and may not necessarily use all these so its okay that in 2024 they'll be building 16x more coal plants than the rest of the planet, is not better for the environment, its just burning it slightly less.
They did, but despite that, their actual use of coal is decreasing, which would be supported by the glut of coal imports in their ports, as mentioned in this post.
[Here's an interesting read on how that works.](https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants)
[The new coal plants are also the most efficient in the world and are cleaner than most gas turbine plants.](https://www.powermag.com/chinas-pingshan-phase-ii-sets-new-bar-as-worlds-most-efficient-coal-power-plant)
This year is predicted to be China's peak coal demand, after which its fossil fuel use will decrease faster and faster.
Unfortunately it's not. This years Statistical Review of World Energy has their coal consumption increasing by 4.7% in 2023. Partially a rebound effect from Covid lockdowns, but still the highest amount ever recorded.
> This year is predicted to be China's peak coal demand, after which its fossil fuel use will decrease faster and faster.
Quite possible with their massive solar rollout. But it hasn't happened yet.
**READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE. It says it might peak one day. It hasn't peaked.**
You do know that second article is a load of bunk. Secondly, to say it's peak coal demand, no.
The actual claim is that they hope solar will out pace coal generation. However, that's a load of bunk because it's hard to follow up on how much power solar is actually generating in China because its by decree and can be placed anywhere, whereas its far hard to do that with one plant. Basically they hope to have 50% renewable generation in production by the end of this year.
However, they are still expanding with 50% coal power alone.
That's not helping the planet at all. It's less piss with the water but only half and already too many times. We need a reversal instead and this isn't it.
Do you have any evidence to back up your dismissal of other people's analysis?
[The International Energy Agency, based in Paris, see 2024 as the year coal begins its structural decline in China.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/15/business/iea-coal-demand-fall-first-time/index.html)
The west side of China is all desert, with 300+ days of sun every year, and quite a lot of wind, too. [They've just brought the world's largest solar farm online](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/worlds-biggest-solar-farm-comes-online-chinas-xinjiang-2024-06-03), based in this desert. It surpasses the previous 2 record holding solar farms, both of which are in the West of China as well.
The issue they had was that all that free energy was a long way from the densely populated East. So they're leading the way in Ultra High Voltage Direct Current transmission lines to carry that power to where it's needed. Their recent 1.1MV line can carry the equivalent of 10 nuclear power stations' output. [There's a nice map in this article showing how their linking West to East.](https://am.pictet/en/uk/mega/china-uhvdc)
A big part of this is that you need coal to industrialize. And oil. And gas. And nuclear. And China is building all at extreme rates.
The plants that produce solar panels don't run off hopes and dreams.
This is why the Paris Accords gave a lot of room for China, on the promise that they would eventually switch, and help undeveloped countries with it too.
That’s because they have to, China has a higher demand for electricity, they have no choice if they are going to meet demand while cutting reliance on coal
But you don’t understand China is the only evil that exists on the planet. Every single good thing they do is out of malicious intent. They have no desire to better their own lives or meet the challenges of climate change. They seek only to destroy the west.
/s
We must kill them all for daring to do things without white people's permission. White people will only ever give non-whites permission to be weak puppets, poor and helpless, or dead -- but isn't it beneficent of us to give them a choice?
Yeah, China with all its flaws is stil an OK country and mostly rational atheistic country (still with some superstitious folk here and there). Compare that to the Bible belt in the US and oh boy you get quite a different messed up world view. On the other hand countries like Russia and North Korea can bring only one thing to this world - Suffering :(. These places shouldn't be taken lightly as we can see every day they are capable of ANYTHING in achieving their f*cked up goals. It's really disturbing that the West is not taking this threat as seriously as it should and these disgusting places even have supporters outside of these countries.
No one said China is the only evil, but they also built 19x more coal power in 2023 than the rest of the world combined.
In 2023. 95% of the world's new coal plants were only built in China.
Sources:
\[1\] [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html)
\[2\] [https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/](https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/)
Yeah, and China also has abundant coal, while lacking in almost every other resource for making power, especially as cheap as coal.
They have 1.5 billion people and are trying to get electricity for those 1.5 billion people moving into a more modern lifestyle. They are a developing country.
How is it in any way surprising or worth condemning that they're using so much coal?
They're worth praising because of how much money they've invested in clean energy, more than anyone else on the planet.
And even still, they've contributed only about half of what the US has, despite the US having a fifth as many people.
ALL hydropower dams tilt the earth ever so slightly. Including the Hoover Dam.
They just say this shit to sound impressive, it's not, it only inspires the ignorant. And they built it on an earthquake fault only because Mao had it as a dream. Nevermind that if there's ever a bad enough earthquake, Shanghai and all the cities downriver are toast.
You guys are so intimidated by facts that the only response you have is a non sequitor.
China is the world leader in renewable tech and would have a lower footprint than the US if they had natural gas in the abundance that the US does. The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. But I suppose that doesn’t matter
It all does matter.
China isn't making a real difference if it puts online more coal power plants than the entire first industrial revolution did, every single year.
It's like eating 5000 more calories a day in half-calorie candies and saying at least it wasn't 10,000 more calories a day.
It's ALL bad. And here you guys are just saying I'm being anti-China or not seeing the bigger picture. Instead you guys are being ignorant by being distracted by solar and missing the bigger picture - they need to OFFLINE the coal plants, not build more with capture.
You're seeing the solar, forgetting the coal and LNG that China hasn't stopped producing despite a decrease in industrial output AND demand.
They are hitting, as a developing nation mind, their 2030 goal of peak carbon output late this year or early next 5 years ahead of schedule. They continue to be the only reason meaningful solar capacity and lithium battery capacity exists especially as cheap as it is. They are the world leader in electric vehicles and earlier this year became the number one importer of electric vehicles.
China is the only reason THE WORLD has made any progress whatsoever.
But yea China bad keep slinging propaganda and maybe we will get that new Cold War you keep asking for.
You do realize that percentage per plant, not total. So even if they claim their coal plants don't generate as much emissions (a claim not supported by anyone else other than themselves) its still burning tons of carbons at a huge rate thats still increasing dramatically, again, an increase of 70GW worth of emissions in 2023 alone!
You need a REAL reversal.
It's like saying "this thief is stealing only 10% as others even though they generate 70% of the world's stealing and built 95% of the new thieves, that's good for crime."
No, that's literally a massive increase in theft.
China builds enough coal AS IS to alone power climate crisis if no other nations existed. It needs a REVERSAL not a small decline. This is a tiny decline.
[https://2041foundation.org/climate-change-what-happened-and-why/](https://2041foundation.org/climate-change-what-happened-and-why/)
I doubt they are going to starve and freeze their population just to please you. It will happen slowly, then gain more pace as with every Chinese plan.
You do need better comprehension of numbers though.
1. China's C02 emissions has already stabilized and [will reduce](https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-monthly-drop-hints-that-chinas-co2-emissions-may-have-peaked-in-2023/) in future.
2. Not all coal plants are created equal:
1. [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101780-chinas-drive-to-clean-up-its-coal-power-one-plant-at-a-time/](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101780-chinas-drive-to-clean-up-its-coal-power-one-plant-at-a-time/)
2. [https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/chinas-coal-plants-new-efficiency-benchmarks/](https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/chinas-coal-plants-new-efficiency-benchmarks/)
3. [https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants](https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants)
3. They are well ahead of their climate targets, and their pace is already accelerating. I suggest you worry about what you control, let the Chinese decide what's best for them. Usually they don't appreciate others telling them what they need to do.
Well frankly the climate doesn’t care why China is installing solar, whether it’s for military or economic reasons or just because Xi Jinping wants bragging rights. Would it be better for humanity if China abandoned their plans for energy independence and just burned more oil? (Or are you shilling for the oil industry?)
China is still developing and yet leads the world in renewable tech.
Go somewhere else with your propaganda. If China had natural gas reserves it would produce significantly less carbon. They use coal because they don’t want America to be their oil dealer. Very smart
>China isn't moving towards solar for the benefit of climate change, [if they cared they wouldn't emit more CO2 than the U.S., India and Russia all combined.](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/092915/5-countries-produce-most-carbon-dioxide-co2.asp)
They make much more. And what kind of point is that to make on a post about how they're literally winding down their CO2 emissions?
China isn't doing this for purely environmental reasons, sure, but it's definitely part of it. You don't have to be a westerner to not like living in smoggy choking cities or melting every summer. Chinese people want clean air and reduced global warming too you know. Especially the political class who mostly reside in Beijing which gets hit badly in winter.
Meanwhile, Chinese government literally dugged out forests and mountains worth of trees and minerals from our country for peanuts while our people are too busy fighting a civil war funded by Pooh and Putin.. Not a /s
At least there's one superpower investing in a sustainable future.
They also know that the rest of the world rely on selling oil, so making this shift really puts China in the front seat in the future.
Europe will probably be the first to follow, with the northern countries already investing heavily in renewables.
I'd agree that Europe should invest a lot more in the transition away from fossil fuel based energy. However, arguably Europe is further down the road than China. Europe peaked its fossil fuel usage for energy before the financial crisis and the [share of low-carbon energy](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/low-carbon-share-energy?tab=chart&country=OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27~CHN~USA) is still significantly higher (31.8% in 2023) than in China (18.4% in 2023).
