Speaker 1: Guess what, mango, what's that will? I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: you saw this, but earlier this year, the Chinese province
Speaker 1: of Qinghai successfully powered itself for a full week on
Speaker 1: a renewable energy I'm not sure I heard that. So
Speaker 1: I had read about this just a little bit, but
Speaker 1: I didn't remember the scale of it. So they were
Speaker 1: using solar and wind and hydro power, and they managed
Speaker 1: to provide power to five point six million residents for
Speaker 1: seven full days. I mean, that's more than the population
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles. It's more than Chicago. It's more than
Speaker 1: Phoenix and Philadelphia and San Antonio combined. It's more than
Speaker 1: San Diego, Dallas, Seattle, and Austin combined. I think we
Speaker 1: got the idea. It's a lot of people. Yeah, good,
Speaker 1: because I think I was about to run out of
Speaker 1: my Citi's there. But you know, but all of this
Speaker 1: is even more interesting when you consider the images of
Speaker 1: big cities in China covered in smog. So it got
Speaker 1: me wondering just how serious China is about moving toward
Speaker 1: renewable energy. And there's a bigger question here, you know,
Speaker 1: are they actually positioned to become the green superpower of
Speaker 1: the future. So that's what we're talking about today. Let's
Speaker 1: get started. HEIIR podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: I'm Will Pearson and has always I'm joined by my
Speaker 1: good friend man Guesh Ticketer and on the other side
Speaker 1: of the soundproof glass, I think calculating his carbon footprint
Speaker 1: as our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. So mego. We're
Speaker 1: talking about China today and specifically asking the question will
Speaker 1: they become the world's renewable energy superpower? Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: feels a little strange to be asking that question given
Speaker 1: the reputation China has with its environmental standards. So if
Speaker 1: you've ever been to any big city there or even
Speaker 1: seen photos, China has had this major air quality problem
Speaker 1: for decades now. And if you remember back before the
Speaker 1: two Olympics, I feel like there were so many stories
Speaker 1: about the Chinese government and how they were like antically
Speaker 1: trying to plant flowers and trees and trying to pretty
Speaker 1: everything up. It was almost like they had this messy
Speaker 1: house and they were rushing to clean before the entire
Speaker 1: world was dropping in for a visit. Well, I've actually
Speaker 1: never been, but I feel like anyone I know who's
Speaker 1: gone just for work or to visit. Briefly, they've returned
Speaker 1: talking about that air quality in the big cities. Well,
Speaker 1: I actually visited once when I was in eighth grade,
Speaker 1: and I do remember being dusty. But the biggest impression
Speaker 1: China made on me was that we were in the
Speaker 1: McDonald's and it was so fancy. In fact, after we ordered,
Speaker 1: we got kicked out because they were having a wedding
Speaker 1: there away. Yeah, so that's the first thing I remember.
Speaker 1: And and that all the hotels used to give you
Speaker 1: slippers because it wasn't uncommon for businessmen to just spit
Speaker 1: on the floors, even in the rooms, and these were
Speaker 1: nice hotels. Maybe we should change the topic of today's episode.
Speaker 1: We'll just talk about McDonald's and hotels. Remember, that's right,
Speaker 1: things Mango remembers about China. But I know you did
Speaker 1: say it was pretty polluted to and you know, it's
Speaker 1: been surprising when you see reporters talking about China leading
Speaker 1: this green revolution. So so I do want to talk
Speaker 1: about that today. We'll talk about McDonald's another time. So,
Speaker 1: I know, like when you mentioned the green revolution thing
Speaker 1: to me, I was so confused. I've read this two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen New Yorker piece about this artist Kai Goo Chang.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm butchering his name, but it was all
Speaker 1: about how he walks this fine line of commenting on
Speaker 1: environmental issues but doesn't expressly say it because of the government.
Speaker 1: And his pieces are totally crazy, Like he had this giant,
Speaker 1: rusted out ship that had all these pairs of sick
Speaker 1: animals on them, like these wand looking zebras and gazelles
Speaker 1: and wolves and whatever on this bizarro Noah's ark, and
Speaker 1: he flirted it down this big waterway in Shanghai and
Speaker 1: docted at this major art museum. He also made this
Speaker 1: super beautiful lake at the museum. It's this piece called
Speaker 1: Silent Ink, and he excavated down into the concrete floors.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how he got permission, but then he
Speaker 1: filled the space with this old calligraphy inc which just
Speaker 1: feels traditional and poetic. But when you're looking at this
Speaker 1: lake in a room that's basically all black, you get
Speaker 1: the pollution reference, right. And also there was this industrial
Speaker 1: chimney in the space and he put three baby dolls
Speaker 1: on a swing there and he called an air of Heaven.
