Viking_HippieOnce beset by pollution, Beijing's skies are clearer than ever thanks to EVs
It’s always nice to see some good news in the shitshow that is modern day life, makes me hopeful that a better future is still possible. I hope that one day Beijing (and the rest of the world) can go back to clean air 365 days a year.
China is basically what the western world was in the 60-70’s where progress were all over the place.
Still behind in terms of alot of things, especially workers rights, but it’s not going backwards like it is in the US.
Like all countries, there’s some good and bad things to say, but I think that investing in renewables was a very smart move on their part.
They still did it for all other reasons than being eco friendly.
They simply just have the minerals and mines for solar and batteries. And the big one is offering the world an alternative for oil, which takes a big chunk into US profits.
We are just lucky that it also means cleaner air for everyone.
HamartiogonicChina is already the world’s factory, so why not become the world’s battery factory too. People seem to be interested in electric vehicles, so might as well. Once China is the number one EV manufacturer, battery manufacturer and solar panel manufacturer, it’s going to become as wealthy as Saudi Arabia and USA combined.
Those other reasons were important, but China has a history of investing in industrial resources way before they’re expected to be profitable, and often at greater scale than the market actually needs. 1980s China didn’t expect Rare Earth minerals to turn a profit, but they understood that cheap Gallium for example meant LCD manufacturers would be more competitive/productive.
When China started investing in solar panels, the price per PV was 5x more than it is now.