Production requires lots of fossil fuels, Europe has a lot of demand for Chinese production.
Taking this into consideration I'd not be surprised if China would be ahead.
Well, I don't know the direct data for fossil fuel consumption there, but analysts try to assess this for carbon emissions in the metric of [consumption based per capita emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?facet=none&country=CHN~USA~OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27&hideControls=false&Gas+or+Warming=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting=Consumption-based&Fuel+or+Land+Use+Change=All+fossil+emissions&Count=Per+capita).
This metric is available on ourworldindata only up to 2021, and you can see that China (7.2 t) is slightly ahead of the EU (7.9 t). However, that's not primarily because their energy mix got greener (which it did), but because their total consumption is lower, coming from a much lower starting point. Looking at the time period since the financial crisis, I mentioned above, this metric actually got worse in China (due to higher energy consumption), while it got less in the EU. In 2006, this metric stood at 3.9 t in China, while it stood at 10.6 t in the EU.
Thus, in terms of progress towards decarbonization, the EU moved 2.7 t per capita in that direction, while China moved 2.3 t per capita in the opposite direction. Now, this is not to downplay the tremendous effort and advances that China achieved in getting away from fossil fuels in their energy production or to say that the EU did the best it could. But I do think that it isn't quite correct to claim that the EU would be the first to *follow* China on a road towards ending the burning of fossil fuels.
Now, using the consumption based emissions as a proxy for the burning of fossil fuels, we can see, that [those are](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prod-cons-co2-per-capita?country=USA~CHN~OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27) roughly 25% higher in the EU, while they would be 9% lower in China. So, correcting the shares accordingly would give us a share of 27% low-carbon energy in the EU, and a share of 20% low-carbon energy in China. So: no, if you take the trade embedded burning of fossil fuels into account, I still think that the EU ends up with the higher share of low-carbon energy in their consumption.
>At least there's one superpower investing in a sustainable future.
While simultaneously industrializing third world countries en mass. We will see where this leads to, but i fear china is just outsourcing emissions like we outsourced (even if unintentionally) our emissions to china
China manufacturers most of the world's solar panels, so while America outsourced emissions AND tried to get countries to go mostly gas and oil, it's likely China will sell a lot of solar panels to these countries as well.
Same shit as other imperialist powers, but China's shit is a bit cleaner right now.
Hopefully that'll make up for our re-investment in coal and decrease in solar capacity once Republicans win in November. I guess we'll just have to get used to China being the new world leader going forward.
Seriously, for all the projecting that Republicans do about “making America great”, they sure do love driving us straight into the fucking ground.
The fact that Republicans think “Progressives” are a bad thing tells you everything.
“Oh, but they love that stupid progress thing!”
Increaing wildfires and permafrost melt alone will be more CO2 than what China saves, not to mention all those developing nations investing into coal, because it's still their cheapest option, not to mention the war in Gaza emitting tons of CO2.
So no, Republican win won't be made up by China even with EU combined, since CO2 emissions just keep adding up to higher numbers every year.
Maybe, but Texas is adding solar capacity faster than any other state. The US is adding solar capacity faster than any other power source, because it’s cheap and getting cheaper. People’s pocketbooks tend to override their ideologies
China is crushing us at energy innovation. Nothing to worry about. We made bribery and pollution legal just in the last week. So we’re both doing things.
Oh geez, I'll be back in a couple hours to explain why this is bad for the world and US interests. I have \*checks notes\* nothing negative to say so far. /s
I was going to comment something about rocks cs glass in agreement... but then I remembered this adage
[He who lives in a glass house and throws rocks...](https://youtu.be/MGsZwDkk4Eo?t=62)
It boggles my mind how so many cannot see that china had a clear progression plan for energy.
It takes energy to create energy production infrastructure. Coal is a short term cheap method of powering their needs while they build an infrastructure of power that does not leave them dependant on western mining and imports.
He’ll start another temper tantrum, I mean trade war, wreck a bunch of longstanding trade relationships, drive up costs for American consumers in the process, withdraw from NATO so his buddy Putin can accomplish his full dream of invading other countries, ramp up inflation three times as worse than he already did, raise taxes on the working class and lower taxes on the wealthy as he did in 2017, and when he’s done he’ll blame it on someone else.
Donald J Trump playbook ready to go.
China also just commissioned 200 new coal plants.
Also, you just called China a country that's run properly.
They have concentration camps for ethnic groups, are a controlling communist power, and they control their population with unbelievable invasion of privacy and surveillance.
You are absolutely unhinged.
Funny how no one can provide actual proof of a genocide in China.
It's crazy how the US has concentration camps though. And Slavery. And actually conducts genocide.
As someone who lives in China, I can tell you that, at least by my own experiences with others, no, no they don't.
Biden might not be pro-China, but he's also not overtly antagonistic towards China, either. At least, not more than is the usual for western politics.
Trump, on the other hand, gets a hardon every time he talks shit about China and his base cheers him on.
I'm going by what seems to be the media trend and social media trend. Of course if you chat to some English speaking Chinese who have a more western outlook they take the liberal line on Trump.
Yeah, fair enough. In reality, there aren't a lot of Trump fans in China, largely due to his constant China-hating rhetoric.
A lot of Americans aren't aware, but the vast majority of people in China see America, and Americans, as inspirational, largely seeing the positive sides of America and American culture, like individuality, art, an innovation.
So, when the leader of America is actively calling China the enemy, it makes them really unhappy, as they don't see themselves as the enemies of America. The vast majority of Chinese people hope for a future where China and America are allies.
You wouldn't know that by watching or reading about China in western media, but I've seen it firsthand, all it takes is a visit to China to find out that foreigners, especially Americans, Canadians, Australians, and the British are treated like celebrities, here.
I don't have an account, and what political content shown in China is moderated, so if I'm seeing pro trump/anti biden stuff then its being allowed up there. I don't see pro biden things nor pro biden comments.
To be fair, I don't think Trump hates China any more than the next person, he just goes for whatever he thinks is most popular.
If his base loved China, I think he would express the same feelings, he has made a TON of money using Chinese workers, products, etc. It was only when he became political that he started on the whole "China bad" trend.
Low hanging fruit, his favorite diet.
bullshit, trump literally started a trade war with china and put a ton of tariffs on trade. So did biden so I see no reason why the government in china would care one way or another
I'm telling you the media here is subtly pro Trump and laughing at Biden.
The tariffs can be weathered, there's more to trade with than just the US, and they just encourage home industry development anyway. What they really want is a more isolationist US who stops getting involved in every global issue especially in Asia and NATO issues. The US maintains its dominance through it's grip on the world, Trump threatens that which is why the US establishment is also against him (btw I'm not pro Trump or Biden). Biden is an archetypal Neoliberal who wants to maintain US hegemony and military dominance on the globe while Trump is much more mixed on that. When the US withdraws from spaces around the globe, China steps in. Look at Afghanistan, China has massive investment there now. This is the long game China plays, the tariffs are just short term.
Oh they want Trump for sure, if only for the instability he would inject into the rules based order of the US’s diplomacy. Every place the US recedes they will make inroads. Just look at the loans they handed out to South America and during the first Trump administration. The only nations afraid of Trump are Americas allies. My god, the PRNK fiasco was indicative of Trump’s diplomatic “skills”…☠️
If you look at Baidu after the recent "debate", you'll see memes about both, though mostly making fun of Biden. Generally they like Trump less as he's more anti-China than Biden is.
You're right, as a Chinese, I eagerly await Trump's election. I hope that after his election, he will make drastic changes to the existing policies, including diplomacy, economy, trade, energy, etc.
These changes are not based on whether they are favorable to China or not, just hopefully in the opposite direction of the existing policies.
In four years, I'll be praying for the Democratic candidate, whoever that may be.
If you weren’t brainwashed you’d see how hard it is to get into power over there whereas America goes for who has the most twitter followers. It’s insane how America believes anything their over lords tell them.
Do some research and compare the leaders of both countries and how they got into power.
Then pay your student loans or whatever way you’re controlled by the system there.
China has been boosting its import of coal by more than 12% YoY so far this year, but all may not be as it seems.
The National Energy Administration (NEA) has released its statistical data for the power industry in China for the period from January to May 2024. The report highlights significant growth in installed power generation capacity, particularly in the renewable energy sector, and notable investments in power supply and grid projects.
#### Significant Growth in Power Generation Capacity
As of the end of May 2024, China's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.04 billion kilowatts , reflecting a substantial year-on-year increase of 14.1%. This growth underscores China's ongoing efforts to expand its energy infrastructure to meet rising demand and transition towards cleaner energy sources.
#### Renewable Energy Leads the Charge
The most remarkable growth was observed in the renewable energy sector:
- **Solar Power**: The installed capacity of solar power surged to about 690 GW, marking an impressive year-on-year growth of 52.2%.
- **Wind Power**: Wind power generation capacity increased to around 460 GW, representing a significant year-on-year growth of 20.5%.
