China latest policy will require six heavy polluting industries to meet global standards in 47 cities and to gradually comply with special international emission limits on airborne pollutants, starting on March 1. The targeted industries: thermal power, iron and steel, petrochemical, cement, non-ferrous metal and chemical as the annual amount of smoke and dust from the six industries contributes more than 70% of total emissions, according to the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences in an interview with China Daily.
The new policy would have the biggest influence on thermal power generation companies that have to invest a lot of money in upgrading the current environmental protection equipment and purchasing new ones for production according to experts. But we do not need experts to tell us that. The vast majority of coal fired plants could care less, as investments and operating costs are too high to limit pollution and as electricity prices won’t increase it will have dubious advantages. China does not have the courage to increase prices, fearing a public backlash. So, when inspectors turn up they may switch on the equipment, and later switch off again. Or they stop generating electricity for “maintenance” as more production means bigger losses.
Anyway, only applying the limits to the 47 cities does not solve the problem: you can’t build a Pollution Great Wall around the cities.
Consumer & Environment Issues
consumer analysis and impact on environment
China: why the shortage of grain
Besides arable land areas being under threat, urbanization, unreliable or polluted water resources, another challenge are the poor storage, processing: 35 millions tons of grain are wasted every year.
As said earlier, food valued at 200 billion yuan is wasted every year.
Not to be surprised China in 2012 imported 70 million tons of grain, with soybeans counting for nearly 60 million tons.
More about China’s fuel quality
See the earlier post: “Air pollution in Beijing and fuel quality”
China Daily confirmed the figures. Most parts of China still use the National III standard, which allows sulfur content of up to 150 ppm for gasoline and 350 ppm for diesel. The current standard in Europe is 10 ppm and in the US the restriction is 30 ppm. Some areas of China even still allow the National II diesel standard that caps sulfur content at 2,000 ppm.
According to local media reports, the average number of commercial trucks – many of them low-tech diesels registered in areas with lower emission standards – that enter Beijing each night can hit 140,000.
Food wasted: the horse meat crisis in Europe
The news is overall, talking about the food scandal in Europe where horse meat was used without proper labeling, mostly to save money. There is little health concern, except for some sporadic painkillers that may have entered the horse meat supply chain.
Some may object to eating horse meat but few people talk about that. In Belgium you can find horse meat in shops and most people do not realize that salamis often contains horse meat, to enhance the flavor rather than to save money.
Now what happens? Massive recalls that will lead to all the food being dumped and wasted. What a shame. Why not simply put a sticker on the items to reveal the real content and sell at a big discount instead? I am sure people would buy it, thus avoiding one source of food waste. If others object to the horse meat, they have a choice. In my case, I would certainly object to cat and dog meat (China!) but not horse or donkey meat.
Air pollution dangers in Beijing and Hong Kong: details
The latest research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences found a large amount of nitrogen-containing organic compounds in the recent smog that shrouded Beijing and neighboring cities. The compounds are key components of the photochemical smog that shrouded Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s, causing hundreds of premature deaths and around 2,000 traffic accidents in a single day in 1954.
Exposure to nitrogen dioxide might damage the lungs and increase respiratory infections, especially in children and the elderly.
The nitrogen-containing organic compounds are mainly from exhausts and account for a large amount of the city’s PM2.5, it is said.
Pollutants in the Pearl River Delta are more dangerous than those choking the capital because they contain higher levels of hazardous nitrogenous organic compounds, according to an expert at the China Academy of Meteorological Sciences.
The volatile organic compounds were mainly emitted during the manufacture of shoes and cosmetics and were the main components of photochemical smog.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine established a clear link between exposure to PM2.5 pollutants and early death after following 154,000 patients in England and Wales who had been taken to hospital with heart attacks between 2004 and 2007. They followed the patients for more than three years after their release from hospital. Nearly 40,000 died in that period. If PM2.5 levels had been reduced to their natural background rate, they calculated the number of deaths would have fallen by 4,873, or 12%.
“We found that for every 10 microgrammes/m3 in PM2.5, there was a 20% increase in the death rate,” said the research.
About 30 times thinner than a human hair, PM2.5 particles have long been identified as a respiratory problem, as their size enables them to lodge deep in the lungs. The average PM2.5 level in Hong Kong is around 30 to 35 microgrammes/m3. The World Health Organization has set guidelines of a maximum of 10 microgram of PM2.5/m3 as an annual average exposure.
In Beijing last month, PM2.5 levels reached 993 microgrammes/m3, almost 40 times the WHO’s recommended safe limit of 25 microgram over a 24-hour period, triggering a public outcry.
If some people still underestimate the dangers of air pollution, they are really naïve.
Read more:
21 February 2013 – Smog in Pearl River Delta ‘worse than in Beijing’
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1154950/smog-pearl-river-delta-worse-beijing
and this one, with a questionable title:
19 February 2013 – ‘Smog readings in Beijing nothing to be concerned about’
By Zheng Xin (China Daily)
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-02/19/content_16236264.htm