Keeping Up with China

The Chinese President Hu Jintao said at a United Nations gathering that “by 2020, China would reduce carbon emissions by a "notable margin." China is not known for being an environmentally conscious country. With the high population of people and many of them now owning personal vehicles, severe smog emissions in China have been questioned on numerous occasions. With the continuing competition of which country is the best, hydroelectric energy is the new way for countries to win the competition. With the advancements in hydro technology that are available, many countries are looking to hydropower to increase their production of “green energy”. China is looking to spend $713 million dollars in the next decade to decrease their dependence on burning fossil fuels for energy production. The question that everybody is asking is; does China have enough will power and commitment to follow through with this new initiative? Personally I hope that China succeeds in making a cleaner and more environmentally environment. If all countries can adopt new technologies that will decrease the dependence on oil, the entire world will benefit.

This article relates to my blog and project because the price of building a hydropower facility is hard for many people to swallow. If people understand that the new “green energy” production will benefit the world and environment in the long run they will be more open to funding the projects. With the sky rocketing oil prices that we have now many people are starting to move towards new ways of producing power. With hydropower in the news and on peoples’ minds, more tax credits and grants will be provided to those who are building and funding hydropower facilities.