President Obama, and the Democrats in Congress, has made clean energy consumption a major target of his administration’s policy platform. Throughout his presidential campaign, from 2006-2008, then Senator Obama discussed at length his intention to build a clean economy. After his inauguration he continued to speak about the central importance of clean energy in shaping a 21st century economy.

With more than a year in office now under his belt President Obama is still talking about mounting the charge for a clean energy economy. Unfortunately, he is not doing much to actually implement energy alternatives.

There is one country in the world that is directing its efforts in a focused effort toward clean energy. Ironically, this country happens to be one of the filthiest on earth: China.

According to The New York Times, Chinese investments into clean green energy has turned the country into a world leader in the research, development and production of alternative energy solutions.

This does not in any way indicate that China is cleaning up its act environmentally. To the contrary, China is building coal-fired power plants at a staggering rate and degrading its environment to such a degree that other national offenses pale in comparison. Even the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is a far cry from what China has done. There is even evidence that Chinese factories and power plants put so much soot and grim into the atmosphere they have led to atmospheric cooling in the South China Sea and Japan.

As The Times points out, China seems to have little concern for the environment to explain its heavy investments in alternative energies. At the same time, China does have a great interest in capturing global markets and securing jobs for its people.

To be Chinese is not so much a nationality of “citizenship” as it is the status of being a “subject.” In essence the ruling structure in China has not changed much in nearly 2,000 years, and the strategy for keeping the world’s most populous nation stable and content has not changed either. Give the people food, jobs and something to strive for and the people in high places will not have to worry about a popular insurrection.

Modern day China has more than 300 million people – equivalent to the entire population of the United States – who need the manufacturing and industrial jobs they were promised when the government convinced them to abandon their farms. Beijing already works around the clock trying to convince multinationals to relocate to their cheap and easy labor market. But capturing these productive facilities required them to push down domestic wages and allow their environment to be taken advantage of. In clean energy they see a solution that can be entirely homegrown and not require any more domestic sacrifices.

The United States talks a lot about clean energy; China puts its money where its mouth is. If President Obama truly wants the U.S. to be a global leader in clean energy he has to understand the very practical calculus of the Chinese situation.

The U.S. seems to think that it can drag its feet on energy and eventually flip a switch and adopt clean alternatives. The Chinese understand that it requires years of investment and research, and they have already put in the leg work. America does not even have the foundations to produce its own commercially viable clean solutions; China already has the factories churning out product.

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