we don't want to catch up.

In this economy we'd be better off letting them develop all the technology and then copying their lead. Especially when everyone expects our trillions of dollars in debt government to be part of the solution in investing in renewable energy. Go China Go! send it here when you're done.

Your logic is impeccable, sara.b. And by "impeccable" I mean ridiculously flawed.

Isn't this a design blog?

Actually, sara.b has the right idea if we’re talking about a development race [leapfrogging is a wonderful thing!]; but if I understood the article right, the reason we're in second is because we are attempting to develop and broaden the use of renewable energies and China isn't. It’s not about energy usage, percentage or development; it’s about who investors are putting their money in.

It's saying developers are investing in China's renewable energy attempts because they focus on wind energy [it's tried and true], but the US is trying to focus on developing Solar and other forms of renewable energy which are just too much of a risk.

The US is kinda responsible for this anyways, now exporting most of solar manufacturing to China because they do it way cheaper. Cheaper because their process of breaking down the silicon produces a toxic byproduct that is killing wildlife and literally making the air around their solar plants lethal: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9889848-54.html.

Same goes for people who want the US to be leaders in natural gas: no one is thinking of the environmental affects.

I agree with Marilyn, what the heck does this have to do with design?