U.S.-China Energy Alliance Needed: Opinion

By Kevin Grewal, editorial director at www.SmartStops.net

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - As global warming assumes increasing importance, China and the United States needs to forge an alliance to create an environment where clean energy can thrive.

China and the U.S., the world's two largest producers of carbon emissions, have already adopted various programs to reduce a heavy reliance on crude oil, create new cleaner energy and improve the overall health of the environment.

However, a recent study by McKinsey & Co. suggests that the failure of two to cooperate on the issue could lead to a stall that could result in neither nation achieving its goals.

Although both nations, in conjunction with private investors, are pursuing electrified vehicles, carbon capture and storage and concentrated solar power, these technologies are expensive and need massive infrastructure and research. It would make more sense for the two countries to work together to achieve the results that only a partnership could achieve in such areas as standards and technology transfer.

Although electrified vehicles and CCS can, and probably will, emerge in both nations, the scale and global impact will be greatly enhance if they worked together. Currently, nearly 80% of oil consumed in the U.S. and 50% of the oil consumed in China are used to fuel vehicles. If both nations made the switch to electric vehicles, the consumption of oil would take a big hit and the momentum would likely force other nations to compete in the electrified-vehicle industry.

As for CCS, capturing green house gases is expensive and neither nation is pursuing the technology aggressively. This could change if both pooled their resources together.