This video takes a look at the emerging wind-energy sector in China, as the country sets itself up to be a global leader in the development and use of this emerging technology.

I strongly believe that the green energy sector will drive the economies of tomorrow. Every time an election comes around here in the US, we hear bitter remarks of how globalization has driven away our jobs. Factories have moved overseas. Yet the promises made by politicians involve quasi-isolationist policies to “bring back our factories and jobs”. I wrote yesterday about the digital media market, and how we continually look backwards with nostalgia for what we once had. This is the absolute wrong type of thinking, and its harmful when our politicians stoke these backwards sentiments. President Obama has promised to invest in the green energy sector, but we have little to show for this enthusiasm. The problem is that even with the political will-power, our country has entrenched itself in a position adverse to innovation and moving forward.

The book I just finished reading, Capitalism at the Crossroads, talks very clearly about this issue. Because the US economy is already built around an oil-centric infrastructure, the expense of developing and introducing disruptive new technologies outside of that framework is extremely difficult and costly. For instance, the introduction of a hydrogen-powered car requires special fueling stations. The innovation of the car is offset by the complexity and cost of building a supportive infrastructure around it.

The book suggests that developing countries provide a better environment for developing and incubating these new technologies (like the hydrogen-powered car or the windmill) because you can build the supporting infrastructure without needing to disrupt a deeply entrenched system.

This is one of many reasons I believe the developing world will serve as a bastion for innovation in the future.