Environmental Costs of Coal in China

History•Coal plays a key role in China’s Industrial revolution

•Energy use has rose 500% between 1957 and 1980

Current State.• 70% of China’s energy comes from coal combustion

•(World Average 40%)

•China extracts and consumes more coal than any other nation in the world

•Coal prices continue to stay inexpensive

Current State • Around 25,000 currently operating coal mines

•Estimated 96 billion tons of coal in reserves

•Current projections suggest that China’s coal reserves will run out in 2100

•Production peak 2020

Environmental Impacts • Mining/ Extraction • Air Quality • Transportation

Mines• Unsafe

•China produced 35% of the worlds coal, but is responsible for 80% of mining accidents

• Mines run directly through densely populated areas

• 60% of ecosystems near mines are threatened

• Underground coal fires release huge amounts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere

• 200 million tons consumed

Shangma Huangtou• Underground mining caused a giant crack in the earth

• The Shanxi province is now considered a wasteland

• Dried stream beds•Dried wells

Air quality • Particulate matter in the air sticks to the trachea eventually causing:

•Bronchitis•Pneumonia • lung cancer

• Gasses released from the combustion of coal include:•Carbon monoxide

•Combines with hemoglobin in the blood, resulting in headache and sickness

•Ozone•Attacks small airways in the lungs

•Sulfur dioxide•Bronchitis •Respiratory disease

•Nitrogen oxides•emphysema

Transportation • Coal resources are found in the northwest, while the demand comes from the southeast • Chinese railway is a government owned monopoly

• Roadway /waterway transport: • spreading coal dust• noise• congestion from increasing truck loads • excess waste gas and emissions

The Future

• 20% energy intensity reduction by 2010• Leading the world in new green technology

• one new more efficient coal plant a month

• Currently working on carbon capture plants• Improvements have already had a positive affect on global climate models