ENERGY AND AIR POLLUTION IN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES

Abstract:

To examine the challenges faced today by China and the United States in terms of energy use and urban air pollution, the U.S. National Academies, in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), conducted a comparative study1 by pairing two inland industrial cities (Pittsburgh and Huinan) and two traffic-dominated coastal cities (Los Angeles and Dalian) and tracing their energy use and air pollution histories. Major findings are: 1) coal is a major energy resource and its use will increase in both countries; 2) Huainan and Dalian are developing in ways similar to Pittsburgh and Los Angeles (albeit with modern technology); 3) secondary pollutants (e.g., O3, PM2.5 SO4) are important in U.S., are not commonly measured in China, but are high in China when they are reported; 4) all levels of government (local, state/provincial, national) must participate in pollution reduction; 5) U.S. pollution controls were effective and did not harm the economy; this is probably also true for China; and 6) pollution control benefits exceed costs when proper accounting is done. Major recommendations applicable to both countries are: 1) realize the potential of energy efficiency improvements; 2) accelerate development and use of renewable energy sources; 3) plan in advance for pollution control, even if it cannot be immediately executed; 4) improve fuel economy and reduce mobile source emissions; and 5) expand bi-national cooperation on energy and air quality issues, including efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The full report contains extensive documentation on energy use and pollution levels in the U.S. and China with a listing of web-based information sources on energy efficiency, energy data bases, emissions and ambient air quality data bases, and NGOs working on these issues.