Mark, you have it wrong on concrete. Making cement, a key ingredient of concrete involves huge energy consumption, and releases large amounts of CO2 by chemical reactions. Concrete does however slowly absorb CO2 over decades. Re warming emissions from hydro - this is largely in the form of methane from shallow large area lakes behind dams - where plant material accumulates and decomposes. In tropical conditions, some dams emit so much methane that they have a higher emission profile than coal fired plant.
Re the article's statement that China has 78 GW of solar power, and is targeting 105 GW by 2020, these figures are now well out of date. China is believed to have installed 54 GW of solar in 2017 taking existing solar to around 120 GW as of the end of 2017, and in my view, is likely to hit 200 or possibly 250 GW in 2020
Juan Cole, you need to be more thorough in your research. China installed 10.5 GW of solar in JULY 2017, and 24.5 GW in H1. (35 GW with 5 months to go).
Mark, you have it wrong on concrete. Making cement, a key ingredient of concrete involves huge energy consumption, and releases large amounts of CO2 by chemical reactions. Concrete does however slowly absorb CO2 over decades. Re warming emissions from hydro - this is largely in the form of methane from shallow large area lakes behind dams - where plant material accumulates and decomposes. In tropical conditions, some dams emit so much methane that they have a higher emission profile than coal fired plant.
Re the article's statement that China has 78 GW of solar power, and is targeting 105 GW by 2020, these figures are now well out of date. China is believed to have installed 54 GW of solar in 2017 taking existing solar to around 120 GW as of the end of 2017, and in my view, is likely to hit 200 or possibly 250 GW in 2020
Juan Cole, you need to be more thorough in your research. China installed 10.5 GW of solar in JULY 2017, and 24.5 GW in H1. (35 GW with 5 months to go).