Speaker 1: I mean, none of this is very subtle. Wow, And
Speaker 1: I actually I'm curious, like, how did this guy not
Speaker 1: get arrested. Yeah, I have no idea. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is a clear critique of the environment and China's handling
Speaker 1: of it. But he was also the ardent lighting director
Speaker 1: for the Beijing Olympics, so he's really respected and now
Speaker 1: he lives in New Jersey. Anyway, Well, I want to
Speaker 1: give us a really quick overview of the state of
Speaker 1: the environment in China and what they've done in the
Speaker 1: past couple of decades, you know, just to set the
Speaker 1: stage for what they've been up to recently. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: happy to do that, and I think it might give
Speaker 1: us some perspective to highlight a couple numbers. First, let
Speaker 1: me let me look at these. So there are estimates
Speaker 1: that seven hundred and fifty thousand people or more die
Speaker 1: prematurely each year because of air and water pollution in China,
Speaker 1: and some of those estimates say by as much as
Speaker 1: five or six years, so it's significant. Yeah, and prepping
Speaker 1: for today's show, I saw that only about one percent
Speaker 1: of the country's city residents are breathing clean air on
Speaker 1: a daily basis. Yeah, it's really staggering and that industrial
Speaker 1: air pollution is what led to cancer becoming the lead
Speaker 1: cause of death in China. And they've dealt for years
Speaker 1: now with major issues around soil contamination, contaminated waterways, and
Speaker 1: lead poisoning, but you know, will mostly be focusing on
Speaker 1: air quality and to a lesser extent, water quality. And
Speaker 1: one other number or index that helps put things in
Speaker 1: perspective is the Air Quality Index, and the US Embassy
Speaker 1: in Beijing began posting that each day, and then that's
Speaker 1: been going on for several years now. So I've actually
Speaker 1: seen the air Quality Index before, but can you remind
Speaker 1: me what the numbers mean? Sure? And so on the index,
Speaker 1: you've got this rating of a hundred one to a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty, which would indicate slight pollution than a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty one, The two hundred means moderate pollution.
Speaker 1: Then you've got a range that means heavy pollution all
Speaker 1: the way up to three hundred, and then above that
Speaker 1: from three oh one to five hundred. This means hazardous
Speaker 1: levels of pollution. So it's probably in your best interest
Speaker 1: to steer clear of a rating in that range, and
Speaker 1: I'm guessing Beijing's is not that good. Well, it was
Speaker 1: interesting to see the way the US described it in
Speaker 1: their post on the first day Beijing score c coust
Speaker 1: the five hundred more. But that was the first time
Speaker 1: they actually went above five hundred. Again, this is well
Speaker 1: above the hazardous range. This was in November of two
Speaker 1: thousand ten, and the way they described it was just
Speaker 1: crazy bad. And then they decided to change it to
Speaker 1: beyond index. I mean, that's pretty bad when you're going
Speaker 1: beyond index, especially when the top two hundred points on
Speaker 1: the index already represent hazardous well, and they didn't stop there.
Speaker 1: I mean they were readings in two thousand thirteen that
Speaker 1: were as high as eight hundreds. Perfect is but not
Speaker 1: good in this case. And you know, obviously at this
Speaker 1: point the government had to take it more seriously, or
Speaker 1: at least paid lip service to taking it more seriously.
Speaker 1: So they developed this action plan which would work to
Speaker 1: reduce pollution over a several year period and invest in renewables.
Speaker 1: So that's when China began investing in renewables. Well, actually
Speaker 1: the investments began growing substantially well before this, and that
Speaker 1: growth really began in two thousand four, two thousand five,
Speaker 1: and and just to illustrate this growth, So in two
Speaker 1: thousand four, China invested about three billion dollars on renewable energy,
Speaker 1: and maybe that sounds like a big figure, but that
Speaker 1: number grew every year after that until two thousand fifteen,
Speaker 1: when it reached a hundred and three billion. So again,
Speaker 1: that's three billion to a hundred and three billings. Wow,
Speaker 1: I mean that's a massively So let's talk about China's
Speaker 1: current usage before we break down their plans for the future.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's start with the fact that, not surprisingly,
Speaker 1: China uses more energy than any other country. And I
Speaker 1: think we would expect that given their population. And in
Speaker 1: two thousand and fifteen, China consumed a little over twenty
Speaker 1: of what's known as the world's final total consumption of fuel.
Speaker 1: So this would be the combination of oil, natural gas, coal, electricity, biofuels,
Speaker 1: and any other sources. Yeah, so this was crazy to me.
Speaker 1: I was actually looking at a list of the largest
Speaker 1: energy uses in the world, and apparently on a per
Speaker 1: capita basis, China isn't the biggest defender, or even then
Speaker 1: the top ten for that matter, it's Iceland. And that's
Speaker 1: all misleading because it's a calculation of all sources of energy,
Speaker 1: So Iceland's primarily renewable space energy gets counted into this,
Speaker 1: and also having a small population throws off the statistic too.
Speaker 1: But what's weird is that the US also comes in
Speaker 1: ahead of China on a para capita energy usage basis. Okay,
Speaker 1: so so let's get back to China. How does their
Speaker 1: energy usage breakdown? I don't know if I'm ready to
Speaker 1: get back to China. I still want to talk about Iceland.
Speaker 1: Why are they using so much energy? I know it's renewables.
Speaker 1: We we won't get into that. So all right, Well,
Speaker 1: coal is still king in China, and while it's been
Speaker 1: declining in terms of the percentage of the country's energy production,
Speaker 1: it's still accounts for a little over sixty of this production,
Speaker 1: and that's now maybe seven or eight percent over the
Speaker 1: past few years. But you know, to say coal is
Speaker 1: big in China is a huge understatement. I think, trying
Speaker 1: to produce something like forty five percent of the world's
Speaker 1: coal in two thousand and sixteen. But in addition to that,
Speaker 1: it's also the largest importer of coal. So this is
Speaker 1: just a tremendous amount of coal there. And I know
Speaker 1: the government has been shutting down some coal mines and
Speaker 1: have talked about restrictions on building new plants. But much
Speaker 1: like we've heard discussed in the US, there are a
Speaker 1: ton of people were employed by the coal industry. I
Speaker 1: think I saw this New York Times figure that had
Speaker 1: it at about four million coal miners. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: it's a ton of jobs. And and actually let's keep
Speaker 1: that number in mind when we talk about the economic
Speaker 1: opportunity on the renewables front, just to see how it compares.
Speaker 1: But you know, if you've ever seen any stories or
Speaker 1: films about the lives of coal miners and several of
Speaker 1: the rural minds in China, it's an incredibly dangerous job.
