ST: Beijing air pollution goes from ‘crazy bad’ to ‘beyond belief’

[China]

Is China's air pollution because of cars? Maybe it's just my poor stereotype, but I thought they didn't have that many.

(Although, I could see the wisdom of trying to get people to drive electric before they get bunches of cars, too.)

 

It's mostly because of coal use.

[The Evil Genius]

Is China's air pollution because of cars? Maybe it's just my poor stereotype, but I thought they didn't have that many.

(Although, I could see the wisdom of trying to get people to drive electric before they get bunches of cars, too.)

 

It's because everyone burns coal at home to stay warm.

[Predicto]

It's because everyone burns coal at home to stay warm.

Not just at home.  Their power plants are fueled by coal as well.  

 

But the problem is also the cars.  China's state run oil companies do not have to answer to anyone, and thus have not invested in the technology for lowering emissions.   Their gasoline is really bad, and their cars thsu emit 5-10 TIMES as much pollution per gallon of gas as cars in the US.  

[sacase]

It's either burn coal or freeze to death. 

 

I'm putting in EVO charger everywhere and force people to buy Teslas if i'm the Chinese Politburo. Hell they have the money/power to replace all the cars with electric go karts.

you do realize that you have to charge them with electricity, which is produced by the coal burning polluting power plants.

[mcsluggo]

china is pushing hard on renewables (it is why the US is hammering at them inthe WTO on their solar panel subsidies), but the power usage is growing at a phenomenal rate.  I hear a stat that over the last several years they have installed as much generating capacity (genrally using coal) every week as the whole continent of Africa does in an entire year..... GDP grows at 10%/year AND each year each $ of GDP has become more energy intensive.   (all the rich countries, on teh other hand are getting less energy intensive per $ of GDP)

[Skin'emAlive]

As a local resident, it is not because locals use coal in their homes for heat. Though that does contribute somewhat. The authorities here blame cars as the sole reason for the pollution. But the real culprit is a combination of coal burning factories, mass construction, and extremely dry climate. Yea there are alot of cars, but most people use scooters, trains, or buses. On the other hand though, everyday in Beijing over 3million people ride a taxi. Food for thought

[Mr. Sinister]

Can't imagine what it's like over there. Those pics are insane.

[elkabong82]

If they are just going to blame the cars then they should entertain doing what Mexico City does, color-coded license plates that mean a car can only be driven on certain days. Of course if they do create some solutions to reduce car pollution it won't solve the problem or likely even cause a significant reduction and then the real culprit would be fully exposed. 

[Skin'emAlive]

They have also blamed food vendors on the streets for the pollution. They claimed that the smoke from the people cooking chuanr were causing it to get so bad. Of course, that was laughably ignored by most here. The point here is, nothing will change until the leader forces the change with threat of huge fines/prison time.

[China]

If they are just going to blame the cars then they should entertain doing what Mexico City does, color-coded license plates that mean a car can only be driven on certain days. Of course if they do create some solutions to reduce car pollution it won't solve the problem or likely even cause a significant reduction and then the real culprit would be fully exposed. 

 

They already have that.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_space_rationing_in_Beijing

[elkabong82]

They already have that.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_space_rationing_in_Beijing

 

Damn, lol, then it definitely isn't the cars. Maybe hydroelectric plants since they are by a huge body of water?

[SkinInsite]

It's weird that China doesn't consider Nuclear power, although give their "regulatory" bodies I probably won't consider it safe either.

[Predicto]

Damn, lol, then it definitely isn't the cars. Maybe hydroelectric plants since they are by a huge body of water?

 

Yes it is the cars - in part.   There are 5 million cars in Beijing, and every one of them belches exhaust like a 1940s American car. 

 

And they do have massive, massive hydroelectric projects, more than the rest of the world combines - but they are all in the south of the country.  The water is in the south but over half a billion people are in the north. 

[Chew]

probably smells like cancer outside

[elkabong82]

Yes it is the cars - in part.   There are 5 million cars in Beijing, and every one of them belches exhaust like a 1940s American car. 

 

And they do have massive, massive hydroelectric projects, more than the rest of the world combines - but they are all in the south of the country.  The water is in the south but over half a billion people are in the north. 

