Travis McPherson reports that more than three-quarters of China electricity is currently generated by coal. In fact, China burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. They burn coal not only for electricity but also for smelting steel. China produces half of the steel globally, and for baking limestone to make cement. China also produces half of the world cement. The International Energy Agency - IEA - estimates that this trend will not slow. He suggests that Bejing plans to double its coal-power plants in just 25 years. However, other reports suggest that China is backing out of coal-fired plant construction in favor of nuclear.
The article indicates that such dependence on coal is not unique to China. Germany, often celebrated for its green-power initiatives, derives 50 per cent of its power from coal - i.e., lignite. Germany also opened more coal-fired power plants in 2013 than any other time in the past 20 years as they try to shut out nuclear, which releases zero carbon emissions.
What roles do solar and other green initiatives play. What about natural gas. Why clean up a naturally dirty fuel source. Most known green energy sources are not capable of producing stable baseload power, so they will have to be backed up with fossil fuels, like coal or natural gas. At the root of the issue is that coal is abundant and cheap in the Asian countries. It is estimated that China holds the 3rd largest coal reserves in the world, and that switching to natural gas is simply economically impossible.
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Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-