China's three biggest power firms produced more greenhouse gas emissions last year than the whole of Britain, according to a Greenpeace report published today. The group warned that inefficient plants and the country's heavy reliance on coal are hindering efforts to tackle climate change. While China's emissions per capita remain far below those of developed countries, the country as a whole has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest emitter. Greenpeace said the top 10 companies, which provided almost 60% of China's total electricity last year, burned 20% of China's coal — 590m tonnes — and emitted the equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide. The efficiency of Chinese power generation compares unfavourably with other countries. In Japan, 418 grams of carbon dioxide are emitted per kilowatt hour and in the US, the equivalent figure is 625 grams. But most of the top 10 firms in China produce 752 grams of CO2. "China is suffering the pains of extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, typhoons and floods, worsened by climate change. These power companies can and must help China to prevent climate disaster by rapidly increasing efficiency and the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar," said Yang Ailun, Greenpeace's climate campaign manager, at the launch in Beijing of the Greenpeace report, Polluting Power: Ranking China's Biggest Power Companies. The report says that in 2008, Huaneng, Datang and Guodian — the top three firms — emitted more greenhouse gases than the whole of the United Kingdom. But Yang added: "China is ideally placed to…[become] the world's superpower in terms of smart energy and renewable energy." The group said China closed down 54.07 gigawatt of the least efficient coal-fired plants over the last three and a half years — more than the total electricity installed capacity of Australia. It urged power firms to phase out all inefficient coal-fired plants under 100 megawatt by 2012, saving 90m tonnes of coal consumption and 220m tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Firms are already turning to renewable energy and by the end of last year Guodian had installed 2.88 gigawatt of wind power; almost 24% of China's total and enough to make it the biggest wind energy firm in Asia. But Greenpeace said only three of the top 10 produced 10% or more of their energy from renewable sources. The vast majority relied heavily on hydropower — with eight of the firms not even halfway to their legal obligation to produce 3% of energy from other renewable sources by 2010. Greenpeace urged the Chinese government to impose energy and environment taxes on coal, encouraging increased efficiency and a move to renewable sources. It also called for a doubling of the national renewable energy target to 30% by 2020 and for stricter efficiency standards for coal-fired power stations. The State Council, China's cabinet, is currently drawing up plans for a massive "new energy" programme to cut emissions and ensure energy security. Reports in the domestic media and from foreign diplomats suggest the next decade could see between 1.4 trillion (US$200 bn) and 4.5 trillion yuan (US$600bn) investment in projects ranging from nuclear power, low carbon transport and clean coal technology to super-efficient electric grids. This huge expansion is already causing problems. Manufacturing capacity is outstripping supply and the country's under-invested power grid networks were not ready for large-scale wind power input. Some wind farms have been unable to start operating because of a lack of grid connection or were operating at levels lower than planned. But experts warn that de-carbonising the energy supply must happen fast, given the massive toll on China's environment. State news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that the country's largest desert lake could vanish in decades due to climate change and human activities."Just 10 years ago, one couldn't see the other bank of the Hongjiannao even through a telescope. Today, it's visible with the naked eye," said He Fenqi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Hongjiannao, sandwiched between the Muus Desert in Shaanxi Province and the Erdos Plateau in Inner Mongolia, has shrunk by at least 30% in the past two decades, Xinhua reported. It now covers 4,600 hectares and its water level is declining by 20 centimetres annually.
Guys as far as im concerned i don't care (and never have) about all that turn your lights of and turn the plugs off by the mains crap, there is no point anyway. if there is going to be cutbacks it need to be with the big power stations etc all over the world, not your house. i think global warming is bogus anyway, anything for extra taxes. and that melting poles crap is just natural earth cycles.. look it up if you feel you must -smart
^ I do happen to agree that global warming stuff might be as real as it is to fake.. so I ain't taking side on that But I believe it's still important to innovate into green technology such as reusable energy.. I would perfer to drive and eletric car than going to pump gas into my car everyday (once those eletric cars are actually worth getting)
global warming is a fact. though i doubt carbon dioxide emission cause by human activities is the major factor that leads to global warming. the poles will melt when the time is right.. no one can stop it nor accelerate it.
Now that i can agree with, we got those bulbs that last a life time and all that and electric cars would be cool as long as its practical but i wouldn't base my life around or put much effort into making sure switches are off and stuff like that. Show me proof of it being fact and ill show you proof of it being bogus. actually what you say is true, but what they say causes it is bogusness and is in reality all about the monay$$$...
Electric cars aren't green becuz the source of the electricity is mainly from fossil fuels at the moment (the electricity to run the car has to be made somewhere) so unless all electricity is made from green sources such as solar, wind, etc, electric cars are hardly green at all
We have the technology for cars can run on water... but that is suppressed by the oil barrons of the world for obvious reasons.
Well that's why I stated that in need human resources to innovate into those type of technology and I stated eletric car as one example... Such as Prius have solar panel to charge the battery, etc
^ World population is fine, You can fit every person on the planet in 'Rhode Island' with 4.5 square feet of space around them, that's assuming 6.5 billion people. only a small percentage of that number has a share in the worlds wealth, the earth is capable of holding more people than youll care to comprehend but the evilness of humanity causes severe problems at just 6.5 bil.
Theres always a flamethrower to help cut down population... Anyways, global warming, don't know if its true or not, don't really care about it, we're gonna live and die anyways.headbang2headbang2headbang2
No car can run on water, that's the emission from when hydrogen synthesizes with oxygen. We still need reliable renewable sources for the electrolysis process. You're right that the barriers preventing hydrogen fueled cars is not technology though. If all the households in the developed world take a more sensible approach to their power usages we could really save a lot. The source of the energy is undoubtedly the largest factor of course, but as we're all living on the same planet, people should really care more and do their share. You could save on your bills too. Energy isn't the only thing either, some people just think they're infinite resources and that everyone has the same chance at it. =/
^ let's not debate global warming cause i also don't believe it.... and cutting back energy isn't happening anytime soon, not enough money is being put on alternative energy sources and alsooooooooo gasoline companies have a huge stake in the world and won't let some other energy source from pushing it off it's pedestal ....
^ i dont believe it either, oil barons want to keep fuel for money, government wants fake global warming for taxes resulting in more money.
I think there was a car that runs fully on water... I think you can find a video about it, but the oil company murder him the moment he try to tell the goverment or car company about his invention and destoryed all of his information... Now I am not sure whether this is real or not, but I'm sure oil company do these in order to protect themselves and keep making large sums of profit
Show me proof of it being fact and ill show you proof of it being bogus. .......deleted........... =============== global warming - Google Search Global Warming http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html Global warming in wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming Antarctic ice shelf set to collapse due to warming http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE50I4G520090119 Ice - Surface melting revealed by the North Pole Environmental Observatory http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/ice-npole.shtml
