A t a factory in Wuxi, China, workers lift solar panels onto conveyor belts, while others in white lab coats move between machines as they check on a process for etching and engraving silicon wafers to form solar cells. China's production of solar panels has grown quickly in the past two years ; it is it now the world's leading exporter. [1]

Nowadays, it seems like every third Thomas Friedman column is about how the United States is engaged in a green-tech competition with China-one that, much to his chagrin, we seem to be losing handily. China really has put more effort (and money) into developing cleaner energy technologies than we have. And, if you're trying to nudge the United States onto a lower-carbon path, invoking the specter of China isn't a terrible idea, rhetorically speaking. [2]