China: #1 emitter, #1 energy consumer

If you haven't already seen the Wall Street Journal article on China's rising energy consumption, take five minutes out of your busy schedule to give it a read. The article identifies some of the key implications of China's increasing influence on global energy markets and what that means for the US.

But don't stop there. Be sure to take a look at WRI's analysis of how and why China has gotten to this point.

Chu, China, and the need for progress

Great article from Wired earlier this week on Energy Secretary Steven Chu's perspective on US-China climate change policy. A bit long but well worth the read. And you may want to have a look at The Climate Desk, which is where I came across the article. I'm all about the one stop shop for finding information.

Here are some of the key messages from the article if you're short on time:
- China is spending $100 billion (that's with a "b") on clean energy every year
- The US should view China as a partner in this arena as opposed to an adversary
- The size of China's market could provide US companies an opportunity to test their clean tech products at scale, especially in the building sector

In keeping with the one stop shop theme, I highly recommend checking out the ChinaFAQs website to learn more about what China is doing on climate change and energy policy. Some of the content can be pretty techy but it's broken down into manageable bites for the casual reader. For those one of you who are avid readers of the GreenMachine, you'll remember that my very first post was on ChinaFAQs. Ahh, the memories. I'm getting misty eyed.