Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
en times the annual energy use in New York City. The country's breakneck growth
is unlikely to slow down in the near term, and to keep pace it opens a new coal-
powered plant each week. Consequently, the rate of China's greenhouse gas emis-
sions increases 8 to 10 percent per year; by 2020 it will emit greenhouse gases at
four times the rate of the United States.
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Climate scientists, such as those at the nonprofit research group Berkeley Earth,
are alarmed by the environmental impact of China's growth and advocate that the
United States help China switch from coal to natural gas.
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As noted, modern gas-fired power plants emit a third to a half of the carbon
dioxide produced by coal plants producing the same amount of energy. China has
vast shale formations and a budding gas industry. The EIA calculates that Ch-
ina has 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of technically recoverable gas reserves in 2011,
ledge of hydraulic fracturing, a voracious appetite for power, endemic corruption,
and some of the worst pollution in the world. The government has recently begun
to auction off drilling rights to shale gas plays in China, and many of the purchasers
have little or no experience in energy production. Hydrofracking opponents fear
the worst from this combination.
Yet, as most American drillers have shown, hydrofracking can be done in a rel-
atively clean, responsible way. If China can set tough but fair environmental stand-
ards and enforce them, it will avoid delivering an unprecedented load of heat-trap-
ping gases to an already overheated climate. Should China switch from coal to nat-
ural gas power, it could reduce its emissions by more than 50 percent, Berkeley
cleaner, sustainable energy sources.
As the veteran environmental reporter Andrew Revkin has blogged for the
New
York Times
, “This is how the world works, for better and worse.” Revkin then of-
fers his summary: “Energy needs and economic forces drive innovation, both in
using energy more thriftily and finding new sources. Environmental issues arise.
Pressure builds for change. Regulations and rules evolve. Industry resists. Lawsuits
and environmental campaigns ensue. Innovations occur. And the human enterprise,
often in herky-jerky fashion, moves forward.”
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