Quick Paraphrase About China's New Energy Policy

Because I got that urge once again, here is a quick but reasonably thorough paraphrase of the updates in Chinese energy policy, as reported by Keith Bradsher in the New York Times today.

It looks like China's government is willing to keep using coal because coal can be mined in China. It looks like they're hesitant to become too dependent on imported oil because importing oil carries a lot of security risk. Like their current problem of frequent pirate attacks on incoming oil freighters on top of the more famous issues associated with depending too heavily on at-war countries.

Essentially, it looks like the immediate issues of becoming self-sufficient and autonomous as a developing country are more important to the Chinese government right now than are long-term, global concerns about global warming. (I'M still worried about global warming, for what that's worth.)

But China's not anti-green, in spite of this continued reliance on domestic Chinese coal. Chinese energy officials are also looking forward to the development of new clean energy technology, and hope to cherry-pick the best ideas as they're invented and tested in already-developed countries like the US.

That concludes the gist of what I learned from Bradsher's article. Here are my thoughts:

OK, America (and the rest of the developed world), it's time to invent some clean energy options that are SO efficient and SO cheap that even China's coal-dependent energy economy can't say no.

It's time for some Star Trek technology!