Can Big Oil Survive This?
By Briton Ryle | Wednesday, December 18th, 2013
email.angelnexus.com
The red alert lasted for five straight days.
Schools were closed and parents were told to keep their children indoors.
The smog was so bad, you could only see 150 feet... 59 flights were canceled and another 124 were delayed... 30% of government fleet vehicles were ordered off the road, while factories and highways were closed. Police stopped giving tickets to motorists who ran red lights, because the drivers simply couldn't see them.
That's the way it was in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Harbin just a few weeks ago.
This happens every winter, as buildings turn on coal-fired heat and farmers clear their fields by setting them on fire.
Beijing officials went so far as to destroy 500 “illegal” barbecues to cut down on the smog.
In early December 2013, levels of pollutant PM2.5 — particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that pose the biggest health risk — were 602.2 micrograms per cubic meter in Shanghai, more than 24 times the World Health Organization's recommended levels.
In Beijing, lung cancer deaths are up 52% in 10 years. MIT estimates that Chinese in the industrial north lose 5.5 years of life expectancy compared to those in China's south. It has been estimated that 43% of surface water and 55% of urban groundwater in China is severely polluted.
Massive pollution is the result of China's “growth at all costs” policies. And while China's economic growth may still be measured in the 7%-8% range, pollution may cost China nearly 6% of annual GDP. That's around $490 billion every year. Some estimates are as high as $1.2 trillion.
China plans to spend $675 billion over the next few years on emission reduction, energy savings, and renewable energy.
Of course, this type of investment will be probably be good for the Chinese economy.
But it doesn't change the fact that the economic cost of pollution in China is huge.
|
