One of the statistics most commonly quoted by those wishing to demonstrate China's increasing energy consumption is that the PRC opens on average one new coal fired power station each week. As environmental issues creep up the international political agenda, there is increasing worldwide concern about China's rocketing levels of carbon dioxide emissions. The reality of the situation is that, without a firm Chinese commitment to reduce emissions in line with other nations, the environmental cause is all but lost.
At the present time, the country is embarking on a programme of increased use of coal conversion technology to turn coal into liquid fuels. By a process known as coal liquefaction, the raw solid is processed chemically to leave a liquid product which can be utilised in a similar way to oil. If carbon capture technology is involved in the process, the creation and combustion of the end result releases significantly less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to Xinhua, the current output of the coal conversion industry stands at 1.68 million tonnes (coal to liquid) and 15 billion tonnes (coal to gas). However, as the newspaper's coverage reports, Chinese academics are forecasting that in a decade's time the country will have the world's largest coal conversion industry, with these outputs reaching 20 million tonnes and 50 billion tonnes respectively.
