Thomas L. Friedman's column: Trump is pushing America back from clean-energy

Can you hear that loud voice coming from the east? China's 1.4 billion people are laughing at us! They are unable to believe their luck that in the heavy power-consuming era of AI, Trump and his party have prepared for strategic suicide. He has passed a bill that weakens America's ability to produce renewable energy. And why? Because Trump sees them as a 'liberal' source of energy, even if today they are the fastest and cheapest ways to boost our electricity grid to meet the unfathomable demand coming from AI data centers. Now, even Saudi Arabia is doubly pushing solar power to meet the needs of AI data centers it receives from the West, and Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" is bent on doing just the opposite. This eliminates the tax credits of solar and wind power as well as electric vehicles. This virtually guarantees that in the coming years, China will be the leader of autonomous vehicles, including solar power, wind power, and electric cars and trucks. Thankfully, Trump and his friends secured Biden-era tax credits until 2036 for companies that build nuclear reactors, hydroelectric dams, geothermal plants and other emission-free technologies like battery storage. The problem is that it can take up to 10 years to build a nuclear plant in the US, and Trump's bill added some of the complex restrictions to battery credits that prevent recipients from having ties to "banned foreign entities" like China. These restrictions are so complex that the credits may be unusable for many projects. In short, this bill—which has been passed in haste without a single hearing of Congress with independent energy experts or even a single scientist—would surely put billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy at risk. It could also kill thousands of American workers. So, in one fell swoop this bill will increase your air-conditioning bill, reduce your clean energy jobs and make China happier while undermining America's auto industry. The one person in America who understands all this well is Elon Musk. It is sad that Musk – who is undoubtedly one of America's greatest manufacturing innovators – has discredited himself in front of voters for arbitrary cuts in the government workforce. This will not make many people understand the crucial truth Musk is screaming to his fellow Americans that Trump's bill is completely insane and destructive. It promotes the industries of the past and severely damages the industries of the future. And China knows that. In other words, there has never been such a close correlation between the amount of cheap, clean electricity that could be produced for an AI model, and a country's future economic and military strength. But Trump has rejected the clean energy policy and has called on America's renewable energy industry to kneel down. But China doesn't do that today. Very few Americans understand how far China has gone in this matter and is moving faster every day. In 2000, China produced just about 1,300 terawatts of electricity, while the U.S. produced about 3,800 terawatts (one terawatt is equal to one million megawatts). Today, China is generating more than 10,000 terawatts of electricity, while the US has added only 500 terawatts to its tally since 2000. Much of China's electricity growth came from coal, but in recent years it has been driven by the expansion of hydro, solar, wind and battery sources. China is on its way to becoming the world's first 'electrostate', where the bulk of its energy comes from electricity and the economy is increasingly powered by clean technology. Musk has been screaming to his fellow Americans that Trump's bill is completely insane and devastating. It promotes the industries of the past and severely damages the industries of the future. (From The New York Times)