1.30.2008

Tradewinds

China recently announced plans to manufacture more wind turbines than any other country by 2009. Chinese officials, when asked about their plans to surpass both the US and EU in renewable energy generation capacity, stated that they will soon have the ability to significantly cool the world.

In response, the Bush administration--which had previously sought to sequester CO2 emissions from so-called "clean coal" power plants--decided to speed up plans to re-release the carbon into the atmosphere.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman stated in an interview that the DOE had planned on waiting until 2050, when renewable power generation in Asia and the EU could significantly impact our own climate, to release the sequestered CO2. "This push by China to manufacture and export such a large number of inexpensive wind turbines throws our climate models off completely." Adding, "no one wants another winter as cold as this one has been," Bodman elaborated that "rather than wait until mid-century to release carbon stored from "clean coal" plants, we'll have to continue aggressively releasing the stuff immediately to counteract this threat to our environment."