Speaker 1: And we hear about the dangerous conditions for miners here
Speaker 1: in the States, but the number of deaths each year
Speaker 1: in Chinese minds are just staggering. And this is despite
Speaker 1: the regulations from the Chinese government, because you know, when
Speaker 1: there's seventeen thousand minds in a country, it's really difficult
Speaker 1: to actually crack down on the illegally operated minds. These
Speaker 1: have inadequate ventilation, poorly supported tunnels. But that could definitely
Speaker 1: be its own episode. And I know we're going to
Speaker 1: focus on the impact of the industry as a whole.
Speaker 1: But actually you were telling me earlier about a statistic
Speaker 1: on CEO two emissions there. Yeah, let me just find
Speaker 1: this because I want to get the numbers right. But
Speaker 1: one report I was looking at noted then two thousand
Speaker 1: and fifteen, China produce just shy of thirty percent of
Speaker 1: the world's total c O two emissions from fuel combustion,
Speaker 1: and that actually makes it the world's biggest polluter. However,
Speaker 1: they keep coming back to this per capital defense, which
Speaker 1: shows they're not at the top of the list when
Speaker 1: measured per capita. I mean, I remember cheering about this
Speaker 1: way back in the early OTTs, that there were all
Speaker 1: these developing countries that thought it was unfair that the
Speaker 1: US was imposing these environmental restrictions on them, especially at
Speaker 1: a time when they were having their industrial booms. Because
Speaker 1: of course, countries in the West grew without real concern
Speaker 1: for polluting in their own industrial revolutions and then tapered
Speaker 1: back once they were like these bustling economies. But I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's really interesting to note that back in China
Speaker 1: produce less than six percent of the world's CEO two
Speaker 1: emissions and now it's thirty so it's been this massive increase,
Speaker 1: and especially since the early two thousand's when emissions really skyrocket,
Speaker 1: is so six percent to Yeah, that is that is huge. Alright,
Speaker 1: So so coal is the biggie here. Well, actually, what
Speaker 1: about oil? I mean, I know you were looking into
Speaker 1: their oil usage and are they also the biggest user
Speaker 1: there too? And I know I've seen several stories about
Speaker 1: how much the auto industry has been growing in China. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so car sales have grown tremendously, with twenty four million
Speaker 1: more people getting cars in two thousand fifteen. And here's
Speaker 1: what's crazy. So the economists noted that China is at
Speaker 1: about a hundred twenty vehicles per a thousand people, which
Speaker 1: is around the level of America and the nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1: So if you think about that figure, it's inevitable that's
Speaker 1: going to grow significantly in and with that, the demand
Speaker 1: for oil is definitely going to increase as well. But
Speaker 1: despite that, they still haven't cracked the top ten in
Speaker 1: oil usage still. I mean, oil provided about of China's
Speaker 1: energy in two thousand fifteen. All right, well, let's briefly
Speaker 1: talk about natural gas and nuclear and neither of them
Speaker 1: are currently a significant percentage of China's energy usage. And
Speaker 1: then we'll talk about China's role in the green revolution. Definitely,
Speaker 1: So China actually produces less energy from natural gas than
Speaker 1: it does from renewable sources. But we should note that
Speaker 1: the US is both the largest producer and the largest
Speaker 1: user of natural gas in the world. Okay, so what
Speaker 1: about nuclear I mean, the the US is the biggest
Speaker 1: producer there too, right, Definitely, so the US is the
Speaker 1: biggest producer by a pretty wide margin. It's nearly twice
Speaker 1: as much the next biggest, and that would be France.
Speaker 1: But it is interesting way when you look at France,
Speaker 1: like how they use it. They produce a whopping seventy
Speaker 1: eight percent of its electricity from nuclear power. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: China produces about three percent of its power from nuclear
Speaker 1: But China appears to be investing more than pretty much
Speaker 1: everyone else in the space. So just last year they
Speaker 1: brought on five new reactors, which is the most they've
Speaker 1: ever brought on in a year, and they're almost a
Speaker 1: couple dozen more being built right now. In fact, China
Speaker 1: accounted for pretty much all of the global nuclear power
Speaker 1: increase in two thousand sixteen. That's huge. All right. Well, well,
Speaker 1: I know we're going to take a break for a
Speaker 1: quiz in a minute, but before we do, I feel
Speaker 1: like I can actually hear some of our listeners screaming
Speaker 1: at their phones or speakers and saying, you know, why
Speaker 1: did you put nuclear in the no on renewable sources
Speaker 1: of energy? Because nuclear will be very good for air quality,
Speaker 1: and I feel like we need to address that really quickly. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: there's this ongoing debate of where to classify nuclear energy,
Speaker 1: and part of the debate just has to do with
Speaker 1: how exactly you define renewable energy. Yeah, that's right. And technically,
Speaker 1: renewable energy is a form that's capable of regenerating or
Speaker 1: replenishing itself indefinitely. So we're typically talking hydro solar, wind, geothermal, biomass.
