Smog Case Study

China is Choking On Smog

As a world’s most populous country, China, is experiencing breakneck growth in the process of industrialization and urbanization, with a roughly rate of 10 percent on GDP each year for the last three decades (World Bank). Now it is choking on something which is not only suffocating the lifeline of this country, but also shrinking those GDP for decades. That is the smog, the other Chinese landmark you can see from space through NASA satellite picture besides the Great Wall. Obviously, smog cannot be ignored anymore, especially in 2013, when smog “blackened Chinese cities with appalling frequency, closed airport and roads, and sent children to hospitals with pollution – filled lungs”(Wong). Smog is also the main contributor

The statistics from U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that China now accounts for 47% of global coal consumption—almost as much as the entire rest of the world combined. As the coal combustion is the leading source of the smog, Chinese government has to find a balance between them. To reduce the coal consumption with minimal impact on energy supply, new clean energy substitution can be an appropriate strategy. It seems like China has already begun to transform the way it grows for good. “China’s renewable energy investment rose to $110 billion in 2015 and overall low-carbon electricity generation, including solar, nuclear, wind and hydro-power, rose by 20% last year.” (Dettoni). Also in early February 2016, China 's State Council said that no new coal production would be approved for the next three years, while existing production will be reduced by 500 million tons in the next three to five years. However, the new energy still has to struggle to compete with coal among the energy users for a long time. Taking the wind and solar for example, when these power plants settle down in high populated China, they have to choose remote vacant land, where there are normally no transportation route or transmission network and weather is unpredictable. Thereby, distribution and storage of the power become first obstacles. Not to

In response to public appeal to the urgent smog problem, Chinese government leaders are pushed to be transparent about the air pollution condition, such as the installation of air monitors nationwide and data release to the public, which in turn raising more public awareness and authorities pressure. On top of that, the environmental policies and laws have been improved several times to meet the requirements, but without strict enforcement and people adhering to it, the smog problem will never mitigate. In China there are many well-known notorious facts: the clean technology is only switched on when inspection arrives; car inspection always can be passed by certain “connection”; standard is gradually compromised through the corruption; the violation case is often closed in a mystery way; and so on. Thus, shortening the gap between legislation and enforcement is extremely important in the battle against smog. It accordingly reconstructs the trust between leaders and residences, both of whom will join efforts to fight the smog