ENVIRONMENTAL CENTS: The U.S. is Doubling Down on Fossil Fuels
Meanwhile, China is leading the world in green energy manufacturing.
By Bruce Saller
COLUMNIST
The US is currently expanding its production of fossil fuels while its production of renewable energy products is stagnating.
Meanwhile, world usage of fossil fuels is declining or expected to decline soon, while renewable energy installations are growing.
According to the International Energy Agency, world coal usage peaked in 2024 and is expected to continue to decrease; world oil usage is expected to peak in 2028; and world natural gas usage is expected to continue to increase through 2030, when the next generation nuclear reactors begin to come online. Renewable energy installations are expected to continue to grow, with the world adding 3600 Billion Watts (GW) of solar and 920 GW of wind capacity by 2030.
China is leading the world in green energy manufacturing, and the U.S. is way behind. China manufactures 60 percent of the wind turbines and 80 percent of the solar panels installed globally.
The US can produce about 60 GW of solar panels and around 5 GW of wind turbines annually. China can produce around 1000 GW of solar panels and 120 GW of wind turbines annually. The largest wind turbines produced in China are also much larger than in the U.S.: 26 Million Watts (MW) off-shore/15 MW on-shore vs. 13 MW off-shore/6 MW on-shore.
We need to re-incentivize our green energy research and manufacturing so the U.S. becomes a major player in the growing renewable energy market, while not allowing the Chinese to continue their world energy domination.
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Bruce, your article is very timely, especially given the Iran war and how exposed we remain to disruptions in global oil exports. Your call to re‑incentivize U.S. green‑energy manufacturing is spot on, but I’d argue we need to widen the lens even further: we should be rebuilding a serious national R&D effort not only in wind and solar, but also in advanced nuclear scaling, other renewable sources where they are feasible, and basic research into hydrogen and other emerging energy technologies. You’re right about the direction; we just need to aim at a larger target.