Speaker 1: But you know, nuclear energy, on the other hand, generally
Speaker 1: requires uranium for the fission process, and that's where the
Speaker 1: heat is generated. Then the nuclear plants convert this heat
Speaker 1: into the electricity using steam. So according to that definition,
Speaker 1: uranium is this finite resource. Yeah, but those in support
Speaker 1: of classifying it as a renewable resource, they point out
Speaker 1: that one of the main points of focusing on renewable
Speaker 1: resources is to create cleaner power, and that nuclear power
Speaker 1: provides this low carbon emission option, so they argue that
Speaker 1: focus shouldn't be on whether the resources technically finite so
Speaker 1: much as whether it reduces carbon emissions. But many opponents
Speaker 1: are actually not pointing to its status as of finite
Speaker 1: resources their main objection. I mean, many of them feel
Speaker 1: that the harmful nuclear waste that's produced in the process
Speaker 1: of creating nuclear energy, that's what's problematic and allowing it
Speaker 1: to be classified as renewable. But either way, it's definitely
Speaker 1: a much cleaner source than coal when it comes to
Speaker 1: carbon emissions, and this is something China appears to be
Speaker 1: taking pretty seriously. Well, now that we've got out of
Speaker 1: our system, why don't we take a quick break for
Speaker 1: a quiz. So I want to be honest about something.
Speaker 1: So our guest today, Um certainly has many international connections,
Speaker 1: and that might have been part of the excuse for
Speaker 1: bringing on the show today, but I actually want to
Speaker 1: admit that the real reason that she's on is she's
Speaker 1: the first person who's written in with the fun fact
Speaker 1: that her older brother is a competitive curler in the
Speaker 1: state of North Dakota. Have you have you ever met
Speaker 1: anyone who's a curler in the state of North Dakota Ango, No,
Speaker 1: I haven't. So that's that's that's a big bonus here.
Speaker 1: But Jordan Terry, welcome to Part Time Genius. Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me guys. So, Jordan, where are you joining us
Speaker 1: from today? I am in Denver, Colorado. Wonderful. I love Denver. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll tell us a little bit of what you do there.
Speaker 1: Um So, I'm in Denver because I'm studying to get
Speaker 1: my massive degree in global finance. Um So, we do
Speaker 1: study a lot about trade and specifically China for sure.
Speaker 1: Um But I am also working full time remotely right
Speaker 1: now UM as an academic director for an intercultural institute
Speaker 1: that has locations all over the world. Um So, I
Speaker 1: work in terms of managing teachers and supporting academic departments
Speaker 1: at UM several institutes that have academic programs for locals,
Speaker 1: and we work in a lot of areas that have
Speaker 1: like development needs so that we can receive international students
Speaker 1: who want to study abroad and also do some volunteering
Speaker 1: abroad as well. I think that's super cool, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1: I do have to ask though, when you share the
Speaker 1: fact about your brother being a competitive curler, is that
Speaker 1: true or were you really just using that to try
Speaker 1: to get on the show. It is true. He's my
Speaker 1: younger brother actually, um. And so he is a junior
Speaker 1: at North Dakota State University and he decided to go
Speaker 1: there because he'd be able to continue curling. Um. And
Speaker 1: we're actually hoping for Bago for the Winter Olympics for
Speaker 1: him and his teammates. So our fingers are crossed. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: I actually saw on TV last night, I think the
Speaker 1: US curling team was playing the Scottish curling team, which
Speaker 1: is is just amazing that that's a televised event. But uh,
Speaker 1: I also really love that you come from this family
Speaker 1: of athletes, right. Your dad was in the Junior Olympics
Speaker 1: as a skier. But but you've read Harry Potter every
Speaker 1: book at least two dozen times? Is that true? That
Speaker 1: is true. I'm not as huge a fan of the movies.
Speaker 1: I have seen them all multiple times, um, But I
Speaker 1: grew up with Harry Potter. I got the first and
Speaker 1: second books right after they came out, and so in
Speaker 1: the anticipation every year of waiting for the next book
Speaker 1: to come out. I would reread them all over and
Speaker 1: over again. I say, the first three or four I've
Speaker 1: read even more than that, and then the last few,
Speaker 1: like I do an annual reread of the whole series.
Speaker 1: And that's wonderful. It's a true athlete, just like the
Speaker 1: rest of the family. That's uh, that's amazing. Alright. Well,
Speaker 1: as you know, today's episode is asking the question about
Speaker 1: whether China will become a green superpower, and so we're
Speaker 1: focused on several alternative energies in this in this episode.
Speaker 1: But Mango, what what quiz are we putting Jordan to
Speaker 1: the test with today? It's called the Alternative Alternative Energy Quiz?
Speaker 1: All right, the Alternative Alternative Energy Quiz. We've got five
Speaker 1: true or false questions for you. Are you ready Jordan's
Speaker 1: I guess? Okay, here we go. Question number one. In Rotterdam,
Speaker 1: there's a sustained bill dance club called Club What where
Speaker 1: the electricity for the lights and speakers is generated by
Speaker 1: footsteps from ravers feet. Is this true or false? That
Speaker 1: has to be true? Yeah, it is. And the club
Speaker 1: also features a tapwater bar and toilets that are flushed
Speaker 1: with rainwater. Wow, alright, She's one for one. Question number two.
Speaker 1: In two thousand eleven, two artists designed a line of
Speaker 1: carnivorous furniture based on venus fly traps. Their digital clock
Speaker 1: catches insects and can be powered for twelve days on
Speaker 1: eight dead flies. Is this true or false? That is
Speaker 1: so ridiculous. I could imagine Mango writing that fact, but oh,
Speaker 1: it's actually true. They also have a lamp powered on
Speaker 1: insects and a table that feeds on mice and has
Speaker 1: lights on under it. It's crazy. I have to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Jordan. I I felt for that one
Speaker 1: as well. As soon as I read that, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's a total Mango lie. That is that's too good
Speaker 1: to be through. Alright, one one out of two. The
Speaker 1: question number three, The Army has developed a line of
Speaker 1: radios and phones that run on sugar cubes instead of
Speaker 1: batteries using Splendor. However, will jam up the circuits? True?
Speaker 1: Or faults that? Yeah? You're right, all right. Question number four.
