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Smog Emergency

The report published in 2006 by the International Energy Agency (IEA) demonstrates that China has surpassed the United States regarding the primacy in the emissions of carbon dioxide which is polluting the air of the entire planet. This is the result of the unstoppable economic growth which has taken place in the last 10 years and of the relative high level of consumption of energy: by the year 2030, 70% of the increase in the global consumption of energy will be due to China and India (Cindia).

The smog emergency in that area of the world has already been going on for a few years now: 16 of the most polluted cities in the world are in China. Beijing satisfies its hunger for energy with coal power plants which guarantee 67% of its energy requirements. In 2006 it increased its production of electrical energy by 102 gigawatts, which is equal to that of what is produced by entire country of France.

The reason for this high level of pollution, especially in the big cities, is the prevalence of the use of coal both in China and in India in order to produce electrical energy. Today the emission of sulphur dioxide, which is the toxic substance most related to the thermoelectric coal power plants, is superior to that of the United States: last year China released approximately 26 million tons of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, more than double that of the United States. Today China burns more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan put together.

But this is not only the fault of China and India. Cindia is responsible for the emission of approximately 1 ton of carbon dioxide per year, while the European average is 2,5 tons and the American average is 5,5 tons. But even though the level of individual consumption is much less than ours, Cindia is destroying the equilibrium of the environment due to its demographic mass, which is 2.5 billion.

Further, in China a migratory phenomenon from the countryside to the cities and the industrial areas (approximately 13 million persons per year) is underway. In this way the work force (which produces in the factories) increases the national PIL (with a growth rate from 8% to 10%). Productivity increases and so salaries increase and therefore consumption increases, above all consumption of energy. Just think of the incredible increase in automobile traffic in the megalopolises of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Canton and Shenzhen.

The need to find serious and immediate solutions for the reduction in toxic emissions is evident, especially now that it’s an Olympic year.

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