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Pollution Industry & Economy - Power `Risk of CO2 pollution through coal-based power plants' Our Bureau
Mumbai , Dec. 14 "What price development and economic growth?" is a constant refrain one hears. Climate change is a big issue that is engaging the attention of economic planners and environmentalists alike. A strong positive correlation between industrial growth and environmental degradation has been noticed. Coal is seen as one of the major pollutants. As countries around the world wrestle with the challenges of global warming, more than 150 new coal-fired power plants are planned or being built in the US, and some 550 such plants are under construction in coal-rich China.
Reliance on coal
The world's two worst climate offenders are on a reckless crash course to increase reliance on coal, the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute said in its latest publication. In 2004, releases from coal burning power plants accounted for 32 per cent of the total US carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, while in China, as much as 70 per cent of CO2 emissions could be traced to coal, the authors of an article sarcastically titled "US and China commit to coal ... . and to climate change?" pointed out.
China surpasses US
The International Energy Agency has forecast that China's rapidly expanding use of coal will lead it to surpass the US as the largest emitter of CO2 by 2009. To meet the growing energy demand in China, suppliers are tapping the vast coal reserves estimated at over one trillion tonnes, 12 per cent of world's coal. Yet, widespread use of coal-fired power plants would likely to cost the country billions of dollars in pollution related harm and lead to irreversible environmental damage, it is feared.
China emits more
Seventy per cent of the 20 million tonnes of particulate matter and other smog-forming pollutants China emitted in 2005 were from coal, the authors asserted adding that the unhealthy levels of air pollution in one-third of all monitored Chinese cities contributed to $63 billion in economic losses in 2004 or roughly three per cent of GDP.
US research
Interestingly, in the US, while Congress approved an additional $7.8 billion in 2005 for coal including several billions for `clean coal' research and development programme, public pressure against large-scale re-emergence of coal is gathering strength. Energy-related developments around the world have implications for India. The country has vast untapped coal reserves. Energy is required to fuel economic growth; and such growth itself will generate fresh demand for energy products. Currently, India is energy-deficient, while demand is sure to expand rapidly in the coming years with GDP growth registering eight per cent a year.
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