China's 'rapid renewables surge'

China's rapid investment in low carbon technologies has catapulted the nation up the global renewable energy rankings, a report shows.
The Climate Group study said China invested $12bn (£6bn) in renewables during 2007, second only to Germany.
However, it was expected to top the table by the end of 2009, it added.
The findings have been published as China faces criticism over its air quality ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, which begin on 8 August.
The report, China's Clean Revolution, brings together the latest data on the country's burgeoning renewables sector in one publication.
Co-author Changhua Wu, The Climate Group's China director, said the rapid rise in investment was, in part, the result of the government realising that the western model of industrialisation was unsustainable.
"China has been experiencing similar problems during its industrial revolution that western nations saw during their period of rapid growth - pollution, environmental damage and resource depletion," she told BBC News.
It has the world's largest hydroelectricity capacity since the controversial Three Gorges project began producing electricity, and the fifth largest fleet of wind turbines on the planet.

Although its installed capacity of photovoltaic (PV) panels is still relatively low, it is already a leading manufacturer of solar panels.
Ms Wu explained that the rapid growth of the sector was being driven by both government and business.
"In order to really drive towards a low carbon economy, policy incentives are crucial; but it is not always the case," she said.
"The wind sector's fast growth was mainly a result of domestic policies, because the government offered incentives to developments so that private and public sector entrepreneurs would jump on it.
"But the solar PV sector benefitted mainly from the international market, such as demand from the US and EU.
"Even today, the policy incentives are still not there, yet it still has grown to the level it is now."

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