China has the world’s largest deposits of coal.  You would think having access to almost limitless energy reserves would be a good thing for China as it seeks to keep its economy growing. The Chinese people want jobs and cars and modern cities, they want smart phones and HD TV’s. In short, they want all the things that require fast amounts of electricity to produce and run.

So far, the Chinese government has done a pretty good job of pushing China into the modern world of international commerce. But that progress has come at a price, namely massive pollution of its land, air and water. Today in China, when people consider where they want to live, their number one priority is finding a place where the air is not poisonous.

Last fall, China announced a plan to build 50 facilities that would convert some of its enormous coal reserves into synthetic natural gas as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But Greenpeace on Wednesday called on China to reconsider its so called Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control, saying the plan would actually increase CO2 emissions by up to 80%, reports Al-Jazeera America. That estimate is based upon a report from Duke University in 2013. If the Duke numbers are accurate, Chinese CO2 emission could rise to over 1 billion tons a year.

via Gas 2 | Bridging the gap between green heads and gear heads..