China pollution thread

kroko

Senior Member
I created this thread because i think that pollution has become a serious threat to china´s security and an unberable problem. They say that they are going to reduce the air pollution by 30% by 2017. But that doesnt mean much when china is always building heavy factories (a lot of it to feed a real estate bubble and to prop the GDP numbers for local officials). Qualified expats and chinese alike want to leave china because of it. Where will china get the brains? There will be social instability in china if things continue this way.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
 
Last edited:

Hytenxic

New Member
China is a the middle of Industrializing on a massive scale so I expect these levels of pollution to continue. Of course compounding the the problem is the lack of environment regulation in China. Factories are reluctant to adopt more environmentally friendly methods as it would massively drive up costs. The government would need actively enforce stricter environmental controls and invest more in Renewable energy (although they are investing a lot already).

As for building factories to feed the housing bubble and propping up GDP... what ... where did you get that? If you're going to go on about that rehashed ghost city drivel then please do some research.
 

Mcsweeney

Junior Member
The big hope I see for this problem being fixed is if the electric car companies like BYD make breakthroughs in developing their technology, the costs come down and we see a large scale switch from gasoline cars to electric cars. This switch could be accelerated by government subsidies, which I'm sure they would be eager to do since it would also be a sneaky form of protectionism. Yes I know that electric cars still aren't 100% clean, since coal power plants would essentially be powering the cars, but it'd still be a massive improvement.
 

Blitzo

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
The problem is mostly coal powered power plants and factories, cars are less of a problem.
 

montyp165

Junior Member
The problem is mostly coal powered power plants and factories, cars are less of a problem.

Coal-gasification would help immensely with air pollution, making things much cleaner although CO2 output would still be unchanged.
 

mzyw

Junior Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


BEIJING - A computer model capable of more accurately forecasting and analyzing the cause of smoggy days is expected to be put into operation in the following three to five years.

The simulation model will be developed using the technology of Tianhe-1A, which ranked as the world's fastest supercomputer from November 2010 to June 2011, and the model's data will be revised in light of actual observation data from other monitors, said Meng Xiangfei, a researcher with the National Supercomputer Center (NSC) in Tianjin.

The model is also expected to forecast weather conditions further in advance compared with current air quality monitors in operation, according to Meng.

Chinese environmental authorities have set up 668 monitoring spots in 114 cities and have released the data daily online and through traditional media.

"The formation of smog is related in different regions, and atmospheric, physical, chemical and biological factors are involved in the process," Meng added.

Remarkable achievement has been made in the fields of aerospace, weather forecasts, climate prediction and ocean environment simulation since the Tianhe-1A was put into operation three years ago.

The project, which is a collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, the National Meteorological Center, Tsinghua University and the NSC in Tianjin, will also provide a reference for decisions about regional planning.

According to the Actions to Address Climate Change 2013 annual report released last month by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the frequency of smog has increased over the past 50 years in China.
 

mzyw

Junior Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!


For future reference

THE HAGUE - The effect of long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with increased mortality even when the pollution is below European Union limits, research conducted under the lead of the Utrecht University showed on Monday.

The researchers, led by Utrecht professor Rob Beelen, used data from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE), which included data from 13 European countries and a total of 367,251 people.

With each increase of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of particulate matter, the risk that someone dies increases by 7 per cent, the study showed.

"This is the difference between a busy street in the city and a place without the influence of traffic," Rob Beelen said in a statement.

The European air quality norm is 25 micrograms per cubic meter but the research showed the risks are still significant under 15 micrograms.

"Our findings show that there are significant health benefits to be gained when the concentrations of particulate matter will be further reduced," Beelen said.

Particulate matter is the collective name for airborne particles that are so small that they penetrate deep into the lungs. The traffic is a major source, but factory plants and heating plants contribute to affect human health.
 

broadsword

Brigadier
It happened earlier than I thought.

China added more solar capacity in 2013 than any other country ever has in a single year (12GW)

Michael Graham Richard
Energy / Renewable Energy
January 24, 2014


While the US reached 10 gigawatts of total installed solar PV last summer and should end 2013 a bit above that (official numbers aren't out yet), China has also had a very productive 2013 on the solar front. Depending on the source, China has installed between 9.5 and 12 gigawatt of solar panels during the year alone (this is not a cumulative number). This is more than has ever been installed by any country in a single year, and it's also more than the cumulative total of all previous years in China! That's truly remarkable, and it's only the beginning: the country expects to install 14 gigawatts in 2014.

This is a stark contrast to the country that for the longest time has been associated with solar power, Germany. During 2013, they only managed to add 3.3GW of solar capacity. Not bad, but not enough to be in a global solar leadership position.

China's performance is a good reminder that forecasts shouldn't always be trusted. Back in 2010, China set itself a target of 5GW of solar by 2015...


Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

One of the reasons why solar power is growing so quickly is that prices have been steadily falling, making it a lot more affordable than even just a few years ago, and massively cheaper than a few decades ago:

Price of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, $/watt
-------------------------------------------------------------
1977 - 76.67/watt
2013 - 0.74/watt
 
Top