Speaker 1: Iceland runs a deep drilling project that's been drilling three
Speaker 1: miles into the ground to harness energy from super hot magma.
Speaker 1: True or faults? Um? I don't know. Iceland is a
Speaker 1: pretty I think Iceland is a pretty sustainable place and
Speaker 1: lots of drilling doesn't really line up, But that does
Speaker 1: sound like something that could be possible, so true. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right. I mean Iceland uses a number of these
Speaker 1: geo thermal wells, but this one should actually be able
Speaker 1: to supply fifty homes with natural energy. Alright, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: So Jordan, you're three out of four so far, the
Speaker 1: last one for the Big Prize. Here we go, question
Speaker 1: number five. In Australia, dairy armors have been tying special
Speaker 1: plastic bags two cows backsides to capture their gas, or
Speaker 1: rather their methane gas. They then sell the energy back
Speaker 1: to the state. Is this true or false? Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1: I mean there are a few scientists working on extracting
Speaker 1: methane from cow patties, but actually bagging your cow from
Speaker 1: the behind isn't actually a practice. Let's not use that
Speaker 1: phrase anymore. I think maybe we should avoid that one.
Speaker 1: But all right, question so she Uh so Jordan has
Speaker 1: gotten four out of five? Is that right? Mango? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and that entitles her to our big prize, which today
Speaker 1: is will be pony expressing her an official part time
Speaker 1: Genius Certificate of Genius which you can put on her
Speaker 1: fridge or frame for her mother, and will also send
Speaker 1: her a box of Nerd Candies, which is the official
Speaker 1: candy of Part Time Genius. Wow. Well, congratulations, Jordan's best
Speaker 1: of luck to you and your job, and best of
Speaker 1: luck to your brother and his efforts to to go
Speaker 1: of Beijing and the next Olympics. But thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us today on Part Time Genius. My pleasure. Guys,
Speaker 1: thank you. Welcome back to Part Time Genius. So before
Speaker 1: the break, we were looking at the breakdown of China's
Speaker 1: primary sources of energy. We had coal, oil, nuclear, and
Speaker 1: to a lesser extent, natural gas. So let's talk about
Speaker 1: the investment in renewable energies and this idea that China
Speaker 1: could become the big superpower because of their investment in
Speaker 1: green technologies. Yeah. So, as we talked about earlier in
Speaker 1: the show, China's ranked up its investment in renewable energy
Speaker 1: significantly since two thousand four. They've gone from a total
Speaker 1: of three billion dollars in two thousand four to a
Speaker 1: hundred and three billion in two thousand fifteen, and now
Speaker 1: in two thousand and sixteen that number did fall to
Speaker 1: a little below ninety billion, as it did in many
Speaker 1: locations across the globe, and that's partly because of these
Speaker 1: populist movements that have been taken hold across the globe.
Speaker 1: So that's like the ones experience in the UK with
Speaker 1: the Independence Party and here in the US with Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: But even at this level, we're still talking thirty times
Speaker 1: more than what was spending two thousand four. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a huge increase. And the Chinese government officials announced in
Speaker 1: January that the country plans to spend over three hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty billion dollars on renewable energy through and they've
Speaker 1: stated goals of having fifteen percent of energy consumption being
Speaker 1: from renewable sources by and then thirty by, which is crazy.
Speaker 1: But this is the part I'm excited to talk about,
Speaker 1: and that's why China is making these changes, and that
Speaker 1: is what what are their motivations, because there's more involved
Speaker 1: than just making a cleaner environment. Yeah it's true, you know,
Speaker 1: but the public outcry over deadly urban air pollution has
Speaker 1: accelerated this push for clean energy. NPR recently had this
Speaker 1: story on how China's middle class has really been pushing
Speaker 1: for change, and that the state run paper had a
Speaker 1: story on three mothers and how they were dealing with pollution.
Speaker 1: One of them kept their kids inside barricaded with multiple
Speaker 1: air purifiers running. One moved away from the city entirely
Speaker 1: just for her children's health, and the story was heavily circulated.
Speaker 1: That is, of course, before the government censored it. There
Speaker 1: was also this two thousand fifteen documentary called Under the Dome.
Speaker 1: It was watched two hundred million times and praised by
Speaker 1: the environmental ministry before that also got pulled by the government.
Speaker 1: And the government is clearly aware of the problem, but
Speaker 1: it's also very clear that it doesn't want to be
Speaker 1: criticized for it either. Well, it's hard to ignore the
Speaker 1: I mean, National Geographic estimated that more than one million
Speaker 1: people die each year due to air pollution. So that
Speaker 1: urban middle classes making noise for a reason. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: like you were heading at that, you know, the other
Speaker 1: compelling reason is the economic impact. Is Anton lu who's
Speaker 1: a professor at Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs,
Speaker 1: told National Geographic quote, it's not just pollution that's driving
Speaker 1: the determined focus on renewable power. Leaders have made clear
Speaker 1: that they view clean energy as a powerful engine for
Speaker 1: job creation. It's about setting up for manufacturing dominance. China
Speaker 1: sees green energy as an opportunity where it can become
Speaker 1: a manufacturing monster, the way it has in clothes and
Speaker 1: toys monster. So I know, I'm just stringing quotes here,
Speaker 1: which is something my journalism teacher from high school and
Speaker 1: mrs where he asked me never to do. But this
Speaker 1: is not a good quote from the Financial Times Deputy
Speaker 1: Beijing bureau chief and her name's Lucy Hornsby, and this
Speaker 1: is what she says. Quote. The Chinese point of view
Speaker 1: is that, Okay, everyone's worried about climate change. The western
Speaker 1: countries are about to plow a whole lot of money
Speaker 1: into trying to stop it happening. We can supply the
Speaker 1: manufactured goods, we can supply the wind turbines, we can
Speaker 1: supply the solar panels. So the whole paris climate change
Speaker 1: action is viewed as a massive export opportunity for China inc. So,
Speaker 1: I mean you can see there this investment is definitely
Speaker 1: creating jobs. And if you remember that four million coal
Speaker 1: miners that we were talking about, well, China already claims
Speaker 1: to have three point five million jobs in the clean
Speaker 1: energy space, which is far more than any other country,
Speaker 1: and the goal is to create ten million jobs in
Speaker 1: clean energy and that's part of this move to have
Speaker 1: fifteen percent of energy coming from clean energy sources by
Speaker 1: ten million, that is huge. Well, I think many would
Speaker 1: see this as the real motivator for China's investment. And
Speaker 1: we'll talk in a few minutes about why there's some
Speaker 1: real skepticism over their desire to actually battle global warming.
