Michael de Alwis
The Chinese Republic of Coal: Why the excessive combustion of coal in China poses detrimental impacts on its environment and society, as well as the rest of the world.
1. Introduction
China’s economy has grown to be the second largest economy in the world, and along with its positive economic growth, they have been branded as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Out of all the fossil fuels available in China, coal is the most abundant and politically secured resources. Coal fired energy plants are easily integrated into existing power systems, which is why the demand for coal has been rising at a staggering rate. Every one to ten weeks, a new coal fired plant is opened up somewhere in China that is capable enough to power all the houses in either Dallas or San Diego. This paper will aim to discuss the reasons as to why China burns so much coal, taking globalization and the economy into account, the environmental and social consequences and the solutions that can be utilized to reduce coal combustion. China’s coal exports have increased nearly threefold in the past three years and China is now the world’s second largest coal exporter after Australia. This has had widespread implications for international coal markets, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. This rapid export growth has been underpinned by significant changes in China’s domestic coal consumption, production and distribution sectors and expansions in coal rail and port capacity. Government support for coal production and exports in some parts of the industry may also have contributed to China’s coal export competitiveness.
2. Why does China burn so much coal?
Within the past fourteen years China has undergone a severe phase of indus...
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Coal cleaning has been launched as a means of improving energy efficiency and environmental quality. Cleaner coal would reduce 25 percent of coal weight, which would also lead to a reduction in transportation. To increase the supply of cleaner coal, more capital labor must be allocated to coal washing (Solveig), which will be rather difficult as Chinese corporations are not keen on increase expenditures.
Coal is heavily relied upon as a primary source of energy that is needed to fuel industrialization and to improve the standard of living of China’s large and growing population. Due to the lack of countervailing measures, it is unlikely that the output and consumption of coal will be inhibited in the near future, unless China is able to commit to lowering coal emissions and cleaning up its coal plants, pollution will soar within in China and abroad as well.
One of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.
Clean Coal Technologies (CCTs) are defined by the WCI as 'technologies designed to enhance both the efficiency and the environmental acceptability of coal extraction, preparation and use' . These technologies reduce emissions, reduce waste, and increase the amount of energy gained from each ton of coal. There are a wide variety of technologies that are available to improve our coal performance. This can be done by: Enhancing of existing options, Deploying of Advanced Technologies, Exploiting Synergies with Renewables, and Development and Commercialization of Next Generation Technologies (“Coal”). Some environmental problems that they will be trying to address are: Particulate matter, trace elements and SOX and NOX, and mercury.
The statistics from U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that China now accounts for 47% of global coal consumption—almost as much as the entire rest of the world combined. As the coal combustion is the leading source of the smog, Chinese government has to find a balance between them. To reduce the coal consumption with minimal impact on energy supply, new clean energy substitution can be an appropriate strategy. It seems like China has already begun to transform the way it grows for good. “China’s renewable energy investment rose to $110 billion in 2015 and overall low-carbon electricity generation, including solar, nuclear, wind and hydro-power, rose by 20% last year.” (Dettoni). Also in early February 2016, China 's State Council said that no new coal production would be approved for the next three years, while existing production will be reduced by 500 million tons in the next three to five years. However, the new energy still has to struggle to compete with coal among the energy users for a long time. Taking the wind and solar for example, when these power plants settle down in high populated China, they have to choose remote vacant land, where there are normally no transportation route or transmission network and weather is unpredictable. Thereby, distribution and storage of the power become first obstacles. Not to
The coal industry has spent millions of dollars trying to convince people that they can create a product that is environmentally friendly. The coal industry wants the image of being a "clean" energy seems like a new phenomenon, where today there is better technology to understand the risk of coal and the everyday environment impact that can be seen today with the use of coal for more than a century for industrialization.
CNN’s article “Pollution Is Driving Foreign Executives out of China”, by Charles Riley, concerns foreign policy, companies from around the world. They are complaining that they are “having trouble” because of the “rising concerns over intense air pollution” in China. By far, China has the worst pollution problem on the international level. Eventually, global warming will get a lot worse and there will be nothing that we can do about it. CNN states that “greater numbers” of people are complaining about the “choking air pollution, contaminated food, and water”. Some people are taking action towards reducing pollution such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Their main goal is to regulate pollution to a minimum so that operation does not become a risk factor. These actions include a proposal that will enforce reduction of coal. Their proposal states that it is “designed to cut carbon dioxide emission from existing coal plants by as much as 30 percent,” according to the Washington Post. The most difficult part of this mission would be to convince China to reduce its coal burning, as the majority of China’s development is run by coal. As for now, though, the EPA has only focused on U.S and its coal plants. By 2030, the agency seeks complete natural gas plant
The natural resource that I am writing this paper on is coal. Coal is a cheap, dirty fossil fuel which we burn to create power. Coal is the most abundant in North America and in Russia, including the area around it. China also has a fairly good amount of coal in it too. Coal, like all of the other fossil fuels is nonrenewable and will eventually run out, in the not so near future. Coal is very important to many of the countries of the world. The countries that use the most coal are China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan. These five countries “account for 76% of total global coal use.” (World Coal Association, 2014).
