Chinese energy consumption, and the country’s large-scale investment in clean energy, are increasingly becoming central to the development of the competing US clean energy industry.
Recent efforts at think tanks, colleges and other institutions to bring the US and Chinese clean energy industries to a closer understanding has resulted in a host of events, with Harvard’s China Energy and Environment Conference a recent high-profile addition to the field.
Though Chinese clean energy firms are making great strides in production of clean energy technologies, they are often “great duplicators, not great innovators,” Efficiency Exchange president Taryn Sullivan said at the conference, encapsulating a broader theme among attendees.
Students from Harvard and surrounding universities, government officials and company spokesmen gathered at the school to discuss the anticipated impacts of China’s latest Five Year Plan.
China has committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 17 percent by 2015, a goal that panelists at the Harvard conference said could require steps as broad ranging as improvements on existing bus routes to tax incentives for companies that invest in renewable energy.
Sullivan said that while the United States government has not supported its domestic energy firms as rigorously as China’s government, the United States’ relatively open energy market ultimately benefits innovation.
“The focus should be on improving efficiencies in business to create sustainable long-term business,” Sullivan said.
Still, many panelists and guests said the United States is far too apathetic when it comes to investments in renewable technologies.
“It took 30 days for China to remove lead in gasoline,” Analysis Group managing principal Susan Tierney said. “It took us 20 years.”
Harvard’s conference was part of a broader effort by firms in both the US and China to work in partnerships that can leverage opportunities arising from China’s energy mandates. EEx is a start-up working to reduce emissions at existing Chinese factories, and needs to develop partnerships and collaborations with other energy industry groups, Sullivan said.
While green energy was a major focus of the conference in light of China’s latest goals, the continued role of nuclear energy and coal in providing electricity to the fast-growing economy was also highlighted. Nuclear power, which has an extremely reduced emissions profile, is an important component in movements away from coal-fired power, panelists at the Harvard conference said.
An over-reliance on coal is something the United States and China have in common, Booz and Company Energy Practice managing partner Chris Dann said, noting recent tragedies should not dissuade companies from further investments in nuclear energy.
“While what happened at Fukushima is obviously unfortunate, people need to remember that there are 100,000 deaths related to coal mining each year,” he said.
Strong student presence at the conference underlined the interest of new graduates in the impact of energy policy shifts on the economy and the environment.
“This is sort of like the space race,” Boston College senior Elizabeth Barthelmes told Breaking Energy. “It’s about the response culture, and what we see is China outcompeting us in energy. If we’re just responding to things, we’re going to be behind the curve.”
Barthelmes, who said she hoped the conference would help her finish a thesis on the ethics of climate change, said the United States is lacking the same innovative drive it has demonstrated in the past.
