Pollution in China: Coal Quality as Major Culprit

The MIT Industrial Performance Center just released an interesting report seeking to answer why China's new and more technologically advanced coal power plants are spewing out so much pollution, Greener Plants, Grayer Skies? A report from the front lines of China's energy sector (news release h/t to Marginal Revolution).

A widely reported problem with China's energy industry is that smokestack scrubbers and other clean coal technology is turned off to achieve higher efficiency levels and profit margins. The authors of the report say that this is a problem, but

The findings suggest that emissions levels from Chinese powerplants, he said, "depend almost entirely on the quality of the coal they use. When they're hit by price spikes, they buy low-grade coal." Lower-grade coal, which produces high levels of sulfur emissions, can be obtained locally, whereas the highest-grade anthracite comes mostly from China's northwest and must travel long distances to the plants, adding greatly to its cost.

The good news is that the authors find that there is significant "regulatory traction in the [Chinese] system" to encourage and enforce the use of cleaner burning coal. This is probably a good thing for one reason: China's energy security. China is rich in coal and poor in every other traditional fuel source. China demands, and will demand for a long time, steady growth in energy capacity. Coal plants are China's best way of expanding energy capacity while using resources within its borders and keeping energy costs down. They just need to keep it clean.

For the sake of me being able to enjoy rapturous vistas of San Diego's coastline from the golden hill upon which the gorgeous campus of USD sits, I hope China's energy growth is as clean as can be. Especially since I would only be indirectly affected by energy price hikes due to greater coal transportation costs.