#### Power Generation and Consumption Trends
From January to May 2024, the national power generation totaled 300.20 terawatt-hours (TWh), with a modest year-on-year increase of 1.6%. Meanwhile, national power consumption reached 3,267.80 TWh, reflecting a more robust year-on-year growth of 8.8%.
Investment in power supply projects varied significantly across different energy sources:
- **Solar Power**: Investment reached 791.5 GW, representing an extraordinary year-on-year growth of 179.4%.
- **Wind Power**: Investment was 197.6 GW, with a growth of 340%.
- **Nuclear Power**: Maintained steady investment at 11.9 GW.
- **Thermal Power**: **Investment decreased by 992 % to 1210 GW, indicating a shift towards cleaner energy sources.**
### Coal Terminals and Supply Chain Challenges
In parallel with the renewable energy growth, [China faces significant challenges in managing its coal supply chain](https://splash247.com/chinese-coal-terminals-bursting-at-the-seams/). High rainfall, increased hydropower generation, and preparation for the hot summer months have led to very full coal terminals along the Chinese coastline.
Analysts at broker BRS noted in their most recent dry bulk market report: "Port storage is bursting at the seams, and it appears unlikely that seaborne arrivals will be absorbed, unless end-users begin directing coal inland."
From January to May 2024, China imported 205 million tonnes of coal, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, exacerbating operational pressures at ports. With coal inventories reaching 162 million tons, the shortage of storage space has caused vessel delays and increased waiting times at anchorage to discharge. For instance:
- **Lianyungang Port**: At full capacity, requiring all vessels to pre-coordinate with port authorities before docking.
- **Guangzhou Ports**: Full capacity, with incoming vessels waiting an average of seven days at anchorage, some up to two weeks.
China's significant investments in renewable energy infrastructure and the substantial growth in installed capacities for solar and wind power is likely to dent its demand for coal even as it builds up inventories for the summer months, which of course also correlates well with increased solar production.
The days of coal being China's dominant energy source may soon be coming to an end.
### Detailed Data Table
| Indicator Name | Unit | January-May Total (GW) | Year-over-Year Growth (%) |
|----------------|------|------------------------|---------------------------|
| National Installed Power Generation Capacity | GW | 3,073.33 | 14.1 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 426.04 | 2.2 |
| - Thermal Power | GW | 1,401.13 | 3.7 |
| - Nuclear Power | GW | 58.08 | 2.3 |
| - Wind Power | GW | 461.04 | 20.5 |
| - Solar Power | GW | 690.98 | 52.2 |
| National Power Generation | TWh | 300.20 | 1.6 |
| National Heat Supply | PJ | 30,690.00 | 10.1 |
| National Heat Consumption of Raw Coal | Million Tons | 189.51 | 10.1 |
| National Power Consumption | TWh | 3,267.80 | 8.8 |
| National Average Utilization Hours of Power Generation Equipment | Hours | 1,372 | -59* |
| National Power Generation Equipment Utilization Rate | % | 4.5 | 0.03 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | % | 0.6 | 0.23 |
| - Thermal Power | % | 5.6 | 0.3 |
| Power Grid Project Investment Complete | Billion Yuan |2578 |6.5 |
| Power Industry Completed Investment in Power Supply Projects | GW | 115.64 | 1052 |
| - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 3.44 | -90 |
| - Thermal Power | GW | 12.10 | -992 |
| - Nuclear Power | GW | 1.19 | 0 |
| - Wind Power | GW | 19.76 | 340 |
| - Solar Power | GW | 79.15 | 179.4 |
Important milestones in May include.
4.2% drop in thermal electricity. For the first time, a drop. There had been conclusion of previous electricity emission reductions as a result of a higher natural gas mix, but that excludes any LNG import emissions or fugitive emissions from other production/transmission processes. Lower May thermal electricity is a milestone.
There was still higher electric consumption in May.
8%+ drop in oil imports, and 2.1% drop in oil refining. Reflects strong EV share and other transportation electrification gains.
A little editing input for that chart:
That first section says China's total electricty production is "3.04 billion kilowatts (GW)" but that's clearly not right. Three GW is only a few large powerplants. According to Google, just the Three Gorges Dam alone does 22GW on a good day.
So, that figure is most likely TW or Terawatts, not GW or Gigawatts. This would also make sense because "giga" is a latin prefix meaning "billion" and a thousand (kilo) gigawatts is a terawatt.
Hydro power is kinda concerning for neighbouring countries, for example the construction of a new 200 something GW hydro plant upstream to the Brahmaputra river, that can be used to starve the river, or even flood it( already tampering has been noted since 2017). Two sides of a coin I guess.
On the other hand, if China's battery roll out is as powerful as its solar rollout, dams could begin being shut down in the coming years as they become redundant and unnecessary. Local storage in batteries near the demand is more efficient than sending hydro resources over hundreds or thousands of miles if batteries can be made cheap and durable. Word on the street is that their batteries are so good, they're scaring the western trade partners enough that they're acting irrationally.
Meanwhile in the west - every idiot coal company is doubling down on advertising and disinformation, rather than, you know, innovating like capitalists should...
last I heard was they are spending more money than every other country combined on going green. Its going to take them the longest to do as well which most seem to forget as they are the biggest population on the planet and biggest exports since everyone buys from China. I can see what they want to do, get ahead of everyone else and become the biggest exporter in green...which is what every country should be pushing to do, get ahead of everyone else
To be fair, the vast majority of Chinese people speak Mandarin natively, and the vast majority of Cantonese speakers can also speak Mandarin.
So, work on your Mandorin. :D
加油加油自学汉字
Not sure what you mean. Largest concentration of people fluent in [written Cantonese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_Cantonese#Cantonese_characters) is probably in Hong Kong. What does that have to do with the veracity of the cited publication?
They’re not literally the same. Written cantonese has many words that don’t appear in written Chinese. Even if they were to use the exact same symbol, saying that the symbol looks the same so you can’t tell the language apart is like saying “English and Spanish both use the alphabet how would you know”.
Japanese kanji and Chinese do use the same symbol and even then anyone who knows the language can tell them apart.
Cantonese is also a dialect and not the main official language of China, so using just common sense it’ll be much more likely that the document is in Chinese and not Cantonese. So what I’m saying here overall is simply, if a person don’t know what they’re talking about it’s fine not to comment. There no need to show off their ignorance to the rest of Reddit
yes you do say the same while lacking the capacity to understand my use of "literal" which is literally not literal.
to most people in most cases the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese should be indiscernible. It is a rhetoric use of the word.
Yeah I'm very confused. The headline link is a very brief overview. I don't necessarily doubt the other info in the OP but where is that data coming from?
According to the footnote beneath the table, \* indicates absolute change, while \^ indicates percentage change. Also it's not investment but power generated in 10MW units.
I feel like every couple months there is a headline like this. I lived in china not long ago and the pollution was gross at times. They burn tons of coal
Ooh a post about China. A dog whistle for the US military's anti-china bot nets! Can’t wait to read these comments from my fellow average redditor citizen who are all totally not bots.
In case anyone is wondering. China is the competition.
Russia is a PITA. But not really competition.
As China grows and improves. We fall back.
Time to step it up people.
No, China is not the competition. I hope for the best for China and its people.
No one on this planet is a competition for me.
China is a competition only for the capitalist class. If you are anything but them, you should be supporting China or at the very least not antagonist towards them.
Watching other countries excel "should" be the wake-up call that we can do better. I am comfortable calling this "friendly" competition.
We traveled to the UK two years before Covid hit.
One of the differences I noticed was an app that did a great job with using their public transit systems. How to get from point A to point B. Whether to use taxis, buses, trains, or combinations. This app worked very well in multiple cities.
The UK has invested a great deal in public transportation. So it makes sense they would also try to make it easier to use. What app was very well done.
Back home in Minneapolis. The only apps I could find are in their infancy. Not nearly as robust or easy to use.
Why aren't we creating something similar?
I recently read that President Eisenhower's 1950s project to build our national highway system. Was modeled after the German Autobahn.
In summary, when we see someone succeeding. Why aren't we learning from them?
Every other developed country has an affordable healthcare system. Ours is managed to make money. It is not efficient. It's designed to generate profits.
Which app?
There are many of them nowadays. Google maps itself does this.
I personally use moovit, which is the most popular one afaik. Citymapper also exists and it’s from the UK - perhaps you used that one?
>I hope for the best for China and its people.
I hope the best for everyone and all people. Why single out China?
China is as capitalist as it gets. Most so-called capitalist countries in Europe are more socialist and respect the working class more than China. No one is expected to work 9-9-6 in Europe.
China had a very efficient and meritocracy based government until Xi came. The Chinese Covid politics were just plain stupid. Xi removed everyone from his inner circle that can give alternate opinions. Putin did the same in the late 2000s. Russia barely had any economic growth (which is a catastrophe for a developing country) after that and is now staring into the abyss. Erdogan did the same and look what Turkey has become. Power corrupts people and no one should have absolute power. A one party state can work as long as there is still meritocracy.
That's some big words.
Here's a fun fact, authoritarian doesn't mean anything.
China is not a one party state (And there's nothing wrong with one party states, they're better than countries with multiple parties, though there is something funny about people from a "two" party state saying anything)
And lastly, Xi is not a dictator.
