Today in Beijing, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a package of measures "to strengthen cooperation between the United States and China on clean energy."

According to President Obama,

I want to reaffirm the fact that the American people are interested in stronger relations with the people of China, and that the more that we can encourage people-to-people exchanges that are consistent with the discussions that we're having at the government level, the more that China and the United States will be able to work cooperatively on a whole range of issues -- both economic issues, security issues, and global issues that are in the interest not just of our two nations but the entire world.

The two Presidents announced a series of major areas of cooperation:

The U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center will facilitate joint research and development of clean energy technologies by teams of scientists and engineers from the United States and China, as well as serve as a clearinghouse to help researchers in each country.

The U.S.-China Electric Vehicles Initiative will include joint standards development, demonstration projects in more than a dozen cities, technical roadmapping and public education projects, all aimed at eventual deployment of electric vehicles to reduce oil dependence.

The U.S. China Energy Efficiency Action Plan will allow the two countries to work together to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, industrial facilities, and consumer appliances, culminating with an annual U.S.-China Energy Efficiency Forum, rotating between the two countries.

The U.S. China Renewable Energy Partnership will facilitate development of roadmaps for wide-spread renewable energy deployment. A new Advanced Grid Working Group made up of American and Chinese developers and strategists will help plan for grid modernization in both countries, and a new U.S.-China Renewable Energy Forum will be held annually, rotating between the two countries.

A 21st Century Coal Initiative, for which the two Presidents pledged to promote cooperation on cleaner uses of coal, will include large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects.

A Shale Gas Initiative, will allow the U.S. and China to use experience gained in the United States to assess China’s shale gas potential, promote environmentally-sustainable development of shale gas resources, conduct joint technical studies to accelerate development of shale gas resources in China, and promote shale gas investment in China through the U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, study tours, and workshops.

The U.S. China Energy Cooperation Program will leverage private sector resources for project development work in China across a broad array of clean energy projects, to the benefit of both nations.

More available on the White House blog.

1. High Speed Rail

High speed rail can move large amounts of people and freight fast, conveniently and economically. High speed rail systems have been operating successfully in Europe and Japan for many years. In Canada, a survey found that 86% of Canadians are in favor of the introduction of high-speed trains.

In the U.S., Amtrak lost $32 per passenger in 2008, according to a Pew analysis, but the Northeast Corridor, which carried over one third of passengers, made a profit of about $10 per passenger. The loss of almost $5 per passenger of Northeast Regional was more than made up by the corridor's high-speed Acela Express, which made a profit of about $41 per passenger.

California has done the maths. Transportation accounts for 40% of California's greenhouse gas emissions. Last November, California voters approved a $9.95 billion bond to fund a high-speed train line from San Diego to Sacramento (picture below). This was followed up last month by a bid for more than $4.7 billion in federal stimulus funding for a high-speed (over 200 mph) rail system to serve millions of residents in virtually every major city in California.

Proposed High Speed Rail in California - image courtesy of cahighspeedrail.ca.gov

2. Solar powered Bullet Trains

Solar Bullet proposes to create a series of tracks in the U.S. Southwest, serving a 220 mph train system that would require 110 megawatts of electricity, to be produced by solar panels mounted above the tracks, at a target price of $20 to $40 Million a mile. The cost for the first phase alone is estimated at $27 billion.

Proposed Solar Bullet train - image courtesy of Solar Bullet

3. Parked Cars producing Electricity

Car parking lots at such high speed railway stations could use the parked cars’ windshields and roofs to mirror sunlight onto a solar energy concentrating tower to contribute electricity.

Solasis design by Yongbang Ho and Klaud Wasiak, Canada- from images at Designboom

4. Solar Panels as Road Surface

Idaho-based Solar Roadways has a received a $100,000 Department of Transportation (DOT) grant to further develop the concept of using photovoltaic (PV) solar panels as road surface.

