China & renewables

This article in today's New York Times is about China making progress in developing its renewable energy industry. The author is worried about US competitiveness, but personally I'm more worried about the huge amount of coal that China currently uses to fuel its amazing growth. I'm happy to see China making investments in this kind of technology, and I'm happy to see technology being transferred from countries like Denmark so that it can be more widely used. Coal is still the cheapest to produce and use if you don't think about the externalities it creates, and I doubt that will change any time soon, so kudos to the Chinese government for diversifying their energy portfolio, even if it means paying more up front!