China Has Only 12 Days Left of Coal

(NEWSER) - China's inefficient power plants and heavy reliance on coal are dragging down global efforts to curb climate change, a Greenpeace report warned yesterday. The report found that major Chinese power companies are responsible for a huge amount of the country's coal use and emissions, with the top three producers alone creating more carbon dioxide emissions than the total for all of Britain, the Guardian reports. More»

CO2 emissions will double over next 12 years, think tank predicts

(NEWSER) - Carbon emissions from China's mostly coal-fired electric power industry will exceed those of the US this year for the first time, the Washington Post reports. China's runaway economic growth means its power industry's carbon emissions will double by 2020, predicts the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank. Power generation accounts for 27% of all carbon emissions worldwide. More»

Sulfur pollution masked effect of CO2 emissions

(NEWSER) - The vast amounts of coal China burned during the 2000s may have actually slowed down climate change, according to a new study. Researchers believe the sulfur pollution caused by burning coal deflected the sun's rays, causing a temporary plateau in warming, the AP reports. But while sulfur drops out of the air quickly, carbon dioxide, another byproduct, remains for a long time—and carbon dioxide's warming effects are beginning to be visible again. Temperatures lurched upward in 2009 and 2010, the study finds. More»

(NEWSER) - At their recent summit, the G8 nations vowed to cut emissions 80% ... within 41 years. That seems like a pretty lethargic response to a so-called “emergency,” but as Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi said, the effort is virtually futile while “5 billion people continue to behave as they have always behaved.” The real problem, writes George Will of the Washington Post, is that they’re behaving—and industrializing—as they never have before. More»

(NEWSER) - Clean coal is a myth, and the companies selling it “have their heads stuck in the mine,” Thomas Kostigen writes on MarketWatch. Although Americans generate close to 50% of their energy from coal, the technology is so yesterday—and the industry is not poised to move forward. It “should be looking to invest in its own replacement,” Kostigen writes, “because someone somewhere is going to invent it, and then where will they be?” More»