Chongqing’s men, women and children breathe air filled with lung-clogging soot and smoke(可以进入呼吸道的没煤灰微粒). Nationally, health care associated with respiratory ills(呼吸道疾病) costs China an estimated $100 billion a year, according to the World Bank(世界银行). Furthermore, the foul air can literally stunt the growth of the next generation, according to recent research from Frederica P. Perera of Columbia University and her Chinese colleagues.
The Chinese have been burning coal for centuries. They now consume 2.5 billion tons a year—more than double that of the U.S.—and imports are rising despite extensive domestic mining. In 2007 the country’s 541 coal-fired power plants pumped out 554,420 megawatts(兆瓦) of electricity, according to the Chinese State Electricity Regulatory Commission(中国国家电力监管委员会)—roughly equivalent to the output of 550 large nuclear reactors. On average, China opens one coal-fired plant every week to serve its 1.3 billion people and the massive industries that manufacture cheap goods, largely for the U.S. and Europe.
Notwithstanding its deeply polluted state, China is also working feverishly(兴奋地) to clean up. It plans to reduce pollutants(污染物) by as much as 10 percent over the next five years. Part of the effort involves creating carbon-neutral cities and expanding renewable energy sources, as described in the stories that follow. Much of the strategy, however, is simply to shutter small, inefficient coal plants and replace them with larger ones that are more efficient. “To close small plants, it will be very effective to improve air quality,” Sarah Liang, a spokesperson in Greenpeace’s Beijing office, tells me. But that still leaves a load of pollution.
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