Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Energy and the Environment in China

     The Chinese government realized that air pollution is a very big issue in many Chinese cities. The government needs to something to drop air pollution. For example, the limiting on burning coal and high-polluting car will improve Chinese cities’ air, as described here: “The concentration of fine particulate matter in Beijing reached 40 times the exposure limit recommended by the World Health Organization.” It is truth issue in Chinese environment.
There is no denying that the Chinese economy always keeps increasing GDP by at least 7% each year, and the Chinese government also wants to keep doing that. The issue is what the Chinese government can do in the future if they just reduce use of coal in industry. I think that the Chinese should develop other energy sources such as: solar energy, wind energy, and water energy. These energy sources will decrease the air pollution in many Chinese cities. In addition, we also can plant trees and limit industrial emissions to the air.
     Another article points out that the Chinese government has a new plan to improve air pollution. They want to use green energy instead of coal energy. Although this is good news for Chinese environment, some people think that it will be hard to implement in the future. Because coal is the most widely used energy source in China, it is difficult to just give up using coal energy. Coal energy is the most important energy in many economically developed areas.
    So what can the Chinese people do when coal is still the most important energy in China? How can they protect their air? People like to choose cars as transportation tool in daily life. To make things better, people can choose the public transportation such as subway and bus. That is a great way to improve Chinese air pollution.

--Wei Lai