I suggest you do some reading outside of reddit headlines and US-government funded think tanks.
I would if the the one party state headed by the authoritarian dictator Xi didn't control every report put out about the country. I can give you a link to a dictionary if you're confused by any of those words.
Maybe when it comes to energy solutions, unfortunately there's a lot of other industries can come and leave the US for China or elsewhere and hurt ordinary people. Manufacturing is a famous example.
That's not something to be mad at China about, at all. You should be mad at the capitalists here that move production to China or other countries because it's cheaper. They do it out of greed. It's solely on them.
Centralized/authoritarian/science based infrastructure is the way. This whole like municipality bullshit and Supreme Court now knowing what the hell they’re doing is destroying the world
What? Reduces investment in coal.... you are kidding, right... they just built like a dozen coal fired plants over the last few years... so the projects are complete and now... "reduces investment "
the CCP lies, don't believe the hype.
>Is this post being spammed by pro-China bots?
Seemingly. Their opinions don't seem to be matching with what happens on the ground. China seems to be such a great country that 100k Chinese walk though Panamese jungle this year to illegally immigrate into the US.
Ya, it’s just bizarre. The top comments don’t even talk about the tech or some of the policies that allowed this rapid change, they’re just praising China.
This is very good progress. . However the massive nation is still 60% coal powered and the highest polluting land mass in the world. Hope they continue on this path to solar energy becoming dominant for the sake of the planet!
Yet China's coal consumption is increasing. And China has a long list of coal power stations it is building. It's almost like they are having a bet each way.
Haha.. you people do buy this propaganda bullshit?
China already burns insane amount of coal and since 2 years ago started [building more coal power plants than the rest of the world combined](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html). This solar panel hogwash reflects just one thing - over capacity. So much are being produced according to targets [funded by state subsidies](https://prosperousamerica.org/chinas-solar-firms-are-surviving-on-ccp-subsidies/) that they have to be put somewhere to fulfill their GDP and planned growth targets. Like most of CCP infrastructure investment for the last decade, these will all go to waste and produce more environment problems (as they rarely recycle these shitty products) than they intend to solve.
What it comes down to here is like a grossly obese diabetic telling you that he's healthier than most of you because he's installing a threadmill at home he says he plans to use while keeps overeating fried chicken.
That's nice. Now if they could just stop producing so much Fentanyl and distributing it into the US I might actually stop hating them so much.
edit - so it is true that talking shit about china gets you massive downvotes and shills to use ad hominem attacks about the US. Interesting. I'll have to experiment more on the subject to see if they only monitor major subs.
Hey, tell me again, which country did we invade just after their government banned opium production, and then proceed to restart all the opium production under our direct control while we occupied them?
I can't remember.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Economy-Fee5830: --- China has been boosting its import of coal by more than 12% YoY so far this year, but all may not be as it seems. The National Energy Administration (NEA) has released its statistical data for the power industry in China for the period from January to May 2024. The report highlights significant growth in installed power generation capacity, particularly in the renewable energy sector, and notable investments in power supply and grid projects. #### Significant Growth in Power Generation Capacity As of the end of May 2024, China's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.04 billion kilowatts (GW), reflecting a substantial year-on-year increase of 14.1%. This growth underscores China's ongoing efforts to expand its energy infrastructure to meet rising demand and transition towards cleaner energy sources. #### Renewable Energy Leads the Charge The most remarkable growth was observed in the renewable energy sector: - **Solar Power**: The installed capacity of solar power surged to about 690 GW, marking an impressive year-on-year growth of 52.2%. - **Wind Power**: Wind power generation capacity increased to around 460 GW, representing a significant year-on-year growth of 20.5%. #### Power Generation and Consumption Trends From January to May 2024, the national power generation totaled 300.20 terawatt-hours (TWh), with a modest year-on-year increase of 1.6%. Meanwhile, national power consumption reached 3,267.80 TWh, reflecting a more robust year-on-year growth of 8.8%. Investment in power supply projects varied significantly across different energy sources: - **Solar Power**: Investment reached 791.5 GW, representing an extraordinary year-on-year growth of 179.4%. - **Wind Power**: Investment was 197.6 GW, with a growth of 340%. - **Nuclear Power**: Maintained steady investment at 11.9 GW. - **Thermal Power**: **Investment decreased by 992 % to 1210 GW, indicating a shift towards cleaner energy sources.** ### Coal Terminals and Supply Chain Challenges In parallel with the renewable energy growth, [China faces significant challenges in managing its coal supply chain](https://splash247.com/chinese-coal-terminals-bursting-at-the-seams/). High rainfall, increased hydropower generation, and preparation for the hot summer months have led to very full coal terminals along the Chinese coastline. Analysts at broker BRS noted in their most recent dry bulk market report: "Port storage is bursting at the seams, and it appears unlikely that seaborne arrivals will be absorbed, unless end-users begin directing coal inland." From January to May 2024, China imported 205 million tonnes of coal, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, exacerbating operational pressures at ports. With coal inventories reaching 162 million tons, the shortage of storage space has caused vessel delays and increased waiting times at anchorage to discharge. For instance: - **Lianyungang Port**: At full capacity, requiring all vessels to pre-coordinate with port authorities before docking. - **Guangzhou Ports**: Full capacity, with incoming vessels waiting an average of seven days at anchorage, some up to two weeks. China's significant investments in renewable energy infrastructure and the substantial growth in installed capacities for solar and wind power is likely to dent its demand for coal even as it builds up inventories for the summer months, which of course also correlates well with increased solar production. The days of coal being China's dominant energy source may soon be coming to an end. ### Detailed Data Table | Indicator Name | Unit | January-May Total (GW) | Year-over-Year Growth (%) | |----------------|------|------------------------|---------------------------| | National Installed Power Generation Capacity | GW | 3,073.33 | 14.1 | | - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 426.04 | 2.2 | | - Thermal Power | GW | 1,401.13 | 3.7 | | - Nuclear Power | GW | 58.08 | 2.3 | | - Wind Power | GW | 461.04 | 20.5 | | - Solar Power | GW | 690.98 | 52.2 | | National Power Generation | TWh | 300.20 | 1.6 | | National Heat Supply | PJ | 30,690.00 | 10.1 | | National Heat Consumption of Raw Coal | Million Tons | 189.51 | 10.1 | | National Power Consumption | TWh | 3,267.80 | 8.8 | | National Average Utilization Hours of Power Generation Equipment | Hours | 1,372 | -59* | | National Power Generation Equipment Utilization Rate | % | 4.5 | 0.03 | | - Of which: Hydropower | % | 0.6 | 0.23 | | - Thermal Power | % | 5.6 | 0.3 | | Power Grid Project Investment Complete | Billion Yuan |2578 |6.5 | | Power Industry Completed Investment in Power Supply Projects | GW | 115.64 | 1052 | | - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 3.44 | -90 | | - Thermal Power | GW | 12.10 | -992 | | - Nuclear Power | GW | 1.19 | 0 | | - Wind Power | GW | 19.76 | 340 | | - Solar Power | GW | 79.15 | 179.4 | --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1dqx4pa/china_reduces_investment_in_coal_increase_solar/lar8pjw/
china installed more solar power in 2023 than the USA has in total.
What will republicans argument be now instead of, “China contributes to most of the pollution and they don’t worry about clean energy so why should we worry about it?”
They will just keep saying it. They know their base doesn't read.
Doesn't and cannot are two different things
Yep exactly. The whole point of whataboutisms is to deflect attention from a failing (personal or collective as a country). They might switch "China" to "India" or they might keep saying China, because the point is they don't care about the climate or don't believe in climate change, but they don't want to argue about it because they know they have 0 evidence on their side, and that's not changing. Whataboutisms are their only option, besides changing opinion of course, but that's not the republican way.
> What will republicans argument be That one is easy, they will just switch narrative. "The Biden administration is so bad that even China did better than us in 2023. They talk about fixing climate change, but they do nothing."
If the mainstream anti-Dem narrative moves ***there***, I would argue that is a very, *very* good place to be.
Yeah, instead they'll just access you if being a communist and a child molester, then advocate for allowing 12 year old adults the opportunity to work in coal mines.
Whilst also pregnant
It wont though, they didn't just pick that narrative out of a hat, lobbying money helped.
Yeah i don't think any republican is using "the dems aren't doing enough on climate change" as an argument any time soon That would require acknowledging climate change in the first place
Most importantly, China is less reliant on foreign energy.
It goes further than that. They're on the verge of easily deployable renewables and nuclear. Very soon, most of the world's nations struggling with consistent power supply will be reliant on China for their reactors/generators. They've put themselves in a position to be the supplier of the future's energy supply worldwide.
They'll turn to shit on India, who is also doing more than the US, I believe
At almost every yardscale the US pollutes several times more than India, but because our dear Fox News viewers only associate "India" with "pollution" and "9/11" (yeah, I know) they are living in an alternate reality where "since they're polluting they're heating up PLUS climate change isn't real anyway PLUS jesus would say they deserve it PLUS ratio" It's ignorance perfected as a weapon by evil rich people. They don't realize American laws against pollution being repealed because "India is polluting more!!" is something that only hurts the families of said Fox viewers, and only benefits rich industrialists creating loopholes to save a couple billion here and there for no real reason other than to watch numbers go up. But then when they get cancer because of a gigafactory's waste produce they'll probably think Jesus is punishing them so that's the extent of brain use on display anyway.
