Role Reversal – US Utility Duke Energy acknowledges China's Clean Technology Leadership

The US Government needs a Reality Check about who is leading the world in Clean Energy.While the US Commerce Secretary thinks that the US might lose the clean energy leadership to China , I think they might already have lost it. The following US utility Duke Energy statement seems to corroborate my opinion.

“China is going to set the standard for development and deployment of clean energy,” David Mohler, a senior vice president at Duke, said in an interview May 21 in Beijing. Mohler was among representatives from 24 companies who joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on a trade mission to China last week in a bid to increase trade in clean-energy technologies.

Duke Energy Corp. is scouting for new clean-energy technologies in China after President Barack Obama’s bid to pass U.S. legislation curbing carbon emissions stalled, the company’s chief technology officer said.

Note Duke Energy was one of the participants in the US delegation to China which went there to persuade the Chinese to open up to US investment in clean energy.Ironically it is  Duke Energy that is now looking for Chinese technology in the Clean Energy area.What a dramatic Role Reversal !!!!!! China is already a leader in solar and may dominate wind as well.

US laggard on climate change issues

The US has been procrastinating on a climate change bill for a long time and was one of the main actors behind the failure of a global deal on climate change mitigation and global warming.The US Senate is busy playing petty political games while US companies are looking at China for Green Technology.Duke Energy which has 70% of its power being generated by the dirtiest form of energy cannot afford to wait  for the climate bill indefinitely while the rest of the world progresses rapidly .Unless US gets its act together soon , it would be left too far behind to come back in green industry