How can China use less Coal?....

Today’s post: Weds, 5-14-2008

There is a lot of good news about China.

Their ability to develop a huge manufacturing industry that so far has been able to manufacture goods & consumer goods at lower cost than in most developed countries has benefited the economies of the other countries in the world including the United States.

It has benefited many corporations in the United States & increased the value of their stock.

And, this has been one of the key causes of the relatively low inflation rate in the United States over the last 20 years.

In addition, they have done this with an enthusiastic can-do attitude aimed at progress much like the United States did as it became an economic power. As someone who lives in the Silicon Valley, I personally like their entrepreneurial style, their focus on progress on purpose, & their energy.

And, this cash coming into China has influenced China in the direction of becoming somewhat more peaceful & tolerant in its international relations. They now have a lot to lose if that cash were to stop arriving.

Unfortunately, they have increasingly relied on coal & new coal burning plants to power this manufacturing.

That has produced incredibly bad air pollution in China itself. Some of that air pollution is even making it across the Pacific to the United States. AND it has made China one of the biggest sources of CO2 on the planet. They are or shortly will be the country that generates the most CO2 each year in all the world.

That means that the people in China now have a lower quality of life and poorer health than they would if this energy could be produced without burning coal as they have been.

And, it means that we CANNOT solve CO2 driven global warming without China switching to cleaner energy sources that do not release CO2.

So, how can China use less coal? And, what can the United States & other developed countries do to make that happen better & faster?

Here are some thoughts.

1. It would DEFINITELY help if we dramatically reduced the coal WE burn for energy in the United States. China will be much more likely to do this also if we walk the talk. Further, the technology & practices we use to do this can be shared with China.

Similarly, it would help if we only allowed coal to be burned for energy if & ONLY IF absolutely all pollutants generated by burning the coal were removed from the air AND as fast as we learn how & get the equipment installed we sequester all of the CO2 generated.

If that was phased in over 10 years at existing coal burning facilities & no new coal burning plants were built, that would help solve global warming; it would gradually make coal generated electricity more expensive; & it would improve the competitiveness of nuclear, solar, & wind generated electricity which will help develop new technologies and increase our electricity generated from cleaner sources than coal.

2. Similarly, it would help if we did everything we could to pass on information to China on rolling out solar and wind power generation. This could range from licensing technology at discounted rates to export incentives to solar and wind power companies to export their products to China.

It helps that China is already developing its own solar companies.

3. Since China is already a member of the so called “nuclear club” in the world it also might make sense to work with them to build more nuclear plants to generate electricity in exchange for asking for commitments to high levels of safety, security, and safe disposal & storage.

4. Only after we do all three of these things do I think we should put any kind of diplomatic pressure on China to reduce the amount of coal they burn or place a tax or tariff on their manufactured products that are sent to this country to compensate for the costs of global warming if they don’t.

That may make good sense later if it is still necessary. But I think making a massive push to make these changes here & do everything we can to speed our own move away from coal and to help them in ways they will find useful and effective is much better.

This will do three things. It will give them some of the tools & some momentum in the right direction first. And, it will allow them to see our pressure at that point as coming from a friend rather than an enemy if we still need to exert it. And, of greatest importance, we will then be doing the right things ourselves instead of asking them to do so when we haven’t bothered to do them here.

5. A related thought occurs to me. With its lower cost of manufacturing, it might make sense to help China become a major manufacturer of LED light bulbs for home & small business lighting world wide. One of the barriers to rapid deployment of this energy saving technology is the high cost of such bulbs now. Why not help put China in a position to contribute world wide to solving this problem?

An important benefit of this would also be to help China use far less electricity for lighting itself -- which would also help them stop building new coal burning plants to generate electricity.