TIANJIN, China — China vaulted past competitors in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States last year to become the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, and is poised to expand even further this year.
China has also leapfrogged the West in the last two years to emerge as the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels. And the country is pushing equally hard to build nuclear reactors and the most efficient types of coal power plants.
America ought to be leading the world in green energy technology. But Republicans and deniers and conspiracy theorists have been holding us back with their uneducated obstructionism. We'll never catch up when major wingnut media voices are spreading lies like, "It's cold in my pants, therefore global warming is a hoax."