CBS News correspondent Celia Hatton reports wind turbines that can be seen slicing the sky above rural Minnesota were manufactured more than 6,000 miles away by a Chinese company. They’re helping to power the nearby town of Pipestone.

” The wind is blowing nearly all the time, ” said Pipestone resident Elmer Stoltenberg. ” We should take advantage of that. ”

In New Jersey, one Rutgers University campus gets 10 percent of its energy from 7,000 solar panels also made by a Chinese company.

China has a dirty reputation as the world’s factory, but its emerging green energy sector is threatening to leave the United States in its dust.

The overall environmental report card is not pretty for either country. China is the world’s top producer of greenhouse gases. The United States is a close second, followed by Russia, India and Japan.

China burns mountains of coal–the dirtiest form of energy–for 70 % of its power. The nation consumes 2-and-a-half billion tons each year. Twenty-three percent of America’s energy also comes from coal, using 1.2 billion tons annually.

source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/09/eveningnews/main6282499.shtml