Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Photo Essay: Wuhai City Coal Complex Shows Costs of China’s Energy Demands

CHOKE POINT: Photo Essay: Wuhai City Coal Complex Shows Costs of China's Energy Demands - New Security Beat | The black, blasted landscape of Wuhai City sometimes looks more like the moon than Inner Mongolia. But this scene is becoming all too common across much of Northern China. China's massive coal industry is not only polluting the air and water, but also fundamentally altering the surrounding landscape and communities. By 2020, coal consumption in China is projected to increase by 30 percent, and already, 20 percent of water withdrawn in the country goes to coal mining, processing, and cooling of coal-fired power plants. The water intensity of the coal industry is a significant quandary for a country that is already facing a water scarcity crisis (water availability per capita is one-quarter the global average).