China is trying, in fits and starts, to adopt an energy infrastructure based more on renewable sources. We've been following aspects of this story for some time. The latest chapter comes from New York Times writer Howard French -- and it hints that China's beginning to see just how important to its economy a move to sustainable power could be.

By 2020, starting from a minuscule base that it has established only recently, China expects to supply 10 percent of its needs from so-called renewable energy sources, including wind, solar energy, small hydroelectric dams and biomass like plant fibers and animal wastes. [...]

“We have huge goals for wind power development,” Wang Zhongying, director of China’s Center for Renewable Energy Development. “By 2010, we plan to reach 4,000 megawatts, and by 2020 we expect to reach 20,000 megawatts, or 20 gigawatts.” If anything, Mr. Wang said, these targets are too conservative, and may be easily surpassed.