A Green Giant in the Gobi Desert

In a wilderness of howling sandstorms, something is growing.

Just east of Dunhuang, China, in the middle of the Gobi Desert, six huge wind power projects are now underway. When complete, each project will have the energy production capacity of more than 16 large coal-based power plants. They will also be by far the biggest wind-power projects in the world.

The Dunhuang projects are just a small part of China's vast investment in green energy. According to an article in The New York Times, this year China is on track to pass the United States as the world's largest market for wind turbines — after doubling wind power capacity in each of the last four years. State-owned power companies are competing to see which can build solar plants fastest, though these projects are much smaller than the wind projects. And other green energy projects, like burning farm waste to generate electricity, are sprouting up.

Like many Chinese initiatives, green growth may move more rapidly than it should — resulting in poorly constructed facilities or other issues. Still, though, the Chinese seem to have the right idea. The number of new coal-powered plants is shrinking, and work is well underway to the goal of having all Chinese companies generate 8 percent of their power from renewable sources other than hydroelectric by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile, the United States has yet to impose major new policies that require development of environmentally friendly power plants. Perhaps one reason is the Gobi Desert itself. After all, as one Chinese spokesman says, there's not much else you can do with a sandstorm-ridden wasteland!

Photo courtesy of StockXChange.