• naturalgasbad@lemmy.caOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    9 months ago

    Western institutions fundamentally misunderstand the clean energy revolution. It’s actually rather worrying, because it’s a large part of why Western estimates of China’s economic growth have been so far off.

    • u_tamtam@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      13
      ·
      9 months ago

      What do you believe is so unique about China’s PV production that couldn’t/haven’t been reproduced by the rest of the world? I mean, other than the ability to undercut developed countries by ignoring externalities and the damage caused to the environment by the extremely polluting extraction and refining process…

      Don’t get me wrong, I’m as happy as the next guy for more renewable, but here we are cheering for the kleptocrats.

        • u_tamtam@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          11
          ·
          9 months ago

          care to elaborate? The rest of the world definitely has higher environmental standards (and, more importantly, enforcement of them) than China. And that is a significant driver of the cost. You should read about the history of the PV industry in Germany before throwing insults.

      • naturalgasbad@lemmy.caOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        It’s been entirely innovation-based cost reduction. This comment shows a lack of understanding of the Chinese PV industry and how it outcompeted everyone else.

        In a year, it’s essentially dropped prices across the board by almost half.