Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Second Vermont Republic
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:07 pm Post subject: A Global Case of Black Lung
The numbers are startling. China is burning nearly three billion metric tons of coal every year, a quantity greater than the United States, Canada, and Europe put together. And worse, with few gas and oil resources and nuclear and hydroelectric not coming online quickly enough to slake China’s thirst for electricity, consumption of coal is projected to double by 2025. Such a result would single-handedly undo any reduction in carbon dioxide emissions anywhere else in the world.
Also largely as a result of its coal-fired power plants, China emits well more than twice the sulfur of American companies, causing an acid rain problem over thirty percent of the country. China is the world’s greatest emitter of mercury; mercury from coal burning has made large predator fish in the world’s oceans dangerous to consume. Chinese pollution still has enough potency to raise particulate levels in West Coast states even after drifting over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. It is no stretch to say that the reach of Chinese coal consumption is world-wide.
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:32 pm Post subject: Re: A Global Case of Black Lung
Lovely isn't it?
Perhaps you'd like some seafood with your mercury? Hey, look on
the bright side. At least there's still some benthic life left in the seas.
It's not all extinct... yet.
Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 6786 Location: Oil-addicted Southern Californucopia
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject: Re: A Global Case of Black Lung
KingM wrote:
...China is burning nearly three billion metric tons of coal every year, a quantity greater than the United States, Canada, and Europe put together....
Good Lord.
All our worst fears about China are rapidly becoming reality. This can only get worse, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.
At this rate, you'd think they would run out of miners:
In the past, China's mines were worked by lifelong professional miners on a permanent "iron rice-bowl" contract with state-owned enterprises. Nowadays, the state will lease mines to private or semi-private mining enterprises who employ unskilled and desperate peasant contract laborers, most of whom are not even members of the official trade union. Unofficial labor unions are forbidden in China, and labor activists are often sentenced to jail on subversion charges...
Many of those who die in China's mines are peasant workers who have had their land taken away, often by the mining company itself, and face destitution. _________________ "Thank you for attending the oil age. We're going to scrape what we can out of these tar pits in Alberta and then shut down the machines and turn out the lights. Goodnight." - seldom_seen
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 8:13 pm Post subject: Re: A Global Case of Black Lung
...China is burning nearly three billion metric tons of coal every year, a quantity greater than the United States, Canada, and Europe put together....
No idea where the opinionator gets these data from, they give no source, same for the NYT article this weekend.
The DOE/EIA data, available at nationmaster.com, certainly don't support this.
In fact, the US uses 3.5 times more coal per capita than China (and 12 times as much oil).
China is not the main problem, the US is. Just ask the people in Ontario, Canada, who live downwind from US coal plants.
Americans pointing fingers at Chinese is truly bizarre..
Joined: Dec 02, 2005 Posts: 6786 Location: Oil-addicted Southern Californucopia
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:49 pm Post subject: Re: A Global Case of Black Lung
roel wrote:
...China is burning nearly three billion metric tons of coal every year, a quantity greater than the United States, Canada, and Europe put together....
No idea where the opinionator gets these data from, they give no source, same for the NYT article this weekend.
The DOE/EIA data, available at nationmaster.com, certainly don't support this.
In fact, the US uses 3.5 times more coal per capita than China (and 12 times as much oil).
China is not the main problem, the US is. Just ask the people in Ontario, Canada, who live downwind from US coal plants.
Americans pointing fingers at Chinese is truly bizarre..
The Coal Institute shows a far-lower figure for China's coal consumption, although it's shown as Number One (in other words, "the main problem") by a wide margin:
The problem, and the Chinese readily admit this, is how dirty most of their plants are. Apparently a lot of them have no pollution control devices at all, and a big percentage have only perfunctory controls.
Here's that NYT story. Free registration is required:
"China is battling a proliferation of new power plants that are being built without permission and threaten to upset plans for a more environmentally friendly energy mix."
It's out of control. It's like a plague. Entrepreneurs are throwing up plants wherever they like. China has the worst air pollution in the world:
"Globally, China is home to 16 of the 20 cities with the most polluted air. Roughly one-third of the nation’s land area is exposed to acid rain, just one of the many environmental side effects of the 2.1 billion tons of coal produced and burned there last year."
It's cool to despise everything about the U.S. Go right ahead. However, it's hard to understand why you're trying to whitewash what the Chinese are doing. _________________ "Thank you for attending the oil age. We're going to scrape what we can out of these tar pits in Alberta and then shut down the machines and turn out the lights. Goodnight." - seldom_seen
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: Re: A Global Case of Black Lung
roel wrote:
...China is burning nearly three billion metric tons of coal every year, a quantity greater than the United States, Canada, and Europe put together....
No idea where the opinionator gets these data from, they give no source, same for the NYT article this weekend.
The DOE/EIA data, available at nationmaster.com, certainly don't support this.
In fact, the US uses 3.5 times more coal per capita than China (and 12 times as much oil).
China is not the main problem, the US is. Just ask the people in Ontario, Canada, who live downwind from US coal plants.
Americans pointing fingers at Chinese is truly bizarre..
You've got a good point. For years now americans have been
the undisputed energy gluttons, and we still consume a quarter
of the global oil pie. And we've a long history of burning coal,
which only recently has been somewhat 'cleaned'. Now that
others a trying to get their piece of the energy pie we point our
dirty fingers at them.
I live in the mid-west, and in my neighborhood one of the old
coal fired plants recently had some 'additions' and 'expansions'
done to it which tripled its size - it's huge. This plant is within a quarter
of a mile from a lake. Everytime I go by it all I can do is shake
my head. It's how we all are living. Quite a bit of the recent in
increase in electrical demand is due to the increased use of
computers. Modern processors are clocked so high they really
are little entropy demons, and the combined thirst from all
this demand adds up to a lot of electricity.
It's bad news. Even with 'cleaner' emissions coal fired plants
still emit gobs of CO2 and mercury. There's also the increasing
environmental devastation caused from mining the coal. Entire
mountains have been destroyed trying to get the stuff, and some
of the strip mining operations are horrific.
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