Energy Diplomacy

BusinessWeek has a status update and summary on China's continued demand for energy -- focusing on what the Chinese are doing to address the increasing demand for fuel to power their economic growth. China already consumes over 12% of the world's energy supply -- about half of what the US consumes -- and that demand will continue to rise. China is already working to secure its future supply of energy. They have a plan that will diversify their energy sources, while hopefully addressing their increasing carbon emission problem. The plan calls for securing supplies from outside of China, moving away from coal, utilizing more hydroelectric power, tapping into solar and wind power, and building up 30 new nuclear reactors in the next 15 years. Ambitious -- but China has the political will to make it happen. For more on the topic, check out a brief at the US DOE.