U.S. and China Announce Clean Energy Collaboration Efforts During State Visit

Considered the most important visit from a Chinese leader in the past 30 years due to China’s growing diplomatic, economic and military strengths, President Hu Jintao’s state visit spurred an ambitious agenda. Among the topics discussed during Hu’s U.S. visit were climate change and the need to accelerate clean energy research and deployment.

During the bilateral talks, plans were announced for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, an alliance dedicated to improving the clean energy efforts of both nations by sharing intellectual property developed in their consortium of laboratories, universities, non-government organizations and businesses. Explorations will largely focus on electric vehicles, battery storage, building efficiency and biofuels. Research will also be conducted on “clean” coal. U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, remarked that “both the United States and China recognize that we can make more progress by working together than by working alone,” while highlighting the nations’ complementary strengths. The United States offers innovative technology, well developed financial and legal infrastructures, and pioneering entrepreneurs, while China provides an opportunity for large scale and rapid deployment of technologies.

A letter of intent was also signed to bring the international solar decathlon to China in 2013. The competition among universities to build and operate a highly efficient solar powered house – taking into account affordability, design, and consumer appeal – helps build the next generation of clean energy engineers, architects, and designers. Hu said, “Promoting the saving of energy and resources should be taken as a priority by the country and viewed as one of the basic principles the government should follow in the future.”

In the same week U.S. and Chinese companies made deals for energy projects, including wind, solar, nuclear, and rail, worth $13 billion.

Underscoring the duty of China and the United States to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, President Obama said, “I believe that as the two largest consumers and emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States and China have a responsibility to combat climate change by building on the progress at Copenhagen and Cancun, and showing the way to a clean energy future.”