Elon Musk has been influential as a proponent of solar power in the past decade. In several interviews, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has often expressed his vision of a future powered solely by solar electricity. Given its abundance across the world and beyond, many tech entrepreneurs have shared Musk’s opinion on the need to harness solar energy for sustaining and supporting future technological developments.
In his recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk highlighted a specific country that has been making breakthroughs in the use and promotion of solar energy. He reposted a graphical representation of a comparative study of electricity generation in China and the US over two time periods. The graph, depicting the different types of electricity generated by both countries, revealed an interesting fact about China’s engagement with solar energy.
Elon Musk showers praise on China’s attempts at solar electricity
In his X post dated December 20, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reposted a graphical representation by user @JessePeltan. The graph illustrated a comparative study titled “Change in Electricity Generation,” with the time periods specified as “last 12 months vs prior 12 months.” The graph shows the growth of energy generation by China and the US across different sectors of the energy industry. Except for coal-fired power generation, China appears to have surpassed the US in every other energy category, according to the graph.
Incredible progress by China in solar power!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2025
America needs to do the same. https://t.co/Z4gSFvaHqD
A remarkable revelation, however, was the immense output of solar energy delivered by China during the aforementioned time periods. And this particularly caught the attention of Elon Musk. Upon reposting the study, the Tesla chief executive wrote the caption, “Incredible progress by China in solar power!” This was followed by the sentence, “America needs to do the same,” an idea that Musk has reiterated time and again in past interviews and panel discussions.
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Netizens wonder about solar power and its potential in the future
At the time of writing, Elon Musk’s repost of the graphical study comparing China’s solar power output with the US had secured over 12 million views and had briefly become a topic of discussion on social media. In the comment section, users shared their views on the possibilities of embracing a future driven by solar power.
A handful of netizens expressed their agreement with Musk’s vision. One of the users also mentioned the chief executive’s plans to utilise AI and robotics in this ambitious project of harnessing solar energy.
Before you know it, xAI will put enormous numbers of AI data centers in space that use solar power. Science fiction will become real!!! pic.twitter.com/RRaLhPmD9J
— Lifeboat Foundation (@LifeboatHQ) December 20, 2025
Others, however, had a lot to criticize about Musk’s vision of solar energy generation. Although many cited the Republican government’s stance against non-renewable energy, others noted the challenges involved in harnessing solar power. One user shared how China has been contributing more to pollution in the country’s efforts at generating solar electricity.
Why did DOGE do this then? pic.twitter.com/3nVvx7MGry
— JerryRigEverything (@ZacksJerryRig) December 20, 2025
Unfortunately China still burns more Coal every year than the rest of the world combined.
— Songpinganq (@songpinganq) December 20, 2025
Air pollution kills at least 2 million annually in China. pic.twitter.com/TeLSADVgBA
Indeed, bringing such a vision to fruition would require greater investment in the energy sector, which NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly stated in public. At the same time, it is necessary to note that the governments across the globe should look for sustainable methods of generating and utilizing power for people from all walks of life.
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