What Causes Pollution in China?
At the core of a possible looming environmental disaster is China’s insatiable demand for energy. The country’s domestic oil reserves are limited, and petroleum is expensive to import on the scale that the country’s economy requires. A little more than a quarter (26%) of China’s energy in 2001 was produced from oil, according to the Energy Information Administration. Instead, China relies on coal — a major source of sulfur dioxide and soot emissions — for 63% of its energy. Last year, China burned 40% more coal than the United States did, even though the overall economic output of the United States is far larger than that of the People’s Republic. Just 3% of China’s energy is generated from natural gas, while 7% comes from hydroelectric plants. Energy demand is of course rising at the individual household level because of increased affluence and mobility, but industry is by far the greatest energy consumer. According to the International Iron and Steel Institute, in 2003, China used
