World efforts to reduce global emissions are prompting China to modernize its energy production methods. China emits almost 10 times more mercury pollution than the U.S. (1000 tons/year vs. 158 tons/year) due to China’s reliance on coal burning generators.
From Planetsave. com
Friday, 03 March 2006China is one of the region’s most wasteful economies. Its 1950s era power plants and outdated, state-owned factories use 11 times more energy than neighboring Japan and three times more than the global average, according to Douglas Ogden, of the China Sustainable Energy Program.
China’s rapid growth has only made things worse, forcing it to spend billions of dollars in recent years constructing scores of polluting, coal-fired power plants, which waste two-thirds of their coal, Ogden says. Coal is used to generate 79 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to the International Energy Agency, based in Paris.
China has been trying to reduce its dependence on coal, but the electricity system itself so far has largely eluded reform, Ogden says. Signaling a shift to more energy-efficient nuclear power plants, China said last month it plans to add 40 new nuclear generators by 2020.
Still, energy demand is outstripping supply, resulting in power blackouts _ and prompting Chinese leaders to champion energy efficiency. Last year, Beijing put in place new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and implemented a five-year plan that calls for improving energy efficiency 20 percent by 2010.
The government, working with the California-based Natural Resource Defense Council, said this month it will implement stricter building codes to save energy, such as using lightweight concrete that is a better insulator and double-paned windows to hold heat.
Developers that ignore the rules could be fined $62,000 or lose their licenses.
“If you don’t meet the energy-efficient standards, you will lose your job,” said Construction Ministry Vice Minister Qiu Baoxing.
