Tuesday, September 6, 2016

China: Renewable Energy is in Big Demand

Chinese people want renewable energy more than anyone, but nobody’s selling it to them (Quartz)

It turns out a staggering number of Chinese people are willing to pay more for renewable energy. But businesses that sell green power to consumers, prolific elsewhere, haven’t yet got a single foothold in the biggest market on earth.

A survey of 3,000 Chinese city-dwellers by Ipsos Mori, a polling company, found that a massive 97.6% of them would like to buy clean power. Of those, over 90% would be willing to pay extra for it. The poll was commissioned by the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.

Their enthusiasm is in sharp contrast to the more lukewarm responses in countries where both dedicated providers and mainstream energy companies offer green-energy packages. Though not directly comparable, polls by other companies found a much lower willingness to pay for renewables in countries like the US and the UK.

(Thanks to GRC Member Marcelo Lippmann, Staff Scientist (retired) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the submission.)