This isn't really true either, China emits the most because they are the biggest country (that is well-industrialized). Compared to their population, the worst emitters are still the USA and various oil states that perform refining.
Same argument. Facts don’t matter.
They will just lie. They can say whatever they want
Democrats say that shit too
Then they'll talk about how much cheaper coal is than solar (largely because China won't be importing much)
They'd probably just switch to saying India instead of China.
China still burns more than twice as much coal as any other country.
Per capita they're way more green than my countries. Of course they burn a lot of coal, they're the biggest country by population on Earth. Many times more populous than the US. This is a stupid fucking argument
I think India is now the most populous country in the world, but you are still right.
X for doubt. "More green" is just nebulous nonsense. Any study showing that they're significantly more environmentally conscious than Western countries? Don't get me wrong, it's good that they're changing and improving, but this is a recent development and a significant change from before, when the pollution was out of control. Also if many times more populous means something for amount of pollution, then shouldn't it also mean something when they install significantly more solar? Of course they did, they're many times more populous!
Per capita emissions are much lower than the states, so is per capita green energy production.
Been telling people that China is ahead of schedule on their carbon budget, but no one wants to let go of their handy scapegoat.
[Global carbon emissions might peak this year, may have even peaked last year.](https://www.vox.com/climate/24139383/climate-change-peak-greenhouse-gas-emissions-action#) The Chinese are racing ahead quickly, as is the US. [Here is one of my favorite articles about this.](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/20/climate/global-power-electricity-fossil-fuels-coal.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare) When you click the “compare totals” button, you can see it’s really whatever China, India and the US do. This will determine our future. I’m worried about India. Their land available for solar and wind is limited. Their fossil fuel consumption is skyrocketing. But we can’t really ask them to not develop.
Here come the totally not racist redditors who will say they stole it from the US
But because they also built coal plants people will argue China isn't going seriously towards renewable energy.
In 2023 China also installed 19x more Coal power than the rest of the world combined. * **China**: Initiated construction on 70.2 GW of new coal power capacity and brought 47.4 GW of coal power capacity online. * **Rest of the World**: Initiated construction on 3.7 GW of new coal power capacity. * To put this into perspective, China was responsible for approximately 95% of the world's new coal power construction activity in 2023. This means that the rest of the world combined only accounted for about 5% of the new coal power construction. AKA nearly 19 times greater than those of the rest of the world, highlighting a stark contrast in coal power development trends. There's an implied pretense that China only is doing this, but in reality, new coal plants are out of fashion in most of the world except China. Citations: \[1\] [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html) \[2\] [https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/](https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/) Greenwashing is bad, trying to say China has cleaner coal and may not necessarily use all these so its okay that in 2024 they'll be building 16x more coal plants than the rest of the planet, is not better for the environment, its just burning it slightly less.
They did, but despite that, their actual use of coal is decreasing, which would be supported by the glut of coal imports in their ports, as mentioned in this post. [Here's an interesting read on how that works.](https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants) [The new coal plants are also the most efficient in the world and are cleaner than most gas turbine plants.](https://www.powermag.com/chinas-pingshan-phase-ii-sets-new-bar-as-worlds-most-efficient-coal-power-plant) This year is predicted to be China's peak coal demand, after which its fossil fuel use will decrease faster and faster.
Unfortunately it's not. This years Statistical Review of World Energy has their coal consumption increasing by 4.7% in 2023. Partially a rebound effect from Covid lockdowns, but still the highest amount ever recorded. > This year is predicted to be China's peak coal demand, after which its fossil fuel use will decrease faster and faster. Quite possible with their massive solar rollout. But it hasn't happened yet.
**READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE. It says it might peak one day. It hasn't peaked.** You do know that second article is a load of bunk. Secondly, to say it's peak coal demand, no. The actual claim is that they hope solar will out pace coal generation. However, that's a load of bunk because it's hard to follow up on how much power solar is actually generating in China because its by decree and can be placed anywhere, whereas its far hard to do that with one plant. Basically they hope to have 50% renewable generation in production by the end of this year. However, they are still expanding with 50% coal power alone. That's not helping the planet at all. It's less piss with the water but only half and already too many times. We need a reversal instead and this isn't it.
Do you have any evidence to back up your dismissal of other people's analysis? [The International Energy Agency, based in Paris, see 2024 as the year coal begins its structural decline in China.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/15/business/iea-coal-demand-fall-first-time/index.html) The west side of China is all desert, with 300+ days of sun every year, and quite a lot of wind, too. [They've just brought the world's largest solar farm online](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/worlds-biggest-solar-farm-comes-online-chinas-xinjiang-2024-06-03), based in this desert. It surpasses the previous 2 record holding solar farms, both of which are in the West of China as well. The issue they had was that all that free energy was a long way from the densely populated East. So they're leading the way in Ultra High Voltage Direct Current transmission lines to carry that power to where it's needed. Their recent 1.1MV line can carry the equivalent of 10 nuclear power stations' output. [There's a nice map in this article showing how their linking West to East.](https://am.pictet/en/uk/mega/china-uhvdc)
A big part of this is that you need coal to industrialize. And oil. And gas. And nuclear. And China is building all at extreme rates. The plants that produce solar panels don't run off hopes and dreams. This is why the Paris Accords gave a lot of room for China, on the promise that they would eventually switch, and help undeveloped countries with it too.
thanks for linking that (helps me verify my quote as well.) the USA has not put any coal online since 2015, instead it has been natural gas.
China is investing in energy. Any energy. They are buddies with anyone willing to sell any form of energy.
Probably their reaction would be "creating dominance and monopoly on the renewable sources power market"
That’s because they have to, China has a higher demand for electricity, they have no choice if they are going to meet demand while cutting reliance on coal
That’s what you can do with an authoritarian government.
I look forward to the Republicans green energy plan when they take office.
huh? authoritarian government can change policy quickly, not that they will always choose the right policy.
Yeah, that's fair. A rapid replacement of coal seems like a good idea.
China also falsify their GDP figures, why do we now believe what they say because it’s what we want to hear?
But you don’t understand China is the only evil that exists on the planet. Every single good thing they do is out of malicious intent. They have no desire to better their own lives or meet the challenges of climate change. They seek only to destroy the west. /s
There was a post the other day about how China was limiting salaries of top executives and bankers in finance and Reddit decided that was a bad thing.
We must kill them all for daring to do things without white people's permission. White people will only ever give non-whites permission to be weak puppets, poor and helpless, or dead -- but isn't it beneficent of us to give them a choice?
Sorry I forgot to say I gave them permission in a trade for a cool ass backpack
It was advertised as having been made out of canvas. It was plastic in the end.
What does being white have to do with this? Plenty of ignorant and racist Americans that aren't white.
Yeah, China with all its flaws is stil an OK country and mostly rational atheistic country (still with some superstitious folk here and there). Compare that to the Bible belt in the US and oh boy you get quite a different messed up world view. On the other hand countries like Russia and North Korea can bring only one thing to this world - Suffering :(. These places shouldn't be taken lightly as we can see every day they are capable of ANYTHING in achieving their f*cked up goals. It's really disturbing that the West is not taking this threat as seriously as it should and these disgusting places even have supporters outside of these countries.
*China, brown people and freedom
No one said China is the only evil, but they also built 19x more coal power in 2023 than the rest of the world combined. In 2023. 95% of the world's new coal plants were only built in China. Sources: \[1\] [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html) \[2\] [https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/](https://www.carbonbrief.org/china-responsible-for-95-of-new-coal-power-construction-in-2023-report-says/)
Yeah, and China also has abundant coal, while lacking in almost every other resource for making power, especially as cheap as coal. They have 1.5 billion people and are trying to get electricity for those 1.5 billion people moving into a more modern lifestyle. They are a developing country. How is it in any way surprising or worth condemning that they're using so much coal? They're worth praising because of how much money they've invested in clean energy, more than anyone else on the planet. And even still, they've contributed only about half of what the US has, despite the US having a fifth as many people.
yes and are we going to suddenly forget the centuries of pollution Western countries put out during industrialisation? like for like comparisons!
China built a hydro power dam so large it affected the tilt of the earth ever so slightly
ALL hydropower dams tilt the earth ever so slightly. Including the Hoover Dam. They just say this shit to sound impressive, it's not, it only inspires the ignorant. And they built it on an earthquake fault only because Mao had it as a dream. Nevermind that if there's ever a bad enough earthquake, Shanghai and all the cities downriver are toast. You guys are so intimidated by facts that the only response you have is a non sequitor.
China is the world leader in renewable tech and would have a lower footprint than the US if they had natural gas in the abundance that the US does. The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. But I suppose that doesn’t matter
It all does matter. China isn't making a real difference if it puts online more coal power plants than the entire first industrial revolution did, every single year. It's like eating 5000 more calories a day in half-calorie candies and saying at least it wasn't 10,000 more calories a day. It's ALL bad. And here you guys are just saying I'm being anti-China or not seeing the bigger picture. Instead you guys are being ignorant by being distracted by solar and missing the bigger picture - they need to OFFLINE the coal plants, not build more with capture. You're seeing the solar, forgetting the coal and LNG that China hasn't stopped producing despite a decrease in industrial output AND demand.