Speaker 1: But let's get back to where China stands in their
Speaker 1: investments in renewable energy. So which one of these do
Speaker 1: you want to talk about first? Well, I think we
Speaker 1: should talk about hydropower, just because I like saying the
Speaker 1: word hydro d So, China produces more hydro electricity than
Speaker 1: any other country on Earth, and it's not even close.
Speaker 1: Like Canada comes in second, and they only produce about
Speaker 1: one third of what China does. And if you want
Speaker 1: to illustrate what their investment has done, in nineteen seventy three,
Speaker 1: China produced about three percent of the world's hydro electric power,
Speaker 1: and the two thousand fifteen it was nearly about a
Speaker 1: fifth of their electricity comes from hydro power. That's impressive.
Speaker 1: What we should pause for a second though, to note
Speaker 1: the country that gets the greatest percentage of its power
Speaker 1: from hydro electricity. I was looking this up and it's
Speaker 1: actually Norway. So they get about nineties six pc of
Speaker 1: their power from hydro Isn't that incredible? It is. I
Speaker 1: feel like we should send them a certificate of some kind.
Speaker 1: Let's let's work on it, and definitely so check your
Speaker 1: mail Norway sometime in the future. Anyway, let's talk about
Speaker 1: another one where China has grown its global share tenfold
Speaker 1: over the past decade, and that's wind power. So just
Speaker 1: a second, I'm going to pull out these stats. So
Speaker 1: they went from producing about two percent of the world's
Speaker 1: wind power in two thousand five to in two thousand fifteen.
Speaker 1: And the US currently produces a slightly larger percentage at
Speaker 1: but given the level of investment, you have to imagine
Speaker 1: China is going to be passing the US before too long. Well,
Speaker 1: when you look at these numbers, I don't think there's
Speaker 1: any question about that. And here are some recent numbers
Speaker 1: I saw from earlier this year. China produces almost half
Speaker 1: of the world's wind turbines Goldwin, which is a Chinese
Speaker 1: company is now the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world,
Speaker 1: and five of the top ten wind turbine manufacturers of
Speaker 1: the world are in China. I mean, that's just huge.
Speaker 1: And according to New York Times, one out of every
Speaker 1: three turbines in the world is also located in China. So,
Speaker 1: you know, while the US may have produced slightly more
Speaker 1: power in recent years from wind, with all the new
Speaker 1: wind turbines in China, there's something like nine two thousand
Speaker 1: of them, and they have the capacity to generate almost
Speaker 1: twice as much wind power as the US. So well,
Speaker 1: only three percent of China's power is currently coming from wind,
Speaker 1: that that number doesn't fully reflect the impact they're having
Speaker 1: on the industry and how that sector is positioned for
Speaker 1: significant growth there. Yeah, and one of the issues they're
Speaker 1: currently dealing with now is how much of their wind
Speaker 1: power is being wasted or curtailed as they might say. So,
Speaker 1: what's I mean exactly? Well, curtailman is something that you
Speaker 1: hear about when wind turbines or solar panels stopped producing
Speaker 1: and this is happening even though they could produce more,
Speaker 1: and as a result, you lose that surplus energy and
Speaker 1: This often happens if a power grid is overwhelmed and
Speaker 1: not really appropriately equipped to handle all the energy coming
Speaker 1: into it. Look at the numbers. In two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: nearly twenty of wind energy was lost because of curtailment.
Speaker 1: So that's something the government is really trying to tackle
Speaker 1: and they have a plan to get that down to
Speaker 1: about five percent by Okay. So before we move on,
Speaker 1: we we forgot to name the country that gets the
Speaker 1: greatest percentage of its power from wind, and that title
Speaker 1: belongs to Spain at about eighteen So great job, Space. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you might also get a sort of you will get
Speaker 1: a certificate wo stepping up. Okay, all right, so we
Speaker 1: just mentioned solar, so why don't we talk about that
Speaker 1: one next. And this is another one where even though
Speaker 1: they're at about one percent of their electricity generated coming
Speaker 1: from solar, they're still playing a huge role in the
Speaker 1: future of this industry. Again, just look at the numbers.
Speaker 1: So China is now producing two thirds of the world's
Speaker 1: solar panels, and in a five year period they've increased
Speaker 1: their solar power production tenfold. In two thousand and fifteen,
Speaker 1: they produced eighteen percent of the world solar electricity. And
Speaker 1: I saw one quote from the New York Times earlier
Speaker 1: this year, and that said quote Greenpeace estimates that China
Speaker 1: covered the equivalent of one soccer field every hour with
Speaker 1: solar panels. Wow, and I know you're a big soccer fans.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that quote really hit home with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but just look at what their investment has done in
Speaker 1: this industry. So six of the top ten solar panel
Speaker 1: manufacturers are Chinese companies, and two thirds of the world's
Speaker 1: solar panels come from China. I mean, they're the ones
Speaker 1: responsible for the huge decline in prices, and some estimates
Speaker 1: has solar panel pricing falling by as much as over
Speaker 1: the past ten years or so. So when you think
Speaker 1: about it from an environmental perspective, this investment has been
Speaker 1: a good thing. But again it's largely driven by economics
Speaker 1: and China wants to own this space. And now there
Speaker 1: are more than two and a half million people employed
Speaker 1: by the solar power industry there. That's about ten times
Speaker 1: as many people employed by that industry in the US.
