China and US Agree to Make More Energy-Efficient Buildings

China and US Agree to Make More Energy-Efficient Buildings: "By emphasizing that China is taking action, even as it continues to build a large coal-fired plant each week, Mr. Chu and Mr. Locke might make it more palatable for Congress to consider an agreement from Copenhagen that includes fewer limits on the emissions of developing countries than have been sought. China opposes any such limits.

European officials have fretted that China and the U.S. might reach their own deal on climate change and then demand that other countries accept it at the Copenhagen conference. Mr. Chu said in an interview recently that it was imaginable that the United States and China would conduct bilateral talks to work out their differences on climate policy. Particular concern is focused on how nearly four-fifths of the electrical energy in China is engendered from coal, producing especially high discharges of carbon dioxide, the main gas that contributes to global warming. Electricity prices in China are low by international standards."