The US rep to the IEA said that "pursuing offshore wind power would make countries reliant on China." It's instructive to explore this sort of claim, in particular for what it reveals about those claiming it. Two points:🧵
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forty-five years of neoliberalism have massively reduced the manufacturing capacity of the US. biden was trying to rebuild it, but trump is reversing the gains in that area.
Six months ago I would have seen this as a problem. Now the U.S is no less authoritarian and much less stable and dependable than China so, while still less than ideal, ho him.
1. Why would pursuing offshore wind make countries reliant on China? Because China has developed the production capacity and the supply chain to produce this equipment, and has done so on an immense scale.
This capacity is the result of strategic planning and investment. Any medium or large industrialised nation could have chosen to look ahead of the curve and make these investments; most simply chose not to.
To a degree, it can be surmised that many countries made this decision because they observed that China was already doing it. In the age of globalisation, why bother making things if someone else is doing such a good job?
But what these countries failed to foresee was the critical role of renewable energy in national and energy security. Now the penny has dropped, the US is, in essence, saying that China is to blame for America's lack of foresight, planning and ambition. Which is cute.
There were some US leaders who wanted to go renewable (solar panels on the WH by Carter) but the lure of money from oil producers put a stop to it (Reagan took them down).
2. The renewables-based electrified world is reliant on products, not commodities, because sun and wind are free. While resources like oil are controlled by those key states endowed with them, just about anyone can contribute to and benefit from the supply chain to build solar and wind equipment.
Moreover, once you have that equipment, it can generate power for decades. Sure, you need spare parts and replacement bits, but while a combined cycle gas turbine requires a constant supply of a finite resource to fuel it, a wind turbine requires ... wind.
@davidrvetter.bsky.social one side note - up north sun is not so free, and if geography is not open to ocean, wind is also in limited supply. just saying...
Relying on China is far from the worst choice these days. At least we don’t have trade or shooting wars in that dependency. And that’s before considering that a cut off from the supply of renewable energy generators doesn’t cut off energy.
Where’s my “laughing my ass off” button??
The world right now must realize that what is coming out of America is ruled by morons. Don’t make any deals with clowns. 🤡
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Do they actually believe this twaddle or do they know, but parrot it expecting others to?
B) FFS make the turbines in the USA. Or are Americans useless at manufacturing?
Seems apt with reference to this great thread
What he means is that he’s part of a
class that enjoys the means of production and doesn’t want to see its golden goose fly to the Orient.
Tough shit. Should’ve invested instead of taking every last dime for yourself.
The world right now must realize that what is coming out of America is ruled by morons. Don’t make any deals with clowns. 🤡