Why Europe and China are Racing for the Green Technology Revolution

Europe plans to fight for its place in the clean energy race. 

The president of the European Commission (Europe), Ursula von der Leyen, declared on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the EU will provide extensive new subsidies for green technology to deter business migration to the US and China. By 2050, the EU hopes to have a clean economy and achieve net zero emissions, and Leyen said that sugar bread and whips were on the table at that time. 

The net-zero shift, according to der Leyen, is already bringing about significant changes in the industrial, economic, and geopolitical realms. The nature of our sector and how work is done are both changing as a result. The EU’s Green Deal industrial strategy (Green technology) aims to transform Europe into a centre for clean technology and innovation while fending off strong efforts to lure the EU’s industrial capacity to China and Europe. Particularly, the EU worries that its green-tech firms may relocate to the US, which this summer enacted a $369 billion plan to support green production.

He did, however, specifically mention China, noting that it “dominates global manufacturing in industries like electric vehicles or solar panels… with the promise of green technology, low labour costs, and a friendlier regulatory environment.” Plans by the European Union to compete with the US and China look to entail considerable subsidies of their own. Additionally, Von der Leyen declared that the group will temporarily change the EU and Europe regulations to counter China. Rules for State Aid to Simplify and Speed Up Clean Energy Production Licensing Before the fossil-fuel economy becomes outdated, “we know we have a tiny window of opportunity to invest in clean technology and creativity to lead the way,” he added.

Source: Pexels.com

He also made a connection between the development and efforts to wean Europe off Russian gas. He said that Europe had “replaced nearly 80% of the Russian gas pipeline” and that it had “overcome this perilous reliance in less than a year.” The transfer of green technology businesses to the USA and China, however, raised concerns. “Europe is now 98 percent dependent on a country: China,” he added. “Rare earths are important for the manufacture of vital technologies such as wind power generation, hydrogen storage, or batteries. He also brought up lithium, whose supply chains are “extremely tight” due to the fact that three nations—Australia, Chile, and China—control 90% of its production. 

“This has increased costs and jeopardises our ability to compete. To avoid developing new dependencies, we must thus enhance the refining, processing, and recycling of raw resources here in Europe. The amount of funding for the new green technology subsidies is not yet known; it will be included in the updated budget later this year. However, the Europe (EU) has already given member states 672 billion euros (about $725 billion) to deal with the repercussions of the war in Ukraine, thus The Associated Press claimed that a “large” sum is expected to be provided for this new renewable energy plan to counter China.

United States, As part of the Green Deal Industry Plan of green technology, it is also drafting a new Net-Zero Industry Act. This law prioritises funding for initiatives that span the whole supply chain, such as Simplification and expediting the process of tracking licences for new green technology manufacturing plants. As part of the budget review, a Europe Sovereignty Fund will also be established. This fund will be used to assist the switch to green technology across the bloc better than China, and prevent a fragmentation impact in the internal market that may happen if national governments develop their own subsidy programmes.

The announcement last week by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his nation will reduce its CO2 emissions as a percentage of its gross domestic product hardly made an impact on the Atlantic and Pacific including Europe. But it made a big splash among IT companies, particularly in the energy storage industry.

In actuality, this translates to a 25% increase in the quantity of green technology used by your staff and business. To that aim, President Xi of China declared that in a decade, China’s entire production of wind and solar energy will rise exponentially, from 500 million kilowatts to 1.2 billion kilowatts. Chinese municipal governments require up to 20% more storage space for this. What technologies are ahead of the curve now that the race has officially begun? According to xinhuanet.com, Xi assured world leaders including Europe, “We will take immediate efforts to execute the goals recently outlined and further contribute to tackling the global climate crisis.” China “always keeps its promises.”