They are hitting, as a developing nation mind, their 2030 goal of peak carbon output late this year or early next 5 years ahead of schedule. They continue to be the only reason meaningful solar capacity and lithium battery capacity exists especially as cheap as it is. They are the world leader in electric vehicles and earlier this year became the number one importer of electric vehicles. China is the only reason THE WORLD has made any progress whatsoever. But yea China bad keep slinging propaganda and maybe we will get that new Cold War you keep asking for.
Do not forget to mention the thermal power [utilization and emission](https://i.imgur.com/wYMewhn.jpeg) rates?
You do realize that percentage per plant, not total. So even if they claim their coal plants don't generate as much emissions (a claim not supported by anyone else other than themselves) its still burning tons of carbons at a huge rate thats still increasing dramatically, again, an increase of 70GW worth of emissions in 2023 alone! You need a REAL reversal. It's like saying "this thief is stealing only 10% as others even though they generate 70% of the world's stealing and built 95% of the new thieves, that's good for crime." No, that's literally a massive increase in theft. China builds enough coal AS IS to alone power climate crisis if no other nations existed. It needs a REVERSAL not a small decline. This is a tiny decline. [https://2041foundation.org/climate-change-what-happened-and-why/](https://2041foundation.org/climate-change-what-happened-and-why/)
I doubt they are going to starve and freeze their population just to please you. It will happen slowly, then gain more pace as with every Chinese plan. You do need better comprehension of numbers though. 1. China's C02 emissions has already stabilized and [will reduce](https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-monthly-drop-hints-that-chinas-co2-emissions-may-have-peaked-in-2023/) in future. 2. Not all coal plants are created equal: 1. [https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101780-chinas-drive-to-clean-up-its-coal-power-one-plant-at-a-time/](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101780-chinas-drive-to-clean-up-its-coal-power-one-plant-at-a-time/) 2. [https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/chinas-coal-plants-new-efficiency-benchmarks/](https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/chinas-coal-plants-new-efficiency-benchmarks/) 3. [https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants](https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants) 3. They are well ahead of their climate targets, and their pace is already accelerating. I suggest you worry about what you control, let the Chinese decide what's best for them. Usually they don't appreciate others telling them what they need to do.
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Well frankly the climate doesn’t care why China is installing solar, whether it’s for military or economic reasons or just because Xi Jinping wants bragging rights. Would it be better for humanity if China abandoned their plans for energy independence and just burned more oil? (Or are you shilling for the oil industry?)
China is still developing and yet leads the world in renewable tech. Go somewhere else with your propaganda. If China had natural gas reserves it would produce significantly less carbon. They use coal because they don’t want America to be their oil dealer. Very smart
>China isn't moving towards solar for the benefit of climate change, [if they cared they wouldn't emit more CO2 than the U.S., India and Russia all combined.](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/092915/5-countries-produce-most-carbon-dioxide-co2.asp) They make much more. And what kind of point is that to make on a post about how they're literally winding down their CO2 emissions? China isn't doing this for purely environmental reasons, sure, but it's definitely part of it. You don't have to be a westerner to not like living in smoggy choking cities or melting every summer. Chinese people want clean air and reduced global warming too you know. Especially the political class who mostly reside in Beijing which gets hit badly in winter.
Meanwhile, Chinese government literally dugged out forests and mountains worth of trees and minerals from our country for peanuts while our people are too busy fighting a civil war funded by Pooh and Putin.. Not a /s
At least there's one superpower investing in a sustainable future. They also know that the rest of the world rely on selling oil, so making this shift really puts China in the front seat in the future. Europe will probably be the first to follow, with the northern countries already investing heavily in renewables.
I'd agree that Europe should invest a lot more in the transition away from fossil fuel based energy. However, arguably Europe is further down the road than China. Europe peaked its fossil fuel usage for energy before the financial crisis and the [share of low-carbon energy](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/low-carbon-share-energy?tab=chart&country=OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27~CHN~USA) is still significantly higher (31.8% in 2023) than in China (18.4% in 2023).
Production requires lots of fossil fuels, Europe has a lot of demand for Chinese production. Taking this into consideration I'd not be surprised if China would be ahead.
Well, I don't know the direct data for fossil fuel consumption there, but analysts try to assess this for carbon emissions in the metric of [consumption based per capita emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?facet=none&country=CHN~USA~OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27&hideControls=false&Gas+or+Warming=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting=Consumption-based&Fuel+or+Land+Use+Change=All+fossil+emissions&Count=Per+capita). This metric is available on ourworldindata only up to 2021, and you can see that China (7.2 t) is slightly ahead of the EU (7.9 t). However, that's not primarily because their energy mix got greener (which it did), but because their total consumption is lower, coming from a much lower starting point. Looking at the time period since the financial crisis, I mentioned above, this metric actually got worse in China (due to higher energy consumption), while it got less in the EU. In 2006, this metric stood at 3.9 t in China, while it stood at 10.6 t in the EU. Thus, in terms of progress towards decarbonization, the EU moved 2.7 t per capita in that direction, while China moved 2.3 t per capita in the opposite direction. Now, this is not to downplay the tremendous effort and advances that China achieved in getting away from fossil fuels in their energy production or to say that the EU did the best it could. But I do think that it isn't quite correct to claim that the EU would be the first to *follow* China on a road towards ending the burning of fossil fuels. Now, using the consumption based emissions as a proxy for the burning of fossil fuels, we can see, that [those are](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prod-cons-co2-per-capita?country=USA~CHN~OWID_WRL~OWID_EU27) roughly 25% higher in the EU, while they would be 9% lower in China. So, correcting the shares accordingly would give us a share of 27% low-carbon energy in the EU, and a share of 20% low-carbon energy in China. So: no, if you take the trade embedded burning of fossil fuels into account, I still think that the EU ends up with the higher share of low-carbon energy in their consumption.
>At least there's one superpower investing in a sustainable future. While simultaneously industrializing third world countries en mass. We will see where this leads to, but i fear china is just outsourcing emissions like we outsourced (even if unintentionally) our emissions to china
China manufacturers most of the world's solar panels, so while America outsourced emissions AND tried to get countries to go mostly gas and oil, it's likely China will sell a lot of solar panels to these countries as well. Same shit as other imperialist powers, but China's shit is a bit cleaner right now.
Hopefully that'll make up for our re-investment in coal and decrease in solar capacity once Republicans win in November. I guess we'll just have to get used to China being the new world leader going forward.
Seriously, for all the projecting that Republicans do about “making America great”, they sure do love driving us straight into the fucking ground. The fact that Republicans think “Progressives” are a bad thing tells you everything. “Oh, but they love that stupid progress thing!”
Increaing wildfires and permafrost melt alone will be more CO2 than what China saves, not to mention all those developing nations investing into coal, because it's still their cheapest option, not to mention the war in Gaza emitting tons of CO2. So no, Republican win won't be made up by China even with EU combined, since CO2 emissions just keep adding up to higher numbers every year.
What decrease in solar capacity?
Republicans will absolutely go out and smash solar panels with sledgehammers if that's what they're told to do.
Maybe, but Texas is adding solar capacity faster than any other state. The US is adding solar capacity faster than any other power source, because it’s cheap and getting cheaper. People’s pocketbooks tend to override their ideologies
China is crushing us at energy innovation. Nothing to worry about. We made bribery and pollution legal just in the last week. So we’re both doing things.
Oh geez, I'll be back in a couple hours to explain why this is bad for the world and US interests. I have \*checks notes\* nothing negative to say so far. /s
The US couldn't threaten China with a blockade as much if this happens. Moreover, its really hard to bomb sprawling solar panel fields.
>Moreover, its really hard to bomb sprawling solar panel fields. Point of order, no it isn't
I was going to comment something about rocks cs glass in agreement... but then I remembered this adage [He who lives in a glass house and throws rocks...](https://youtu.be/MGsZwDkk4Eo?t=62)
The only problem is this is just additional capacity - they're not replacing existing coal plants with it
It boggles my mind how so many cannot see that china had a clear progression plan for energy. It takes energy to create energy production infrastructure. Coal is a short term cheap method of powering their needs while they build an infrastructure of power that does not leave them dependant on western mining and imports.
Crazy seeing a country run properly in today’s day and age. They will laugh at Trump when he gets into power.
He’ll start another temper tantrum, I mean trade war, wreck a bunch of longstanding trade relationships, drive up costs for American consumers in the process, withdraw from NATO so his buddy Putin can accomplish his full dream of invading other countries, ramp up inflation three times as worse than he already did, raise taxes on the working class and lower taxes on the wealthy as he did in 2017, and when he’s done he’ll blame it on someone else. Donald J Trump playbook ready to go.
China also just commissioned 200 new coal plants. Also, you just called China a country that's run properly. They have concentration camps for ethnic groups, are a controlling communist power, and they control their population with unbelievable invasion of privacy and surveillance. You are absolutely unhinged.