 

What I meant was cars aren't the main culprit, despite the assertions of the Chinese gov't, and the fact their pollution is so awful despite putting in measures to limit car travel is proof. Do car contribute? Of course.

 

Mexico City has pollution problems, but the problem hasn't escalated out of control due in significant part to their measures to limit car travel, and they're surrounded by mountains which trap a lot in.

[China]

probably smells like cancer outside

 

Not just smells, but tastes.  The air definitely has a taste to it, and it isn't good.

[daveakl]

Taste like chicken?

[TradeTheBeal!]

True free-market policy at it's finest.

[DaGoonie55]

Man, I will never complain of the 'aroma of tacoma' again.

 

Though this article makes me miss the hills of WV that much more....

[Skin'emAlive]

Yes, you can smell the pollution in the air or your clothes. It is no different than going to a bar for a few hours, walking out, and smelling your clothes.

[Mr. Sinister]

Yes, you can smell the pollution in the air or your clothes. It is no different than going to a bar for a few hours, walking out, and smelling your clothes.

 

Geez

 

If you don't mind me asking, how's your health, or what do you have to do on a daily basis to take necessary precautions? I remember you posting a pic wearing one of those masks awhile back. Personally, from an outsider perspective, just looking at those pics makes me think that spending more than a day there would have me coughing up  a damn lung.

[RansomthePasserby]

...Personally, from an outsider perspective, just looking at those pics makes me think that spending more than a day there would have me coughing up a damn lung.

It has to be just as bad, if not worse, than chain smoking. I mean, no matter where you go, the air is contaminated.

[88Comrade2000]

Man, I will never complain of the 'aroma of tacoma' again.

 

Though this article makes me miss the hills of WV that much more....

Maybe not the hills but WV had places that stunk bad and probably still does.  I remember you knew you had reached Charleston because it stunk from all the chemical plants there.

[China]

China discovers that pollution makes it really hard to spy on people

 

Gasping for oxygen in the noxious air that so often enshrouds northern China is never pleasant. What really twists the knife is that the state media often refer to it simply as “fog,” not pollution, as though it came wafting in on a zephyr, and wasn’t belched by a smokestack in Hebei.

 

Well here’s some vindication for anyone who ever found this annoying. The Chinese government has realized that whatever it is clogging the atmosphere, it’s rendering government surveillance cameras ineffective (paywall), reports the South China Morning Post. Since that compromises national security, the government has hired two teams of scientists to come up with a fix, says the newspaper. But one reason they’re flummoxed by their assignment is that the haze is not simply “fog,” says Yang Aiping, a digital imaging expert and leader of one of the teams.

 

“Most studies in other countries are to do with fog. In China, most people think that fog and smog can be dealt by the same method,” Yang told the SCMP. “Our preliminary research shows that the smog particles are quite different from the small water droplets of fog in terms of optical properties.” For example, infrared imaging, which can usually help cameras penetrate fog or even smoke, can’t see through the thicket of particulate matter in Chinese air.

 

This is a big worry for the Chinese government, which as of January 2013, had installed some 20 million cameras on streets, public parks and even in elevators throughout China.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

China: Here Are Some Great Things About Toxic Air

 

Buildings in Lianyungang, China, are shrouded in smog on Dec. 8, 2013

 

You can’t make this stuff up. On Sunday, with swaths of eastern China shrouded in a polluted haze, Chinese state media decided to release a list of five “surprising benefits” of smog. Here, courtesy of Wang Lei, an editor for China Central Television’s website, are five good things about bad air:

 

1. It unifies the Chinese people.
2. It makes China more equal.
3. It raises citizen awareness of the cost of China’s economic development.
4. It makes people funnier.
5. It makes people more knowledgeable (of things like meteorology and the English word haze).

 

I’d like to think the piece as well-intentioned satire. Perhaps it was. But the article, which has since been pulled, was followed by another piece of pollution promotion. On Monday, the Global Times published a piece that said air pollution might help the Chinese military by obscuring sight lines, reducing the effectiveness of surveillance and weapons systems.

 

 

Click on the link for the full article