Coal Pollution in China Cutting Lifespan

China now discontinued policy gave free coal for heating north of the Hoai River, carving estimably 5 years off life expectancy. There are around 500 million people living North of China who are affected by the air pollution causes by the burning of coal. Researchers from China, the US and Israel shows that the region had a very high rate of lung and heart disease as the outcome of the policy that was enforced in 1980. Burning coal releases fine particles into the air. The concentrations of total suspended particulates were about 55% higher in the north compared to the south of China. 100 micro-grams per cubic meter associated with a drop in life expectancy of about 3 years. In 2001, statistics shows that there were about 400 μg/m3 across china. Currently, china burns nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined, the US energy information administration has reported. Since coal are widely used in China due to its low cost, the capital of its country Beijing was labeled worse in its air and also hazardous. Chinese government has closed as many as 103 factories and 30 percent of government vehicles off the roads, but the action does little affect.

Coal consumption will not only grow in China but also India. China has reached itself ahead of US in earth pollution. I believe that coal use for energy heating will continue to expand in the future. Our worldwide atmosphere will be majorly contaminated and our lifespan will continue to decrease. Hopefully, energy prices will soon can be compete with coal's price so the use of coal can be decrease as people can now afford energy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324867904578593202873181028.html