Recently, I had a unique opportunity to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperative Clean Fossil Energy Conference in Xi'an, China. It was my third trip to China in as many months (OK, one of those three was to Taiwan). This was a first hand look at the real world conflict that grips the world's most populous nation - environmental responsibility versus economic development. My myriad of observations and reflections could keep me blogging for weeks, so I'll focus on just a single impact - air quality. Spending time living in both Houston and Los Angeles, I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of pollution, smog, and poor air quality. It just took a single morning's run in the not-so-crisp autumn air of Xi'an to recalibrate my senses. I had previously experienced the smog and haze in Beijing, but this cool October day had a completely different feel - and smell. Distinctive in the air was the
odor of burning coal, like at a power plant with no emissions controls. Dr. Ting later explained to me that most houses in this region still use coal heating in their homes, with no pollution control furnaces. The result was a continuous haze and stench over the entire city that never subsided.
odor of burning coal, like at a power plant with no emissions controls. Dr. Ting later explained to me that most houses in this region still use coal heating in their homes, with no pollution control furnaces. The result was a continuous haze and stench over the entire city that never subsided.The good news is - there are a whole lot of people working towards a solution. While it could take decades or longer for the entire Chinese infrastructure to adopt modern day pollution controls, everyone agrees on the urgency and impact of the issue. I can't say that this 3-day workshop equipped me with any particular insight as to the likelihood of strict environmental controls taking root in China (and other APEC countries), but at least I am satisfied that the problem is well understood and at least something is being done to improve the situation. But when you are dealing with the China-type numbers, you quickly realize that the environmental efforts of rest of the industrialized world could be easily countered by the irresponsibility of a single country. For this reason, we should continue to do whatever we can to help deploy best in class pollution controls in the world's oldest and largest civilization.
