Operators check gas detectors at a Shell shale gas facility in Changbei, China. Via Shell/Flickr
China's air pollution has gotten so bad that it's now a drag on the country's otherwise robust economy. The social cost of living with some of the world's worst air is obvious, but the growing impact on health care is particularly huge. It's clear that the glut of cheap coal power that's powered China's growth isn't a sustainable option, which leaves China with a difficult choice: invest heavily in renewables—a costly proposition for the world's largest energy consumer—or try to find a cleaner way to burn its vast coal reserves.China has pursued both, but it appears that converting coal into cleaner-burning synthetic natural gas (syngas) will drive China's next phase of growth. According to new commentary in the journal Nature Climate Change, that focus is likely to "lock the country into an unsustainable development path." Or, as Brad Plumer at the Washington Post put it, China trading coal for syngas would mean environmental disaster.
Advertisement
Natural gas is far cleaner burning than coal, and thus is preferable from an air pollution standpoint. But unlike the United States, whose massive reserves of natural gas have ushered in a post-coal energy future, China's biggest fossil fuel reserve is plain old coal. Converting coal into syngas is an established industry, and China happens to be a world leader. The switch seems obvious. But as commentary authors Chi-Jen Yang and Robert B. Jackson note, syngas energy has one little problem: It has far higher carbon emissions and water consumption that either coal or regular natural gas.That's because converting coal into syngas requires an extra, energy-intensive process over simply burning it. So while less particulate pollution (the nasty stuff that gets in people's lungs and causes respiratory ailments) is pumped into the air, the extra energy required means more carbon ultimately gets pumped into the atmosphere. On its own, that's concerning. Add in China's current problems with water pollution and Beijing's immense water deficit, and you've got a recipe for a destructive future.
This graph from Yang and Jackson shows just how resource intensive syngas power is. (GHG is greenhouse gases.)
China had 56 syngas plants as of 2010, according to the US Energy Department. The US, which doesn't trail too far behind China in energy production, has just one—the 25-year-old Great Plains Synfuels Plant. China plans to build even more, and is expected to start on the largest syngas expansion ever.According to Yang and Jackson, "As of 2013, the central government has approved nine large-scale SNG plants with a total capacity of 37.1 billion m3 of natural gas per year. In comparison, the Great Plains Synfuels Plant has a much smaller annual capacity of 1.5 billion m3." In other words, China is making a massive investment in the most carbon-intensive form of energy production around.
Advertisement
China's huge growth in demand for energy has necessitated an all-of-the-above approach, and syngas isn't its only planned area of energy investment. It's also made a huge push to expand fracking capability, which lags far behind the US.It's not totally doom-and-gloom. China also leads the world in renewable energy investment, has pledged billions in clean tech subsidies, and has been a major driver in pushing down prices for solar panels, which has had a ripple effect worldwide. Additionally, China has taken the lead in thorium reactor development, and plans to become a world leader in nuclear reactor design—which may inject some much-need competition into the reactor market.All of those efforts are commendable, and that investment in the clean tech market will hopefully continue to drive down clean energy prices everywhere. (The US has a major part too; wind power is the fastest growing energy sector here in the states.) Yang and Jackson note those efforts, but their ultimate argument is that the allure of syngas—which does have the dual benefits of allowing China to rely on its current coal supply while still mitigating air pollution—will cause the process to become entrenched."The broad implementation of SNG could slow the deployment of renewable capacities that have even smaller carbon and water footprints and that generate less air and water pollution (acknowledging that China’s renewable energy production is expanding rapidly today)," they write.They have a point. If huge new syngas plants come online, they're likely to keep running until they're retired or until something way cheaper comes along—which has happened in the US, with natural gas affecting coal and nuclear production. And with new syngas investment comes refining of the supply chain and conversion process, which means it's even harder to pull away from.China is hardly alone in trying to find a cleaner way to extract energy from abundant coal resources. The US, probably more than any other country, has long invested in and hyped the promise of clean coal. The interest in syngas—along with renewables and nuclear—is also a good sign that the Chinese government accepts that its air pollution problem must be solved. And hey, we've all got to get energy from somewhere. But replacing coal with a far more resource and carbon intensive process isn't the answer.@derektmead
ORIGINAL REPORTING ON EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS IN YOUR INBOX.
By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.