Speaker 1: And China is now home did the largest solar farm
Speaker 1: on Earth. And here's how Tom Phillips, he's a reporter
Speaker 1: for The Guardian described it, quote, high on the Tibetan Plateau,
Speaker 1: a sea of nearly four million deep blue panels flows
Speaker 1: towards a spectacular horizon of snow capped mountains, mile after
Speaker 1: mile of silicon cells tilting skywards from what was once
Speaker 1: a barren, wind swept cattle ranch. The remote seven square
Speaker 1: kilometers solar farm tops an ever expanding roll call of
Speaker 1: supersized symbols that underlying China's determination to transform itself from
Speaker 1: climate villain to green superpower. And that's a cool description.
Speaker 1: But actually, just as a side, now, did you hear
Speaker 1: about the huge solar panel farm that's actually shaped like
Speaker 1: a giant panda bear? I mean I did see that,
Speaker 1: but I was curious, what was it actually real? Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was pretty widely reported on it and when I
Speaker 1: saw the image at first, I wondered the same thing,
Speaker 1: and so I turned to the always fascinating Snopes just
Speaker 1: to check this out. And it it turns out the
Speaker 1: solar panel farm itself is real. But the image that
Speaker 1: was all over the place you might have seen on
Speaker 1: various websites, that was just an artist rendering and it's
Speaker 1: not an actual photo. But the farm is apparently two
Speaker 1: d and five acres, and there are plans to build
Speaker 1: a hundred more of these panda shaped solar farms across
Speaker 1: China and other countries in Asia. Kind of makes you
Speaker 1: want to just travel by plane across the country when
Speaker 1: all of these are there, just to see them. And
Speaker 1: it's totally worth googling just to see the image, even
Speaker 1: if it's not an actual photo. Yeah. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: fascinating to see how Chinese companies are improving their solar
Speaker 1: technology each year, and they're figuring out how to build
Speaker 1: these panels cheaper and cheaper, but still maintaining this incredible
Speaker 1: level of quality. And they're not just selling to the
Speaker 1: US anymore. I mean, we're we're talking countries like Saudi
Speaker 1: Arabia and India, whether they need to provide panels for
Speaker 1: extremely dry climates, are incredibly humid ones, they're finding ways
Speaker 1: to produce them well. And this has all happened because
Speaker 1: of this huge government push to get really low interest
Speaker 1: rate loans too solar panel manufacturers. And I want to
Speaker 1: say it was something like eighteen billion dollars in loans.
Speaker 1: The government got state owned banks to give to these companies,
Speaker 1: and this was just over a six or seven year period.
Speaker 1: So the focus on investing in these kinds of businesses
Speaker 1: and becoming a leader in them is also connected to
Speaker 1: mine is Belt and Road initiative, and this is the
Speaker 1: massive infrastructure investment. China's leading across the historic Silk Road
Speaker 1: and that connects Asia to Europe. They've got nearly seventy
Speaker 1: countries to join in this effort in some way, and
Speaker 1: the plan is for China to invest about I think
Speaker 1: it's like a hundred and fifty billion dollars each year
Speaker 1: in infrastructure. So we're talking bridges, roads, railways, power plants, pipelines,
Speaker 1: things like that. And you know, this is definitely a
Speaker 1: very different China than we were used to seeing, you know,
Speaker 1: just a couple of decades ago. Well, I mean that
Speaker 1: brings us back to the comment earlier about China's real
Speaker 1: motivation in this massive investment in green technologies. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: the huge outcry from the urban middle class definitely had
Speaker 1: an impact, you know, as as as Beth Gardner noted
Speaker 1: in a PC wrote for National Geographic Quote, the results
Speaker 1: are sometimes more cosmetic than real. Leaders order temporary factory
Speaker 1: closures to clear the air ahead of something. You know,
Speaker 1: these high profile events like international summits, they close factories
Speaker 1: for weeks in November December just so the city won't
Speaker 1: exceed its annual pollut shin limit. That's crazy. But what
Speaker 1: seems even more alarming to me is that while coal
Speaker 1: plant construction is being limited within Chinese borders, Chinese companies
Speaker 1: are actually building coal plants abroad. And when you look
Speaker 1: at the new coal projects going online over the next
Speaker 1: decade or so, Chinese companies are responsible for about half
Speaker 1: of them, and countries like India, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Indonesia.
Speaker 1: Some of these are in countries that haven't historically used
Speaker 1: coal as an energy source, and they're looking to expand
Speaker 1: in places like Pakistan and Egypt, which aren't currently really
Speaker 1: cold burning countries. So while we might be celebrating the
Speaker 1: significant investment in green technologies in China itself, like these
Speaker 1: new plants in the works would increase the world's capacity
Speaker 1: to burn coal by over well. And I was looking
Speaker 1: at a figure the other day, so two of the
Speaker 1: big global banks in China have finance more than forty
Speaker 1: billion dollars in overseas coal projects over the past couple
Speaker 1: of decades. I think it's pretty clear that China maybe
Speaker 1: trying to some extent to clean up their own small
Speaker 1: and pollution problem, but I'm not sure how much they
Speaker 1: care about the real global situation. Yeah, but I still
Speaker 1: feel like there are a couple of reasons to be optimistic.
