It's getting to the point where China will use more of just about every resource than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined. Their demand for building materials is causing world scrap metal prices to shoot up, to pick just one example. China is a huge country, and developing at a furious pace.

And yes, the resulting pollution is dreadful. A friend of mine is moving to Shanghai next month, and is not looking forward to the perpetual smog.

It is just like it was in New York, Philadelphia, London in the 19th century. It is the normal, tested, way of industrializing a country. The West did it earlier, so we cannot really blame the Chinese - at least as long as we happily buy all goods they produce.

We have outsourced both production and pollution. Now the latter is catching up.

Actually, it was still true in New York as recently as the 1960s - my parents used to find thick deposits of coal-furnace soot on their window ledges.

Snorting coke is not good for you.

Oh, they still have that. Two weeks ago I read this article about a proposed US shift from oil to coal derived fuel for use in transportation. It did not make me happy.

The last time I checked, China has more people than the US, the EU and Japan combined. Their coal consumption would be expected to be more based on that alone.

Why not? According to the article it is a form of bio-diesel that is more environmentally friendly and cheaper than oil plus it can be made here in the US. Which would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create jobs here. I'm not being facetious I'm honestly curious.

Aside from the expense (now worth it with such high price per barrel) it has no drawbacks not already associated with oil. Plus it reduces our dependence on foriegn oil, could be a boon for many states and bring many dying old coal towns into new prosperity, is cleaner then just burning coal and since we're not importing oil theres no tankers to sink and fuck up our waters.

And on a side note, an inventer came up with and tested a process to convert Turkey guts from the slaughter house into crude oil. And he says he can turn just about anyother carbon based waste into fuel as well. Simply by mimicing the earths own natural geologic process albeit speeded up dramatically. The only downside is that as he's emptying landfills he's also filling the sky. But we're doing that anyway by emptying oil reserves.


Turkey guts to oil

That's not exactly new; I read about it in a first-year undergrad chemistry text in 1980 or thereabouts. Carbon monoxide and organic waste, at about 20 bar and 600 Centrigrade.

The clouds of smoke are now reported by airline pilots all the way across the pacific. Estimates of air quality in LA 2 months ago showed that 20% was from across the pacific. This might become an enormous problem for the west coast.

While cleaner the burn, the process of collecting coal is bad news. Strip mining destroys entire landscapes. Also there's that little thing called black lung disease that I wouldn't wish on anyone. And even after paying the price of the Appalachian lands and people, we still would run out of the stuff. It's just as unreliable as oil. What we need to do is focus on clean, renewable energy sources, not modifying old sources to make them a little bit cleaner. That's a dead end.

uh, cleaner to burn (and I was referencing the CTL technology, not raw coal. raw coal is really dirty)

I know this will seem cold and cruel to many, but I now see why their government has to physically stop the number of babies being born there. Their own over-population will eventually kill the country.

Dunno, maybe they could have a moratorium on childbirth for say....the next 20 years or so?

You have no idea how much coal we have in the US, do you?

About 492,935,000,000 (four hundred thousand nine hundred thirty five million) tons, or 800 years' worth at current consumption rates.

Federal report of US coal reserves by state

Coal is our major source of electric power and the #1 domestically-sourced fuel supply, dwarfing US-produced natural gas and oil.

Like it or not coal is here to stay. US energy consumption is only going up and there is no viable replacement for current or forecasted coal consumption. About all we can hope for is better scrubber technology for coal-fired plants, and vigorous enforcement of environmental and mining safety rules.

The US needs all the energy it can get from every source - nuclear, coal, natural gas, wind, solar, bio and hydro.

Algae-based scrubbers

Coal fuel cell

Cool things.