Chinese Carbon Emissions

There's an article in the New York Times today about the Chinese not wanting to commit to any binding international agreement about reducing carbon emissions. Although this is nothing new, it goes to show why the Copenhagen talks failed, and the only agreements that can be made are talks of voluntary reductions, and carbon intensity reductions. As the Chinese economy grows at 8% per year, this is just watered down talk meaning they aren't going to do anything. Of course their carbon intensity is going to decrease 40% because that's just how it works without any extra effort involved to install renewable energy. They have the opportunity, with their massive industrial infrastructure, to install wind energy at an incredible rate. It wouldn't be as cheap as their coal power, but it's not that far off and of course cheaper when you take into account the negative externalities of health improvements and future climate change issues. China authoritarian state, along with their massive monetary surpluses, can create huge opportunities to advance renewable energy productions. It would be nothing for them to ramp up wind and solar production in the next few years such that all new energy that goes online would be renewable.
Interestingly, the US, although we don't deserve that much credit, is already half way there. There were 10GW of wind installed in the US last year, and no coal power plants. Wind is now cost competitive in this country with gas and coal, as long as the conditions are right. Solar is as well, as long as the conditions and the rebates are right like they are here in southern California. Why people don't install panels on their house more is another issue. California, once the leader in wind power has been surpassed by Texas which is racing ahead to build more wind. If they could decrease their electricity usage per capita like California, then we'd really be getting somewhere. The pace of PG&E and SCE building wind and solar in California is terrible, and I think California really needs to take initiative like Germany and Japan have done. The congress of California must pass laws to for them to do this. A majority of us want more green energy, and consumers have no way to choose when there is a monopoly. Although I live in a LEED Silver apartment building and don't consume much electricity, I really wish we had a choice to vote with our dollars when it came to all the purchases we make. This apartment building has a lot of roof space facing south, and yet a liberal institution such as UCSB still doesn't want to help the cause of fighting global warming.