Chart of the Day: If Clean Energy is a Race, China Will Soon Pass the U.S.
Is clean energy deployment a race? Tom Friedman and others at The Times say yes, while Bradford Plumer and Christina Larson aren’t so sure.
Either way, China installed more wind capacity than the United States in 2009, and will likely have more capacity overall within a few years.
Here is what the last five years of installations looked like in the two countries:*
As recently as 2005, the United States installed nearly five times more wind capacity than China on an annual basis (2,431 MW vs. 498 MW). In 2009, China installed 31% more capacity than the United States did (13,000 MW vs. 9,922 MW).
*All data via the Global Wind Energy Council.
