Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
especially China.
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The trip across the Pacifi c takes fi ve to ten days. Soot,
toxic chemicals, and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of
China's coal-burning power plants are now one of that country's most
signifi cant exports. The country's emissions doubled between 1996 and
2006. China is now the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, emitting 24
percent of the world's total, surpassing the United States at 21 percent.
The increase in global-warming gases from China will probably exceed
that for all industrialized countries combined by 2030, surpassing by fi ve
times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks.
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China is racing toward economic development on the back of coal,
and the rest of the world is paying part of the price. The United States
raced toward its present affl uence for the past hundred years on the back
primarily of oil and secondarily on coal at a time when pollution and
other environmental concerns were not on America's, or the world's,
agenda. In a sense, we were fortunate that no one cared about our envi-
ronmental crimes. We were at the wrong place at the right time. China
is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
China is not only increasing its use of coal, but is developing alterna-
tive energy as well. Renewable sources provide 8 percent of the country's
energy today, but Beijing aims to increase that to 15 percent by 2020.
In comparison, the United States hopes to generate 10 percent of its
energy from renewables by 2012. The Chinese in mid-2009 said they
plan to have 150 gigawatts of wind power capacity by 2020. In com-
parison, in the fi rst three months of 2010 only 0.5 gigawatts were added
in the United States. The 150 gigawatt fi gure is six times the target the
government established only eighteen months earlier. Solar and nuclear
power are also being expanded. China is developing its energy-generating
potential at an incredible rate. It can do this partly because it does not
have the kind of democratic complexities that Western countries do, and
so it can move more quickly and without the kind of resistance from
narrow economic interests that might make it more diffi cult.
It seems clear that world air pollution is going to rise for many decades
to come, regardless of policy in the United States. And, as noted earlier,
air circulates.
Summing Up: What Should We Do?
It is apparent that America's supply of fossil fuels can last long past the
lifetimes of children not yet born, assuming the political will and the
money are available to exploit unconventional sources. Both the supply