Speaker 1: So first, as we talked about earlier, China's massive investment
Speaker 1: has caused the prices of renewable technologies to drop significantly
Speaker 1: across the globe, and they'll likely continue to get cheaper.
Speaker 1: There's a Chinese company currently constructing a solar farm in
Speaker 1: the UAE, and it's going to produce electricity for much
Speaker 1: less than it costs US companies to produce both solar
Speaker 1: and coal power. Well, and I also saw it's much
Speaker 1: faster to build a solar or wind farm than it
Speaker 1: is to get a coal fired plan up and running.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're we're talking a huge difference. It's something
Speaker 1: like six months versus about ten years. I had no
Speaker 1: idea it took that long. So another thing is that
Speaker 1: China is certainly not alone in implementing new policies to
Speaker 1: restrict coal productions. So take India for example, They're trying
Speaker 1: to get over half their energy from renewable sources by seven,
Speaker 1: and that's just incredible. You have to think that worldwide
Speaker 1: momentum is just going to continue. Yeah, and it that
Speaker 1: is incredible, it's it's also encouraging. Yeah. So there's one
Speaker 1: more big reason to be optimistic, and that's the fact
Speaker 1: that investors are much more likely to get behind clean
Speaker 1: energy projects these days. The World Bank doesn't provide financing
Speaker 1: to overseas coal projects and that's, you know, aside from
Speaker 1: the rare exception because of extreme circumstances, and many Chinese
Speaker 1: banks are falling in line with this practice. So a
Speaker 1: lot of analysts think we're just seeing the beginning of
Speaker 1: this tremendous acceleration of renewable adoption around the world. Well,
Speaker 1: those those definitely seem like reasons to be optimistic. And
Speaker 1: but but I do feel like there's maybe one more
Speaker 1: reason to be optimistic. Is a fact off time you
Speaker 1: bet it is? M all right, well, I'll kick us
Speaker 1: off here. So have you heard about America's first completely
Speaker 1: solar powered community? Is this seventeen thousand acre town in
Speaker 1: South Florida, and it's called Babcock Ranch. It's expected to
Speaker 1: begin accepting residents before the end of the year and
Speaker 1: The project has taken about a decade or so to
Speaker 1: get together, but it's coming soon. And when you're there,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to get around by self driving shuttles.
Speaker 1: And that's pretty interesting to read about. But you better
Speaker 1: hurry because the town's capacity is only fifty thousand. So
Speaker 1: I've got a solar power fact too. We talked about
Speaker 1: the panda shaped solar panel farm, but there's a hundred
Speaker 1: square mile floating solar farm in the Anui province. I mean,
Speaker 1: like in the air, floating and no, I mean it's
Speaker 1: in water. Their waveproof solar panels, and and they're floating
Speaker 1: on a lake that formed, oddly enough after the collapse
Speaker 1: of a network of coal mines. It's the world's largest
Speaker 1: floating solar project, and it generates enough power to provide
Speaker 1: electricity to a significant portion of a city nearby. I
Speaker 1: mean the government plans to expand the system to about
Speaker 1: a dozen other locations, which would then generate the power
Speaker 1: equivalent of a commercial nuclear reactor. Did you know that
Speaker 1: part of the reason people are speaking up in China
Speaker 1: about the environment is because of religion. According to the
Speaker 1: New York Times, hundreds of millions of people in China
Speaker 1: have turned to Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam recently, and
Speaker 1: apparently as concepts like karma and sin have come to
Speaker 1: the forefront, the public has paid more attention to their
Speaker 1: impact on the environment and the world. People have also
Speaker 1: used their religions as a reason to speak up. That's
Speaker 1: really fascinating. So in two thousand tend the Wall Street
Speaker 1: Journal report on a scientist at Berkeley who determined how
Speaker 1: to trace pollutents back to areas of origin. And this
Speaker 1: is what she found. Apparently twenty nine percent of the
Speaker 1: pollution in the East Bay traced back to China. I mean,
Speaker 1: the article ended on this smart point though quote. The
Speaker 1: question now is how much of that twenty nine percent
Speaker 1: can be attributed to San Francisco's penchant for China made
Speaker 1: iPhones and iPads. All Right, So we talked earlier about
Speaker 1: the significant growth of the auto market in China, and
Speaker 1: China is also the leader in electric vehicle sales, with
Speaker 1: nearly half of all electric vehicles sold in two thousand
Speaker 1: sixteen being in China. Well, I know that's impressive, but
Speaker 1: I think I've got an even more staggering figure, and
Speaker 1: that's that there are now two hundred million electric bikes
Speaker 1: in China, which is way more than the six electric
Speaker 1: cars and three electric buses there. I mean, they're a
Speaker 1: great option for those who can afford cars but are
Speaker 1: looking for an easier way to commute. Plus is their
Speaker 1: mission free. Two hundred million of these things? All right, Well,
Speaker 1: I have to admit, a mag you've definitely one up
Speaker 1: to me here, so I'm going to give you the
Speaker 1: Fact Off Trophy today. Congratulations, excellent, and I'm never giving
Speaker 1: it back. All right, all right, hey, guys, thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening. Don't forget we love hearing from you.
Speaker 1: Call us any time on Fact hot Line. That's one
Speaker 1: eight four four pt Genius or email us at part
Speaker 1: Time Genius at how stuff Works dot com. A big
Speaker 1: thanks to Jocelyn Sears for her excellent research on this episode.
Speaker 1: See you next time. Thanks again for listening. Part Time
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