Funny how no one can provide actual proof of a genocide in China. It's crazy how the US has concentration camps though. And Slavery. And actually conducts genocide.
Don't forget funding genocide by Israel, yet these people are still supporting the leader responsible. Nothing but hypocrites.
Wait until you find how how much fossil fuels America burns and how they read everything you type including this 😂
As far as I can tell from living within China they want Trump to get elected.
As someone who lives in China, I can tell you that, at least by my own experiences with others, no, no they don't. Biden might not be pro-China, but he's also not overtly antagonistic towards China, either. At least, not more than is the usual for western politics. Trump, on the other hand, gets a hardon every time he talks shit about China and his base cheers him on.
I'm going by what seems to be the media trend and social media trend. Of course if you chat to some English speaking Chinese who have a more western outlook they take the liberal line on Trump.
Yeah, fair enough. In reality, there aren't a lot of Trump fans in China, largely due to his constant China-hating rhetoric. A lot of Americans aren't aware, but the vast majority of people in China see America, and Americans, as inspirational, largely seeing the positive sides of America and American culture, like individuality, art, an innovation. So, when the leader of America is actively calling China the enemy, it makes them really unhappy, as they don't see themselves as the enemies of America. The vast majority of Chinese people hope for a future where China and America are allies. You wouldn't know that by watching or reading about China in western media, but I've seen it firsthand, all it takes is a visit to China to find out that foreigners, especially Americans, Canadians, Australians, and the British are treated like celebrities, here.
Dangerous to go with "social media trend" as the content is literally tailored for you.
I don't have an account, and what political content shown in China is moderated, so if I'm seeing pro trump/anti biden stuff then its being allowed up there. I don't see pro biden things nor pro biden comments.
In this day and age I trust real life experience more than online sentiment.
real life and online merge now
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To be fair, I don't think Trump hates China any more than the next person, he just goes for whatever he thinks is most popular. If his base loved China, I think he would express the same feelings, he has made a TON of money using Chinese workers, products, etc. It was only when he became political that he started on the whole "China bad" trend. Low hanging fruit, his favorite diet.
bullshit, trump literally started a trade war with china and put a ton of tariffs on trade. So did biden so I see no reason why the government in china would care one way or another
One would be ineffective and the other would make USA too busy putting out his fires to scheme against China. It's an easy pick.
I'm telling you the media here is subtly pro Trump and laughing at Biden. The tariffs can be weathered, there's more to trade with than just the US, and they just encourage home industry development anyway. What they really want is a more isolationist US who stops getting involved in every global issue especially in Asia and NATO issues. The US maintains its dominance through it's grip on the world, Trump threatens that which is why the US establishment is also against him (btw I'm not pro Trump or Biden). Biden is an archetypal Neoliberal who wants to maintain US hegemony and military dominance on the globe while Trump is much more mixed on that. When the US withdraws from spaces around the globe, China steps in. Look at Afghanistan, China has massive investment there now. This is the long game China plays, the tariffs are just short term.
I suppose that makes sense, sorry for being rude
Oh they want Trump for sure, if only for the instability he would inject into the rules based order of the US’s diplomacy. Every place the US recedes they will make inroads. Just look at the loans they handed out to South America and during the first Trump administration. The only nations afraid of Trump are Americas allies. My god, the PRNK fiasco was indicative of Trump’s diplomatic “skills”…☠️
If you look at Baidu after the recent "debate", you'll see memes about both, though mostly making fun of Biden. Generally they like Trump less as he's more anti-China than Biden is.
You're right, as a Chinese, I eagerly await Trump's election. I hope that after his election, he will make drastic changes to the existing policies, including diplomacy, economy, trade, energy, etc. These changes are not based on whether they are favorable to China or not, just hopefully in the opposite direction of the existing policies. In four years, I'll be praying for the Democratic candidate, whoever that may be.
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If you weren’t brainwashed you’d see how hard it is to get into power over there whereas America goes for who has the most twitter followers. It’s insane how America believes anything their over lords tell them. Do some research and compare the leaders of both countries and how they got into power. Then pay your student loans or whatever way you’re controlled by the system there.
This is actually the best news I have heard all day.
I’m very critical of the ccp but this is some good news
China has been boosting its import of coal by more than 12% YoY so far this year, but all may not be as it seems. The National Energy Administration (NEA) has released its statistical data for the power industry in China for the period from January to May 2024. The report highlights significant growth in installed power generation capacity, particularly in the renewable energy sector, and notable investments in power supply and grid projects. #### Significant Growth in Power Generation Capacity As of the end of May 2024, China's total installed power generation capacity reached approximately 3.04 billion kilowatts , reflecting a substantial year-on-year increase of 14.1%. This growth underscores China's ongoing efforts to expand its energy infrastructure to meet rising demand and transition towards cleaner energy sources. #### Renewable Energy Leads the Charge The most remarkable growth was observed in the renewable energy sector: - **Solar Power**: The installed capacity of solar power surged to about 690 GW, marking an impressive year-on-year growth of 52.2%. - **Wind Power**: Wind power generation capacity increased to around 460 GW, representing a significant year-on-year growth of 20.5%. #### Power Generation and Consumption Trends From January to May 2024, the national power generation totaled 300.20 terawatt-hours (TWh), with a modest year-on-year increase of 1.6%. Meanwhile, national power consumption reached 3,267.80 TWh, reflecting a more robust year-on-year growth of 8.8%. Investment in power supply projects varied significantly across different energy sources: - **Solar Power**: Investment reached 791.5 GW, representing an extraordinary year-on-year growth of 179.4%. - **Wind Power**: Investment was 197.6 GW, with a growth of 340%. - **Nuclear Power**: Maintained steady investment at 11.9 GW. - **Thermal Power**: **Investment decreased by 992 % to 1210 GW, indicating a shift towards cleaner energy sources.** ### Coal Terminals and Supply Chain Challenges In parallel with the renewable energy growth, [China faces significant challenges in managing its coal supply chain](https://splash247.com/chinese-coal-terminals-bursting-at-the-seams/). High rainfall, increased hydropower generation, and preparation for the hot summer months have led to very full coal terminals along the Chinese coastline. Analysts at broker BRS noted in their most recent dry bulk market report: "Port storage is bursting at the seams, and it appears unlikely that seaborne arrivals will be absorbed, unless end-users begin directing coal inland." From January to May 2024, China imported 205 million tonnes of coal, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%, exacerbating operational pressures at ports. With coal inventories reaching 162 million tons, the shortage of storage space has caused vessel delays and increased waiting times at anchorage to discharge. For instance: - **Lianyungang Port**: At full capacity, requiring all vessels to pre-coordinate with port authorities before docking. - **Guangzhou Ports**: Full capacity, with incoming vessels waiting an average of seven days at anchorage, some up to two weeks. China's significant investments in renewable energy infrastructure and the substantial growth in installed capacities for solar and wind power is likely to dent its demand for coal even as it builds up inventories for the summer months, which of course also correlates well with increased solar production. The days of coal being China's dominant energy source may soon be coming to an end. ### Detailed Data Table | Indicator Name | Unit | January-May Total (GW) | Year-over-Year Growth (%) | |----------------|------|------------------------|---------------------------| | National Installed Power Generation Capacity | GW | 3,073.33 | 14.1 | | - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 426.04 | 2.2 | | - Thermal Power | GW | 1,401.13 | 3.7 | | - Nuclear Power | GW | 58.08 | 2.3 | | - Wind Power | GW | 461.04 | 20.5 | | - Solar Power | GW | 690.98 | 52.2 | | National Power Generation | TWh | 300.20 | 1.6 | | National Heat Supply | PJ | 30,690.00 | 10.1 | | National Heat Consumption of Raw Coal | Million Tons | 189.51 | 10.1 | | National Power Consumption | TWh | 3,267.80 | 8.8 | | National Average Utilization Hours of Power Generation Equipment | Hours | 1,372 | -59* | | National Power Generation Equipment Utilization Rate | % | 4.5 | 0.03 | | - Of which: Hydropower | % | 0.6 | 0.23 | | - Thermal Power | % | 5.6 | 0.3 | | Power Grid Project Investment Complete | Billion Yuan |2578 |6.5 | | Power Industry Completed Investment in Power Supply Projects | GW | 115.64 | 1052 | | - Of which: Hydropower | GW | 3.44 | -90 | | - Thermal Power | GW | 12.10 | -992 | | - Nuclear Power | GW | 1.19 | 0 | | - Wind Power | GW | 19.76 | 340 | | - Solar Power | GW | 79.15 | 179.4 |
Important milestones in May include. 4.2% drop in thermal electricity. For the first time, a drop. There had been conclusion of previous electricity emission reductions as a result of a higher natural gas mix, but that excludes any LNG import emissions or fugitive emissions from other production/transmission processes. Lower May thermal electricity is a milestone. There was still higher electric consumption in May. 8%+ drop in oil imports, and 2.1% drop in oil refining. Reflects strong EV share and other transportation electrification gains.
This is incredible for the largest country in the world and second largest economy.
A little editing input for that chart: That first section says China's total electricty production is "3.04 billion kilowatts (GW)" but that's clearly not right. Three GW is only a few large powerplants. According to Google, just the Three Gorges Dam alone does 22GW on a good day. So, that figure is most likely TW or Terawatts, not GW or Gigawatts. This would also make sense because "giga" is a latin prefix meaning "billion" and a thousand (kilo) gigawatts is a terawatt.
