Mongolia Considers Wind Energy for Export to China
An outdoor Mongolian cabinet meeting -- complete with green hats and "Save Our Earth" slogans -- was the stage for an announcement by the coal-abundant country that it may be considering wind energy for export to China.
Save the planet, sure, but as it stands, Mongolia is the fourth largest coal exporter to China in the world. With the expectation of heavy carbon penalties to be levied in the near future, their current arrangement may not be so lucrative.
“While Mongolia has a lot of coal, it is a matter of time before coal-based power plants will become subject to carbon penalties,” said B. Bold, chief executive of Newcom Group, an investment group in the process of building a wind-power-generation plant in Mongolia.
But the financing for endeavors into wind and solar would come at the expense of the going forward with the country's largest mining project -- not exactly an environmentally friendly solution. But what else can a poor, remote country do to garner international notice, and possible investors?
"Mongolia is feeling the impact of global climate change," Prime Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar said at the one-hour meeting, pointing to the recent harsh winter where a fifth of the country's livestock died. Global warming is being blamed for many of the current and new hardships.
Staging the meeting in Gashuunii Khooloi, a sandy valley in South Gobi province, Prime Minister Batbold emphasized the need for a re-assessment of their arrangement with China.
"Five years ago, there used to grow many edible plants in this valley and there were fewer sand dunes. Now look here," he said. "The valley is completely covered with sand. The sand dunes are moving and taking more space each year."
So while the theatrics of wearing slogan-hats made the event a bit like a poorly-funded political rally in a church basement (minus the church basement), the cabinet's discussion of energy was important, alongside other topics of sustainable development and water-shortage.
And you can't fault publicity if it works.
Save the planet, sure, but as it stands, Mongolia is the fourth largest coal exporter to China in the world. With the expectation of heavy carbon penalties to be levied in the near future, their current arrangement may not be so lucrative.
“While Mongolia has a lot of coal, it is a matter of time before coal-based power plants will become subject to carbon penalties,” said B. Bold, chief executive of Newcom Group, an investment group in the process of building a wind-power-generation plant in Mongolia.
But the financing for endeavors into wind and solar would come at the expense of the going forward with the country's largest mining project -- not exactly an environmentally friendly solution. But what else can a poor, remote country do to garner international notice, and possible investors?
"Mongolia is feeling the impact of global climate change," Prime Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar said at the one-hour meeting, pointing to the recent harsh winter where a fifth of the country's livestock died. Global warming is being blamed for many of the current and new hardships.
Staging the meeting in Gashuunii Khooloi, a sandy valley in South Gobi province, Prime Minister Batbold emphasized the need for a re-assessment of their arrangement with China.
"Five years ago, there used to grow many edible plants in this valley and there were fewer sand dunes. Now look here," he said. "The valley is completely covered with sand. The sand dunes are moving and taking more space each year."
So while the theatrics of wearing slogan-hats made the event a bit like a poorly-funded political rally in a church basement (minus the church basement), the cabinet's discussion of energy was important, alongside other topics of sustainable development and water-shortage.
And you can't fault publicity if it works.
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