Specifically, in the United States, there has been an exponential increase in use of electricity over the past few decades. With technology advancing, everyone feels the need to stay up to standards. But, what comes with these new technologies is not as beneficial to the earth as they are to us. The United States Environmental Protection Agency recently posted a “Guide to Purchasing Green Power” which explains that our electricity is mostly made through fossil or nuclear fuels that harm not only our environment but ourselves as well. Some examples of fossil fuels are coal, natural gas and petroleum. These electricity techniques give off lots of pollution and significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions (2). Looking specifically at coal, there are many ways in which it causes environmental issues. Herman Daly explains that to retrieve the coal, miners must take the coal out of the earth, which can leave the surface with detrimental issues. The leftover rock that was extruded with the coal is now contaminated and left in piles, which
There are two major causes of air pollution in China. Firstly, soot and sulfur dioxide caused by coal burning are the two main air pollutants and coal burning occupies 50.2% of total energy consumption in China in 2012 (BP 2013). Industrial production processes consume more than half of China's coal and are the biggest sources of air pollution. Moreover, it is worth mention that the burning of coal for heating in winter in many northern cities of China worsens the air quality. However, this essay will not consider this source due to it is a seasonal effect and is the most efficient way of supplying heat considering the large number of population in China. Another major air pollutant was produced during transportation by consuming oil and gasoline, especially ...
The gross domestic product China produced is about fifteen percent of the world’s but it used up thirty to forty percent of many key resources like steel, coal and cement. Seventy percent of the rivers are polluted. Only about twenty percent of the urban waste are properly processed. There are about three hundred million rural people do not have access to clean water, four hundred million urban citizen’s air are below standard. At the same time, China doesn’t have to ability or even want to transfer this environmental cost to other countries like many develop country does. After the energy either imported or domestic made are consumed, the pollution came with them too. In the recent two five-year plan made by the Chinese government, most gross domestic product goals are met prior to the due date but none of the environmental protection goal are met. This doesn 't came out of surprise since the industries that is pushing Chinese’s economical growth are mostly made by high pollution industry like chemistry industry and thermal power industry. The environmental problem is bring social problems as well as international pressure. Many developed country and entities care about the global warming and blame the Chinese energy-resource structure. These hypocrites blame developing countries on one
All though coal has a cheap price to it, the damage it does to mother nature is far more greater. The world consumption of coal was the amount of 100million tons of oil in 1860. As of now it has increased dramatically, up to 2200 tons in the year 2000. It is easy to see the life time of coal consumption by simply dividing the coal reserves consumption, and the numbers add up to about 250 years worth. Foreign countries like China are building coal power plants at an alarming rate, it is assumed that a two 500MW coal fired power plants are being built every week.
Coal has concentrated supplies in industrial countries, (U.S. Russia, China and India). Some pros about using coal as a resource for energy are that, the infrastructure is already in place and coal produces a high load factor, which means a high power output at a relatively low cost per unit. It is predicted that coal supplies will outlast both oil and natural gas. Coal is the cheapest form of electricity production, making it the viable option for developing countries. About 80% of coal’s total potential energy is extracted, this is relatively high.
Burning and mining coal for fuel is harmful to the environment but because how cheap and easy it is to find many people are unwilling to give it up as a fuel source. One of the problems with coal is that they are limited and are non-renewable so once it has been used we won’t be able to use it again.
China has been the most populated country in the world for centuries, but ever since their unprecedented economic boom it has become the largest energy consumer and producer in the world. This is having a colossal effect on the environment, it’s even noticeable in the most remote areas of China. Although China suffers from many issues, its environmental problems are causing a far greater negative effect on the globe. Even though the Chinese individual use of resources are low, the impact on resources of the Chinese as a collective are mammoth. China’s environmental problem is so hard to fix because China is still prioritising their countries economic growth and prosperity which requires a lot of production and consumption; thus producing a
Fuels like coal, and oil that once were a fine innovation in creating energy are now rapidly deleting and one day will be gone forever; energy that won’t last is often referred to as non-renewable energy. Besides being set up to fail and become inefficient in the future, fossil fuel energy is not clean to use and poses several environmental complications. Coal, for instance is “the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. Coal combustion not only produces sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides that contribute to acid rain and snow, it generates millions of tons of particulates that cause asthma and other respiratory diseases.” As with all usage of fossil fuels, it creates enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, which contributes to greenhouse gas. Not only are fossil fuels dirty, they also pose as a security risk and unforgiving on the American wallet. (Saini)
The demand for electricity decreased the electricity reserve margins, industries are the highest demanders of electrical energy, coal does not only pollute the air but also water, and nonetheless it will still be used as the major source of electrical energy due to its availability and cheapness. But The Integrated Resource Plan 2010 to 2030 highlights that the dependence on coal would fall by 2030