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Don't blame coal for the smog

china.org.cn / chinagate.cn by Liu Ke, March 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Take crude oil for example. The pollution caused by burning crude oil directly is 100 times worse than burning coal. With the development of the worldwide oil refining industry, oil is now a much cleaner fuel. We should not simply complain about coal as the cause of the smog. The problem is that we are using coal in the wrong way. We should not directly burn coal that has been dug out of the soil. It would be too costly to deal with its combustion products. We should shift our focus to coal gasification technology.

People tend to make decisions based on profitability. The government therefore should make environmentally friendly technologies more profitable through taxation and pricing mechanisms. The government should promote coal gasification technology in areas that are rich in water resources. In this way, desulfuration and denitration can be carried out simultaneously and pollution can be effectively reduced. In terms of energy use, the most effective way is to apply advanced experience according to local conditions.

Talking about China's energy strategy, people from different industries within the energy sector each have their own strategies. In many Chinese energy strategy forums which I have attended, many so-called experts discussed the issues without using slides or rigorous analysis of data or a full life cycle model. Energy is so complex an issue that prattle about theories won't work. A practical way is to have a group of scientists to make concrete proposals for energy strategy, especially at the country level.

In fact, China's environmental reform has been continuously in progress. However, the focus should be on universal participation. Instead of promoting certain techniques, attention should be made to mobilize the people. As long as discussion on the rules of the reform game is made transparent and views from different sides are taken into consideration, the reform will be on right track.

The author is vice president and chief technology officer of the National Institute of Clean & Low-carbon Energy (NICE).

This article was translated by Li Huiru. Its original unabridged version was published in Chinese.

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