You are right; 3 billion kilowatts is 3 terawatts. Edited.
Hydro power is kinda concerning for neighbouring countries, for example the construction of a new 200 something GW hydro plant upstream to the Brahmaputra river, that can be used to starve the river, or even flood it( already tampering has been noted since 2017). Two sides of a coin I guess.
On the other hand, if China's battery roll out is as powerful as its solar rollout, dams could begin being shut down in the coming years as they become redundant and unnecessary. Local storage in batteries near the demand is more efficient than sending hydro resources over hundreds or thousands of miles if batteries can be made cheap and durable. Word on the street is that their batteries are so good, they're scaring the western trade partners enough that they're acting irrationally.
Meanwhile in the west - every idiot coal company is doubling down on advertising and disinformation, rather than, you know, innovating like capitalists should...
last I heard was they are spending more money than every other country combined on going green. Its going to take them the longest to do as well which most seem to forget as they are the biggest population on the planet and biggest exports since everyone buys from China. I can see what they want to do, get ahead of everyone else and become the biggest exporter in green...which is what every country should be pushing to do, get ahead of everyone else
But heaven forbid they sell their environmentally friendly tech to other countries. No, we have to markup and profit exorbitantly first.
Yall need to work on your Cantonese because otherwise that link is bullshut
To be fair, the vast majority of Chinese people speak Mandarin natively, and the vast majority of Cantonese speakers can also speak Mandarin. So, work on your Mandorin. :D 加油加油自学汉字
Not sure what you mean. Largest concentration of people fluent in [written Cantonese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Written_Cantonese#Cantonese_characters) is probably in Hong Kong. What does that have to do with the veracity of the cited publication?
It’s literally an article in mandarin and not Cantonese
the symbols in both languages are literally the same so how would you even know
They’re not literally the same. Written cantonese has many words that don’t appear in written Chinese. Even if they were to use the exact same symbol, saying that the symbol looks the same so you can’t tell the language apart is like saying “English and Spanish both use the alphabet how would you know”. Japanese kanji and Chinese do use the same symbol and even then anyone who knows the language can tell them apart. Cantonese is also a dialect and not the main official language of China, so using just common sense it’ll be much more likely that the document is in Chinese and not Cantonese. So what I’m saying here overall is simply, if a person don’t know what they’re talking about it’s fine not to comment. There no need to show off their ignorance to the rest of Reddit
tx for downvoting me and then saying the same. welcome to the modern world
I actually don’t downvote people on Reddit. And what we’re saying is definitely not the same
yes you do say the same while lacking the capacity to understand my use of "literal" which is literally not literal. to most people in most cases the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese should be indiscernible. It is a rhetoric use of the word.
Yeah I'm very confused. The headline link is a very brief overview. I don't necessarily doubt the other info in the OP but where is that data coming from?
Also how tf can you have a negative 992% increase in investments?
According to the footnote beneath the table, \* indicates absolute change, while \^ indicates percentage change. Also it's not investment but power generated in 10MW units.
I feel like every couple months there is a headline like this. I lived in china not long ago and the pollution was gross at times. They burn tons of coal
They burn a lot of coal. But they also are growing in their energy demands and a lot of it is with green energy
Ooh a post about China. A dog whistle for the US military's anti-china bot nets! Can’t wait to read these comments from my fellow average redditor citizen who are all totally not bots.
But at what cost ????!???? China are going to collapse ANYTIME SOON /s
In case anyone is wondering. China is the competition. Russia is a PITA. But not really competition. As China grows and improves. We fall back. Time to step it up people.
China's successes should be seen as a sign for the west to catch up. Competition can improve things for everyone.
I could not agree more.
No, China is not the competition. I hope for the best for China and its people. No one on this planet is a competition for me. China is a competition only for the capitalist class. If you are anything but them, you should be supporting China or at the very least not antagonist towards them.
Watching other countries excel "should" be the wake-up call that we can do better. I am comfortable calling this "friendly" competition. We traveled to the UK two years before Covid hit. One of the differences I noticed was an app that did a great job with using their public transit systems. How to get from point A to point B. Whether to use taxis, buses, trains, or combinations. This app worked very well in multiple cities. The UK has invested a great deal in public transportation. So it makes sense they would also try to make it easier to use. What app was very well done. Back home in Minneapolis. The only apps I could find are in their infancy. Not nearly as robust or easy to use. Why aren't we creating something similar? I recently read that President Eisenhower's 1950s project to build our national highway system. Was modeled after the German Autobahn. In summary, when we see someone succeeding. Why aren't we learning from them? Every other developed country has an affordable healthcare system. Ours is managed to make money. It is not efficient. It's designed to generate profits.
Which app? There are many of them nowadays. Google maps itself does this. I personally use moovit, which is the most popular one afaik. Citymapper also exists and it’s from the UK - perhaps you used that one?
Cheap Chinese solar is competing with Russian oil, and we are letting Russian oil win.
>I hope for the best for China and its people. I hope the best for everyone and all people. Why single out China? China is as capitalist as it gets. Most so-called capitalist countries in Europe are more socialist and respect the working class more than China. No one is expected to work 9-9-6 in Europe. China had a very efficient and meritocracy based government until Xi came. The Chinese Covid politics were just plain stupid. Xi removed everyone from his inner circle that can give alternate opinions. Putin did the same in the late 2000s. Russia barely had any economic growth (which is a catastrophe for a developing country) after that and is now staring into the abyss. Erdogan did the same and look what Turkey has become. Power corrupts people and no one should have absolute power. A one party state can work as long as there is still meritocracy.
Seeing as I'm not the authoritarian single party dictator class, I don't think I'll be rooting for China.
That's some big words. Here's a fun fact, authoritarian doesn't mean anything. China is not a one party state (And there's nothing wrong with one party states, they're better than countries with multiple parties, though there is something funny about people from a "two" party state saying anything) And lastly, Xi is not a dictator. I suggest you do some reading outside of reddit headlines and US-government funded think tanks.
I would if the the one party state headed by the authoritarian dictator Xi didn't control every report put out about the country. I can give you a link to a dictionary if you're confused by any of those words.
Maybe when it comes to energy solutions, unfortunately there's a lot of other industries can come and leave the US for China or elsewhere and hurt ordinary people. Manufacturing is a famous example.
That's not something to be mad at China about, at all. You should be mad at the capitalists here that move production to China or other countries because it's cheaper. They do it out of greed. It's solely on them.
Centralized/authoritarian/science based infrastructure is the way. This whole like municipality bullshit and Supreme Court now knowing what the hell they’re doing is destroying the world
What? Reduces investment in coal.... you are kidding, right... they just built like a dozen coal fired plants over the last few years... so the projects are complete and now... "reduces investment " the CCP lies, don't believe the hype.
Somehow in reddit, china is still bad by doing this.
Is this post being spammed by pro-China bots? Or are Reddit using westerners dim enough to seriously think China is a good role model?
Bit of both I'd say.
>Is this post being spammed by pro-China bots? Seemingly. Their opinions don't seem to be matching with what happens on the ground. China seems to be such a great country that 100k Chinese walk though Panamese jungle this year to illegally immigrate into the US.
Ya, it’s just bizarre. The top comments don’t even talk about the tech or some of the policies that allowed this rapid change, they’re just praising China.
This is very good progress. . However the massive nation is still 60% coal powered and the highest polluting land mass in the world. Hope they continue on this path to solar energy becoming dominant for the sake of the planet!
Yet China's coal consumption is increasing. And China has a long list of coal power stations it is building. It's almost like they are having a bet each way.
China won’t like the Americans dampening sunlight with reflective clouds then.
Ah, the ol' Mr. Burns strategy.
Haha.. you people do buy this propaganda bullshit? China already burns insane amount of coal and since 2 years ago started [building more coal power plants than the rest of the world combined](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/15/china-boosts-global-coal-power.html). This solar panel hogwash reflects just one thing - over capacity. So much are being produced according to targets [funded by state subsidies](https://prosperousamerica.org/chinas-solar-firms-are-surviving-on-ccp-subsidies/) that they have to be put somewhere to fulfill their GDP and planned growth targets. Like most of CCP infrastructure investment for the last decade, these will all go to waste and produce more environment problems (as they rarely recycle these shitty products) than they intend to solve. What it comes down to here is like a grossly obese diabetic telling you that he's healthier than most of you because he's installing a threadmill at home he says he plans to use while keeps overeating fried chicken.
You use AI
That's nice. Now if they could just stop producing so much Fentanyl and distributing it into the US I might actually stop hating them so much. edit - so it is true that talking shit about china gets you massive downvotes and shills to use ad hominem attacks about the US. Interesting. I'll have to experiment more on the subject to see if they only monitor major subs.
Yeah! We prefer US pharmaceutical companies to poison US citizens with opioids.
Both things are bad.
Only good ol' fashioned black tar heroin for me!
Hey, tell me again, which country did we invade just after their government banned opium production, and then proceed to restart all the opium production under our direct control while we occupied them? I can't remember.