Rethinking The Clean Energy “Race”

The Clean Air Task Force argues against the 'zero-sum' race metaphor between the US and China regarding clean energy, suggesting instead that China's capacity for large-scale demonstration and investment provides a 'test bed' that can benefit the US through 'reverse innovation' and capital flow. While acknowledging trade disputes and IP theft, the author suggests the US focus on high-end design and systems integration rather than low-end commodity manufacturing, which is increasingly automated or cost-prohibitive to ship.

• China is a vital partner for scaling low-carbon energy because it has growing electricity demand, superior infrastructure construction capabilities for first-of-a-kind projects, and significant R&D funding. For instance, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation's alternative energy R&D budget may be comparable in size to the entire US Department of Energy's.
• Cooperation with China provides direct economic and technical benefits to the US through 'reverse innovation,' where knowledge from Chinese projects reduces US deployment costs, and through direct Chinese investment in US manufacturing and projects, such as Wanxiang Corporation's solar plant and ENN's investment in Duke Energy solar projects.
• The competition over low-end clean energy manufacturing is less critical than often portrayed because commodity component production is moving toward automation and large components remain in the US due to shipping costs. The US should prioritize high-end design, systems integration, and advanced manufacturing over the commodity end of the supply chain.

APA

Cohen, A. (2011). Rethinking The Clean Energy “Race”. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2011/10/rethinking-the-clean-energy-race/

Chicago

Cohen, Armond. Rethinking The Clean Energy “Race”. Clean Air Task Force, 2011. https://www.catf.us/2011/10/rethinking-the-clean-energy-race/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Cohen |first1=Armond |title=Rethinking The Clean Energy “Race” |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=26 October 2011 |url=https://www.catf.us/2011/10/rethinking-the-clean-energy-race/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{cohen2011rethinking, author = {Cohen, Armond}, title = {{Rethinking The Clean Energy “Race”}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2011}, month = oct, url = {https://www.catf.us/2011/10/rethinking-the-clean-energy-race/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }