Letters to the Editor
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about China
I think it was reported by Andrew Leonard here that China has mandated back in 1995 a higher average MPG standard than the US will have in 2018. So on the one hand, the Chinese do have a far far better per capita control on energy consumption than in the US. On a per captia basis - even if you compare upper-class Chinese to Americans - there just is not comparison.
Furthermore, the dense nature of most Chinese cities, the complete lack of free parking, and the relatively limited amount of space dedicated to roads further makes China more "energy conserving" than the US. I live in Suzhou, which (I heard) has the most per-capita car ownership in China. Which is a shame and annoying. Especially because all these people with cars only need to drive, on average, less than 5 miles to get to work. They also usually drop off wife / husband on the way. When I lived in Silicon Valley, I drove usually 40 miles to work by myself...and my wife drove another 30 miles to work.
Another point, as the majority of China's growth capital comes from exports, and those exports go to the Western world, I think its fair to say that a large amount of energy consumption in China is really being consumed by the West.
The big problem with China today is not cars or oil usage. US focus on the oil China purchases is just a red herring...its an issue used to place blame on the Chinese while ignoring the real problems (same BTW, as the currency valuation issue). The problem with China's energy usage is that they are burning coal in the North of China...and their coal-fired generation plants have no environmental controls. Many of the plants are illigal and extremely in-efficient. As China has become more wealthy, and as they produce more products, they consume more energy. That means more coal. These heavilly polluted cities in China you hear about...they are polluted because of coal generators...not because of cars.