Powering China

China is now the 2nd biggest consumer of electricity in the world, after the U.S., and most of that power comes from coal. That's the bad news. The good news is that the Chinese leadership knows it has a problem and is taking some steps to rein in the country's burgeoning fossil fuel appetite. To cite one example, the government has mandated the use of solar power to heat water in all new housing construction in the booming city of Shenzhen. By 2010, according to official reports, half of the new buildings in the economic power house will have solar water heating systems, while 20 percent of them will use solar power for generating electricity. Let's hope it's just the beginning of a much wider trend.