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15 Dec 2011: China Solar Energy Goal
Is Increased by 50 Percent for 2015

The Chinese government has increased its solar energy target for 2015 by 50 percent, setting a new goal

A Solar Panel on Every Roof?
In U.S., Still a Distant Dream

Daunted by high up-front costs, U.S. homeowners continue to shy away from residential solar power systems, even as utility-scale solar projects are taking off. But residential solar is having modest growth.
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of 15 gigawatts annually, state media reports. The new target, which was reported by China National Radio, follows a rapid surge in Chinese solar power installation in recent months after the government unified grid feed-in tariffs for solar projects in July. At the end of 2010, installed solar capacity in China was less than one gigawatt. But China, the world’s top exporter of photovoltaic products, had already doubled its solar energy target to 10 gigawatts by 2015 following the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan, and the government now has boosted that goal to 15 gigawatts. Meanwhile, a new industry report shows that U.S. solar installations jumped by nearly 40 percent during the third quarter of 2011, pushing the nation’s total annual installation beyond one gigawatt for the first time.

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The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.

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