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China’s Coal Cap Could Save $11.4 Billion a Year, Study Says

China’s proposal to curb coal consumption could save as many 89,000 lives and $11.4 billion a year by 2030, a study showed.

The benefits would come from improvements to air quality resulting from a national policy to cap coal use at about 4.1 billion metric tons starting in 2020, according to the study, which compared the findings to a scenario in which coal use continues to rise to 4.8 billion tons in the next 15 years.

The government is seeking to limit coal use to ease air pollution. Burning coal, which accounted for about 64 percent of China’s energy consumption, is the biggest contributer to the smog enveloping many of the country’s biggest cities, the China Youth Daily reported in December, citing the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences.

The U.S. gets about 30 percent of its electricity from coal, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data.

The study by the China Coal Cap Project, with the support of the Natural Resource Defense Council and World Wildlife Foundation, also found that the coal cap policy would prevent as many as 1,400 cases of lung disease among coal mining and production workers per year from 2020 to 2050 and 260 premature deaths per year from 2030 to 2050.

source: http://www.bloomberg.com