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Last year China generated almost 3 times as much solar power as the EU did, and it's close to overtaking all OECD countries put together (whose combined population is 1.38 billion people) (aussie.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Last year, China generated 834 terawatt-hours of solar power.

Which is more than the G7 countries generated, and more than the US and EU combined. In fact the only country group that generates more solar power than China is the OECD, all 38 countries of it.

Data: @ember-energy.org

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/nathanielbullard.com/post/3lsbbsg6ohk2j

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[–] 12 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

You sound like all the right-wing politicians the world over who don't want to implement zero carbon solutions because "China still burn coal".

We're on a sinking ship and you're complaining that you don't like the colour of the life raft.

If China was the only country in the world that burned coal, but they exclusively burned coal, and everybody else was on solar panels the world would still be an infinitely better place and it is right now. Not doing something just because other people also aren't doing it just ensures that nobody does anything.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I think that you misunderstood his comment. He's not criticizing solar energy, he's calling out China's green washing as they have the same solar production per Capita than Europe but they have way more coal production per Capita than Europe.

    A right wing politician would throw a fit about how solar energy is dangerous and make kids trans.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    But in Europe they also burn coal, no? Or burning gasoline, natural gas, trash, anything.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-prod-source-stacked?time=2000..latest&country=CHN%7EOECD+%28Ember%29

    (chosen OECD because it makes the numbers easier to compare, and doesn't cherry pick EU countries which are actually better than places like the US)

    A lot less coal, which is about twice as bad as gas for CO2 emissions per kWh.

    Places like the UK have got rid of coal completely. The last remaining coal power station shut down last year. When you look at the graphs for the UK, we've actually reduced electricity consumption as a whole, despite a growing population and the growth of electric vehicles.

    Still plenty to be done about gas. I can see why China still uses enormous amounts of coal. They don't really have any oil, so it's the cheapest fossil fuel they have access to. In fact, cost is mostly why solar is getting popular, because it's become extremely cheap. You can't rely on it completely though, unless we all agree to turn off our power at night. Power storage is not a solved issue by any means.

    China also never embraced nuclear power. They really got big on the world stage right around the time Chernobyl happened, and it was already getting too expensive even then.

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