China's Coal Culture

Despite what we've been hearing in the news, air pollution is not just about slower lap times. It's also not just about cancer. Nor is it just about asthma, or any other respiratory problem. And aesthetics are certainly not the main problem. Blue skies are beautiful, but not necessary. Slower lap times and respiratory problems just cause serious problems for career athletes. And cancer? Well if you're old enough you've already got it, and if you're young enough you assume there will be a cure when you get it. So what should air pollution be about? Check out the potential effects on fetal development. A more lengthy and scientific version of the study can be found here. So dirty energy might result in developmental problems that remain with a person for life. Sounds like it's time for a scrubbing.

There is an interesting short article at Scientific American on China and coal, Can Coal and Clean Air Coexist in China?

SciAm's basic answer: No.

The more nuanced answer is that technology has proven unable to cleanly produce energy from coal. GreenGen coal power plant should produce energy with a lot less clouds seeded for acid rain, but it is supposed to be a for-profit power plant and the article raises serious doubts as to whether a gassification and CO2 sequestering facility can run profitably. The other technology of turning coal into a liquid also runs afoul of producing twice as much CO2 as burning regular coal and consumes even more energy in the production of the liquid coal.

Li Jungfeng, director of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, also suggests that the government is unable to enforce the environmental laws thereby preventing China from making the progress against pollution that its laws should provide.

Sounds like something that really needs to be worked out at the Post-Kyoto meetings. My suggestion would be an IAEA like body authorized to conduct impromptu inspections of power facilities and issue penalties if certain amounts of toxins are being emitted from a plant. Penalties could be in the form of either money or decreases in a nation's allowed emissions. The second might be preferable because it would encourage nations to self-enforce the emissions of their countries plants. This then runs into two problems: 1) no inspection would ever be truly impromptu running into the same problem pointed out in the SciAm article where the clean tech is turned on when the local teams arrive; and 2) enforcement of penalties is tough.

Now enough with the fancy talk. When I was coming up with a title for this post, I was just looking for a segue into the following paragraph of historical tidbits from the SciAm article:

The Chinese have been burning coal for centuries. Venetian trader and explorer Marco Polo said that one of the most surprising sights during his travels through Asia in the 13th century was the Chinese practice of burning a strange, black rock for heat—and the mountains along the Silk Road that smoldered due to underground coal fires, like the ones burning throughout the country today. In fact, these underground blazes burn through an estimated 20 million tons of coal a year, the equivalent of the entire coal production of Germany last year.

Does this all mean something?