Roads paved with Solar Panels - Artwork by Dan Walden - part-image from Solar Roadways

Irradiance chart - black dots show the area that, if covered with solar panels (8% efficiency), could produce the world's entire energy needs.

5. Roads that power Cars

German company IAV (Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr) has taken out a patent to allow wireless recharging by means of electromagnetic induction.

Wireless recharging - screenshot from video at IAV website

A strip embedded in the road would transfer electricity by means of electromagnetic induction to vehicles driving on the road. Sensors would spot the cars and activate the charging process, when required, while radio chips would identify cars for billing purposes. IAV has achieved 90% efficiency in transmission from road to electric vehicle.

Earlier this year, researchers at the Korean Advanced Institute Of Science Technology (KAIST) had achieved a 80% efficient transmission through a 1 cm gap, or a 60% effective transmission when the space widened to 12 cm (nearly 5″) when they tested the technology to move a bus.

KAIST project being tested out in february 2009 - image courtesy ctnt korea

Climate change is here...and there is hell to pay.  Hell and High Water is a must-read book for everyone interested in global warming and climate science. Joseph Romm holds a PhD in Physics from MIT, was acting assistant secretary at the Department of Energy in the Clinton Administration (in which he headed the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy), and founder of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions. Many will be familiar with Romm’s writing in the blog, Climate Progress, and Time Magazine has called him “the Web’s most influential climate-change blogger.”

As the title of this 2007 book suggests, the contents are split into two main parts. In Part I, Romm tells us the state of the current science, and then takes us through the likely scenarios for the near future (2000-2025), the intermediate near future (2025-2050), and the slightly further near future (2050-2100). As time passes – and as inaction continues – we advance through increasingly frequent and severe climatic events to what Romm calls “planetary purgatory” in which intense drought is seen in some areas while other areas (e.g., coastlines) experience intense flooding. Finally, barring significant action that begins now, we face “hell and high water,” irreversible global warming and sea level rise. Romm supports these scenarios with facts and the full backing of the scientific consensus.

In Part II, Romm takes us through the politics and the solutions. He informs us that we already have the technology to begin dealing with the situation, and to do so before the situation worsens to the point where solutions are much more difficult to initiate. So we can solve this problem. What is missing is the political will. Confounding this is the intentional disinformation being forwarded by free market lobbying groups whose masterful use of rhetoric confuses the public and makes it incredibly difficult for policy-makers to take the needed action. Try on this advice from Frank Luntz in his infamous 2002 “straight talk” strategy memo to conservatives wishing to deny and delay action on global warming:

“It can be helpful to think of environmental (and other) issues in terms of a story. A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than the dry recitation of the truth.” [my emphasis added]

In other words, at least in the climate change denialist book, lying is okay if it gets your desired point across. And according to Romm this is exactly what the global warming deniers and delayers have been doing. The goal is delay, delay, delay...deny, deny, deny.

But Romm also offers solutions. A lot of solutions. And most are based on technologies that already exist today and can be carried out if policy-makers are allowed to put them into practice. Solutions that include putting a price on carbon that can be traded in such a way that companies that reduce their emissions will make money. Solutions like plug-in electric cars (not hydrogen fuel cell cars, which Romm suggests is more of a shell game to delay action than a viable technology). And many more.

In his concluding chapter, “The End of Politics,” Romm says that the public – you and me – need to demand change. He notes that everyone must become a “climate champion” that will take whatever action we can to put policy-makers in a position where they can honestly implement adequate policies. Romm says that he does “believe that if we fail to act in time, it will be the single biggest regret any of us has at the end of our lives.”

This book is a powerful look at the problems we face with global warming, the solutions that already exist to deal with it, and the politics that keeps us from implementing them. It is a easily readable book for everyone, whether scientifically trained or not. I highly recommend this book for all to read. Readers can also keep up with Romm’s continuing efforts to debunk climate change deniers at http://climateprogress.org/.