CO2 Emissions, Power Plants & China

In recent times, a lot of attention is being paid to the global climate change phenomenon. If the recent wildfires in California and other natural disasters worldwide are considered climate change seems to be a reality we have to face. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report concluded that greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2 have played a significant role in warming the earth.

Power generation is one the main sources of C02 emissions and accounts for 40 percent of CO2 emissions in the U.S. and about one-fourth of the emissions worldwide.(1) Hence efforts to tackle global warming must focus on power generating plants and their CO2 output levels.

Power plant emitting greenhouse gases in the air

Source:tp://www.earthjustice.org/assets/subject/facilities/coalplant_usgs.jpg

A recent article I read in the BBC website, listed the worst emitters in the world with Australia heading it (surprised me!); a list they sourced from the Carbon Monitoring for Action (www.carma.com) website. I visited this website, which describes itself as a huge “database containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide.” The homepage has a world map on the top sprinkled with
orange and red dots, representing power plants in the world that emit the highest two levels of CO2 and electricity. Several parts in Asia seemed to be hidden with these red dots, a closer look revealed that 14 of them were located in China, making up for almost 35 percent of the dirty power plants marked up on the world map.(2)

Picture: Air Pollution in China





Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2106999,00.html

An article in The Guardian Unlimited points out that China is one of the world’s largest producers of CO2, the top position being held by the U.S. Further, China plans to add 199 new power plants, a change that could further aggravate the situation.(3)

I believe the world needs to pay attention to one of the fastest growing countries (China) today and the global environmental implications of it. In the past few years China has been constructing buildings at neck breaking speed in the wake of the upcoming Olympic games there.(4) More development means more power needed, and China doesn’t seem to be doing enough to green its energy sources. Climate change is a global crisis; efforts to help developing nations direct their growth in a sustainable manner are necessary. World organizations like the United Nations and World Bank must help China to combat this situation before it is too late.


Bibliography:

1. "Why Carbon Matters" http://carma.org/blog/why
2.Data from http://carma.org/plant
3. "World Power Plants Emissions Detailed"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3066555
4." China: Under Construction" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/22/asia_letter/main2204714.shtml