This Times article is aimed at the tree hugger crowd. Chinese pollution is a serious problem, but the reasons for it, and the economy it fuels are a far more serious problem.

NY Times

Already, China uses more coal than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined. And it has increased coal consumption 14 percent in each of the past two years in the broadest industrialization ever. Every week to 10 days, another coal-fired power plant opens somewhere in China that is big enough to serve all the households in Dallas or San Diego.

To make matters worse, India is right behind China in stepping up its construction of coal-fired power plants — and has a population expected to outstrip China’s by 2030.

Aware of the country’s growing reliance on coal and of the dangers from burning so much of it, China’s leaders have vowed to improve the nation’s energy efficiency. No one thinks that effort will be enough. To make a big improvement in emissions of global-warming gases and other pollutants, the country must install the most modern equipment — equipment that for the time being must come from other nations. [snip]

Meanwhile, other sources of energy have problems. Oil is at about $70 a barrel. Natural gas is in short supply in most of China, and prices for imports of liquefied natural gas have more than doubled in the last three years. Environmental objections are slowing the construction of hydroelectric dams on China’s few untamed rivers. Long construction times for nuclear power plants make them a poor solution to addressing blackouts and other power shortages now.

For the past three years, China has also been trying harder to develop other alternatives. State-owned power companies have been building enormous wind turbines up and down the coast. Chinese companies are also trying to develop geothermal energy, tapping the heat of underground rocks, and are researching solar power and ways to turn coal into diesel fuel. But all of these measures fall well short. Coal remains the obvious choice to continue supplying almost two-thirds of China’s energy needs.

It’s a long article, and really pushes the ecological consequences of China’s coal use. Buryed in the article, without criticism, are the reasons for the continuation of these problems. It boils down to central planning, the necessity to subsidize the consumer, the demands that technology be transferred and , oh, yeah, central planning. The Chinese lack the capacity to act decisively because any decision has to go up the line, way up the line, and by the time it gets to Peking, the issue is simplified to just one item. Will this project add to the wealth and prestige of the Peacock Throne?

Replacing power plants means admitting that the original designs were faulty. The Chinese government is institutionally incapable of admitting errors of that magnitude. Having the World Bank, the Japanese and all the other worried parties make the trip to Peking is wonderful. The Throne receives its proper due. Yet, the necessity to modernize technology and practice is not recognized by the Throne. The technocrats in Peking do what they can, but the rulers, the new Mandarins, are behaving like it was 1606 not 2006.