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U.S. Emissions Rise 4.2%, China's Fall 2.7%

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196 points triceratops | 1 comments | 02 Sep 25 20:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jryan49 ◴[02 Sep 25 20:37 UTC] No.45108691[source]▶
Is there a future where China uses this as leverage with the rest of the world to put sanctions on the US if we don't transition?
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Workaccount2 ◴[02 Sep 25 20:42 UTC] No.45108771[source]▶
China is doing this for energy independence. Their fossil fuel supply chain is critically vulnerable. They don't care about the climate, but will happily play the optics.
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bgnn ◴[02 Sep 25 20:56 UTC] No.45108940[source]▶
Neither the US cares about the climate amd doesn't care about the optics either.

This is capitalism in action: solar is cheaper than anything else per kwh. The obsession with fossil in the West is due to the fossil fuel lobbies, not because of the rational market forces. China doesn't have that.

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Workaccount2 ◴[02 Sep 25 21:10 UTC] No.45109105[source]▶
I'm as big of a proponent on solar as anyone, but to avoid confusion, understand that those cheap solar figures come from using state subsidized Chinese panels on near worthless land in the cloudless remote southwest.

If you are trying to use American made panels near population centers in the Northeast or the Midwest, the economics become much more challenging.

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1. bgnn ◴[03 Sep 25 06:36 UTC] No.45112864[source]▶
True. But as usual there is more to it. US is running on cheap fossil fuels to most part, though the renewables aren't negligible too. The fossil fuels are actually subsidized, and they are cheap because they are results of exploitation of cheap land. On top of that there are subsidies like tax breaks on the drilling costs etc.. To be fair this is also the case for hydroelectric etc.

So, similar dynamic. If the oil fields, coal mines etc would be sitting on prime land, you wouldn't have it this cheap. If there weren't subsidies, they wouldn't have been this cheap. It's very hard to compare different energy sources because of this. But solar being cheap isn't only a Chiblnese phenomenon. India, Spain etc all prove this. It's cheap when you have a lot of empty land and sunshine.