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Most of PM and other harmful smog components, like SOx, NOx and organic compounds, came from: 1. Transportation emissions, especially diesel engines. 2. Indiv

Most of PM and other harmful smog components, like SOx, NOx and organic compounds, came from: 1. Transportation emissions, especially diesel engines. 2. Individual heating of buildings (using coal, oil or biomass). This is because exhaust fumes are mostly not being filtered in these cases. Coal power plants have advanced filter systems, which can reduce pollutants by more than 99% in some cases. http://i.imgur.com/dsNgDvn.png http://i.imgur.com/dsNgDvn.png http://web.archive.org/web/20150611212052/http://www.babcock.com/library/documents/br-1886.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20150611212052/http://www.babcock... http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40789-014-0001-x http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40789-014-0001-x Moreover, in power plants, coal burns in a much more optimal conditions, what results in less pollutants being generated. https://friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/FoS_BurningQuestions_Health_Coal_Wildfires_Jan2015.pdf https://friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/FoS_BurningQue... > According to Environment Canada, coal-fired power plants in Alberta in 2011 emitted only 0.4% of PM2.5 of human-made emissions (excluding wildfires). But somehow most of the bashing by media, green/left politicians and 'ecological' organizations is targeted at coal power plants, instead of real pollution sources. And ignorants enforce this lies, by repeating that "coal power plans routinely kill orders of magnitude more people than nuclear plants".

tptacek 10y ago
China's PM2.5 output is overwhelmingly attributed to its coal power plants, so I think it's a bit of a rhetorical stretch to call what I said an "ignorant lie". Further: * The Chinese coal industry is built out of boiler designs that are difficult to retrofit the "clean coal" stack of technologies on * Despite aggressive investment in filtration and treatment in the US, field studies show fluctuating (at times increasing) levels of PM2.5 pollution in cities near coal plants * Reductions in PM2.5 matching the levels stated by the coal industry documents you're providing depend not just on expensive retrofits of existing plants, but also on careful selection of (more expensive) higher-grade coal, and on expensive ongoing upkeep of consumable filtration components I'm not opposed to clean coal, where its efficiency and effectiveness can be demonstrated and, equally importantly, regulated. But that's not the Chinese coal industry.
seanmcdirmid 10y ago
> And ignorants enforce this lies, by repeating that "coal power plans routinely kill orders of magnitude more people than nuclear plants". We can enumerate everyone who has been killed in a nuclear plant accident since the plants themselves do not emit any radiation or pollution when they are generating electricity. Nuclear power only has the problem of safety (keep bad accidents from occurring) and waste disposal, while coal plants pollute continuously, and emit much more radiation than a nuclear power plant (and even its waste). The coal plants in China do not have any sophisticated environmental features like the ones in the west. Additionally, the burn much dirtier coal (mined in China) than the much cleaner coal that can be mined in say, West Virginia or Australia.

tptacek 10y ago

China's PM2.5 output is overwhelmingly attributed to its coal power plants, so I think it's a bit of a rhetorical stretch to call what I said an "ignorant lie". Further: * The Chinese coal industry is built out of boiler designs that are difficult to retrofit the "clean coal" stack of technologies on * Despite aggressive investment in filtration and treatment in the US, field studies show fluctuating (at times increasing) levels of PM2.5 pollution in cities near coal plants * Reductions in PM2.5 matching the levels stated by the coal industry documents you're providing depend not just on expensive retrofits of existing plants, but also on careful selection of (more expensive) higher-grade coal, and on expensive ongoing upkeep of consumable filtration components I'm not opposed to clean coal, where its efficiency and effectiveness can be demonstrated and, equally importantly, regulated. But that's not the Chinese coal industry.

seanmcdirmid 10y ago

> And ignorants enforce this lies, by repeating that "coal power plans routinely kill orders of magnitude more people than nuclear plants". We can enumerate everyone who has been killed in a nuclear plant accident since the plants themselves do not emit any radiation or pollution when they are generating electricity. Nuclear power only has the problem of safety (keep bad accidents from occurring) and waste disposal, while coal plants pollute continuously, and emit much more radiation than a nuclear power plant (and even its waste). The coal plants in China do not have any sophisticated environmental features like the ones in the west. Additionally, the burn much dirtier coal (mined in China) than the much cleaner coal that can be mined in say, West Virginia or Australia.