China will specifically cut its CO2 emissions per unit by 65%. President XI of China earlier said at the UN General Assembly that his nation will reach its maximum CO2 emissions by 2030 and that it will be CO2-neutral until 2060. As a result, storage firms will battle for market share. However, China is searching for green technology answers rather than a thousand vendors with a thousand issues and a thousand solutions. China has previously squandered time and resources on several unsuccessful goods under pressure of Europe’s initiatives.

Battery storage is the most likely option to close the gaps that must be filled for China to achieve its carbon reduction targets because it is already widely known. Energy storage is used by on-site utilities and generators to store electricity during the day and release it at night, preventing price increases. Increasing the utilisation of green technology sources and supplying power during periods of high demand are the two objectives. However, the exorbitant cost remains a barrier while countering Europe.

Batteries also have a significant drawback in that they cannot provide long-term storage. This implies that, whereas “flow batteries” can provide power for 15 hours as opposed to “lithium-ion” batteries, they may both be charged and drained, each sustaining the flow of electrons for four hours. Diesel generators are utilised for long-term relief after catastrophic events like forest fires, but their use is constrained by the amount of fuel available. According to Chris Allo, president of ElektrikGreen (a green technology firm), a company located in Colorado that creates hydrogen-based energy storage systems, batteries are a temporary fix for a long-term issue. “They deteriorate with time and function during brief power outages. With hydrogen, I can fill and empty a tank a million times.

Tanks are used to store hydrogen, which has a little carbon footprint. Excess power produced by the solar panels is electrolyzed into pure hydrogen. Before entering a fuel cell, this gas is first kept in a tank. When solar energy is employed, “green hydrogen” is mentioned. However, the objective is to make the entire process less expensive to create green technology by China to be a better alternate to Europe. Beyond hydrogen, water is used to pump hydropower or build massive energy storage systems. Thermal energy may also be produced on demand or used to balance energy needs by capturing heat and cold. Then there are mechanical storage systems, which store electricity via kinetic energy. Simply explained, an object’s kinetic or gravitational energy increases with speed. Consider rivers and the creation of hydroelectric electricity.

“Gravity-based energy storage (green technology) is an elegant solution in harmony with China’s social culture, the pursuit of CO2 neutrality, and its many years of familiarity with the dynamics of the natural world,” says Mitchell Stanley, president of the National Center for Sustainable Development and a Stera officer. Energy that gravitational memory or mechanical energy consumes. Simply put, the device, he continues, “can fill up and preserve electricity if the demand is low and use gravity to create electricity when the need is great. “It works on the same principal as the hydropower that has been stored and used for thousands of years in China. Local consumers offer basic load current without the performance loss associated with remote generation and remote transmission thanks to the technology, which makes use of gravity, which is inherently carbon-free, better than Europe’s technology.

Leading the way is battery storage, notably in Asia Pacific. The top 3 suppliers are CATL, LG Chem, BYD, and SK Innovation, according to consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. While Xcel Energy XEL +0.5% has received hundreds of bids to help it integrate energy storage into its grids, wind, and solar energy, Tesla Inc. TSLA +0.1% is investing $5 billion in a battery storage production plant. There is a sizable global market for innovative storage technologies. And this growth will be drawn to China. In actuality, his demand for the grid to adopt renewable energy and achieve carbon neutrality (green technology) by 2060 would act as the catalyst, the driving reason behind the addition of up to 20% storage capacity. The race has begun, and the rivalry will undoubtedly help the environment and energy users across the Europe and the rest of the world.

About the Author

Ahsan Azam is the author who specializes in avionics as well as research writing. The author has a keen attention to detail and is focused on providing interesting content to the readers.

About Stone Age Technologies SIA

Stone Age Technologies SIA is a reliable IT service provider, specializing in the IT Solutions. We offer a full range of services to suit your needs and budget, including IT support, IT consultancy, remote staffing services, web and software development as well as IT outsourcing. Our team of highly trained professionals assist businesses in delivering the best in IT Solutions. Contact us for your IT needs. We are at your service 24/7.