Most of Canberra wants to avoid a difficult conversation about China in the hope that Australia will keep getting rich if we just pretend that nothing has changed.

"The US solar industry now employs more people than coal and
nuclear combined."

That's rubbish. Its a meme deceptively calculated.

Basically what they did was count anyone even remotely attached to the solar industry as being IN the solar industry, while only counting those directly involved in coal or nuclear as being in those industries.

So for example, take a company that makes a particular screw. The screw is used to hold solar panels in place. They counted that company's staff as being in the solar industry. But the screw is also used to hold the walls of a nuclear plant in place. But they didn't count them as being in the nuclear industry.

Ditto on a range of things from transport to finance.

Its was a meme designed not to elucidate but to deceive the perpetually gullible. If the authors saw this thread they'd probably feel ...'mission accomplished'.

Runner,

Hundreds, actually.

China:
http://www.wired.com/story/china-is-still-building-an-insane-number-of-new-coal-plants/

http://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-will-china-build-hundreds-of-new-coal-plants-in-the-2020s

India:

" .... some experts still think that coal will continue to lead the growth of India's power sector as the country is one of the world's biggest producers and importers of thermal coal .

"Coal remains the most practical means to stimulate affordable electricity generation growth at the pace and scale needed by many emerging markets, particularly as power demand is expected to surge," analysts at Fitch Solutions said in a recent note."
in
http://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2104439-indias-coal-power-growth-plans-face-risks-ieefa

Joe

mhaze,

I see you have decided to joins the ranks of rational thinkers on China. Good to see, keep it up.

Dear Joe,

Thank You.

mhaze,

The US Department of Energy disagrees with your
take on things. Their report was published by
Forbes in which it was stated that in the US
more people were employed in solar power than in
generating electricity through coal, gas, and oil
energy combined.

Bloomberg also confirmed that solar beats coal on
US jobs. That the US solar industry employs more
people than coal, nuclear and wind combined.

There's more given on the web. All you have to do is
Google it.