On February 18, the MIT China Energy and Environment Research Group (CEER), in conjunction with the MIT Energy Initiative and the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR), hosted a discussion panel on technology investment and environmental policy in China, post Copenhagen. The panel was attended by more than 70 students, faculty members, and professionals, and was moderated by Dr. John Parsons, CEEPR’s executive director.
Gang Chen, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and member of the National Academy of Engineering, opened the panel with a statement of three facts about energy in China: the use of coal cannot be avoided in the foreseeable future; renewable and low-carbon energy is a rapidly growing market; and the China-US energy technology communication is bidirectional. He listed a few statistics about renewable energy technology in China. “Many households in China use solar hot water heaters,” he said, explaining that there are a total of over 120 million square meters of solar panels used for residential hot water heaters throughout China. These systems cost approximately $300 USD, far less expensive than the equivalent system in the US.
Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher, associate professor of energy and environmental policy at Tufts University, discussed China’s energy use profile and policies. “It is not clear that it will be as easy to reduce energy intensity in the next 15 years” as it has been in the past 15 years, she said. She also highlighted China’s Copenhagen commitment to 45% reduction in energy intensity from 2005 levels by 2020, and noted that China, unlike several other countries at Copenhagen, had left the meeting with an intensity target.
Ms. Amy Corinne Smith, the managing director and co-head of Alternative Energy Banking at Barclays Capital, offered a capital markets perspective. “Alternative energy is a commodity,” she said, that is creating a whole new class of investments that are not cost effective when manufactured outside of Asia. She also discussed energy infrastructure, saying that “in emerging economies, infrastructure needs a lot of investment.”
Following the panelist’s remarks, there was an open Q&A session with the audience. Questions addressed a variety of topics, ranging from China’s domestic investment in renewables to carbon capture and sequestration technology in China. Concerns about intellectual property and technology transfer were raised several times. Ms. Smith said that Chinese patent filings for renewable energy technology “swamped” all other categories of technology patents, and that the market only seemed to be growing. There was also interest in how to break through the climate change deadlock between the China and the US. Professor Gallagher said that the US could have brought a better commitment to the negotiating table, and that both countries still have a great deal of room to improve on domestic energy issues.
After the panel concluded, members of the audience discussed issues related to energy, the environment, and China with each other and the panelists. MIT CEER looks forward to facilitating these important conversations in the future.