From this morning’s newspaper, a look at China’s race to capture the global renewable energy market (sub/ad req):

If you want to see how green is done these days, China is where the action is.

With a voracious appetite for fuels to power its rapidly growing economy, China’s energy sector is booming, and nowhere is that more evident than the Asian giant’s pursuit of green energy.

But this is about more than just meeting China’s internal needs, according to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. China sees green energy — wind, solar and the like — as the global growth industry of the 21st century. And it aims to dominate this new global market.

“The Chinese government has determined that this is an area of substantial opportunity for them,” said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, in an interview last week after returning from a week-long fact-finding trip to learn more about what the Chinese are up to.

If the United States does not respond, we risk losing out on a major global economic growth opportunity, Bingaman said.