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Beijing orders coal plants closed

BEIJING will shut all four of its coal-fired power plants by 2015, as authorities in China continue efforts to reduce smog in the capital.
 
Four replacement gas-fired facilities and “40 other related utility projects” will be built at a cost of 47.7bn yuan (US$7.8bn), officials with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform told state media outlet Xinhua.

As soon as the new plants are operational, the coal plants will shut down, reducing the city’s use of coal by 40%, or 23m t.
 
The change is expected to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions in the city by 10,000 t/y – and is the latest in a string of measures to reduce dangerous air pollution in the capital that include closing down polluting factories and mandating for cleaner cars.

The announcement came as smog blanketing the city during the country’s seven-day national holiday got so thick that roads and airports in the city had to be closed until it dissipated, seriously hindering people from travelling home or visiting the city.
 
Efforts to clean Beijing are not isolated, with national plans to reduce carbon intensity of the country’s burgeoning economy. Earlier this year, China launched a carbon trading scheme that includes seven economic centres.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that the government’s push to reduce emissions per economic unit by 45% before the close of the decade will lead to the regulation of 800m–1bn t of emissions by 2015.

Source:tcc today