China Short Of Coal: 12-Day Reserve And Counting
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 04.24.08
Everybody has noticed the worldwide grain shortages: starting with the hungry; eventually the Washington DCs pundit class noticed. Maybe the pundits will have answers to these new questions - How will Wal-mart fill our economic belly with low cost goods when the Chinese machine sputters to a halt,...run out of coal? Will the summer Olympics go dark?
China only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation's most important source of energy.In certain parts of China, such as densely populated Hebei province in the north, reserves are down to less than a week, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the China Electricity Regulatory Commission.
In the period since early March, coal reserves have slumped by 12 percent to 46.7 million tonnes, according to the commission.More important question: will this make Chinese authorities take renewable energy more seriously?
Next most important question: will the US resume a world leadership roll on climate issues?
Third most important question: were the "limits to growth" people right all along?
Via::Energy Daily, "China's coal reserves down to just 12 days: report" Image credit::WoodPileReport, Coal Salvaging near Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1937
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Maybe they can send all their citizens to the countryside to start digging for coal like they did during the cultural revolution. Call it the "Coaltural Revolution".
Why aren't we lefties denouncing the Chinese gov't as the worst thing on the planet. Poluting half of Asia, sending nukes to Iran thru North Korea, and selling arms to nasty regimes all over the world. And lastly, genocide against non-Han Chinese (Tibetans, Ugighers(sic?), etc.) Trading with these thugs will not change them. IT's been almost 20yrs since Tianamen and they're still at it. Time to boycott Chinese goods.
good I hope its perminent all we need now is to run out of oil and unanium which makes nuclear
If you will remember, 17 provinces in China lost power 2 months . Many in the media who do not understand the supply chain of coal, nor the fact that hydro power has been low due to a year long drought, blamed this on the snow.
The fact was that many power companies were running at less than 12 days... some 3 days.. of reserve. The reason.. there are not enough trains in China to drive the coal to the plants as fast as the country consumes energy
So, to answer your questions:
1) Yes. China is not the US, and to be honest I am not sure they can invest any faster. China is projected to hit 20% of renewable energy by 2020.
They are building the most wind farms, solar fields, investing in coal gasification, etc.
One major issue is that China needs to update their grid (i.e. grids...). There are still major grid issues to hurdle over (i.e. one grid cannot share with another with risking complete failure of both).
2) Resume? When was the US a climate leader? The US is, and will always be, an energy hog. The country's infrastructure, city planning, and people are all wired to consume energy at rates higher than anywhere else in the world (per capita rates are 4-10x higher than India/ China).
3) We (I am in China) are already seeing barriers being hit. Coal, water, petroleum, and other industrial essentials (metals, plastic, etc) are all seeing shortages... and the curve is only getting steaper. At some point price inflation will reduce demand (we hope).
As for the US... I am not there.. but I have seen a lot of news about water rations, rice rations, and core inflationary pressure originating from higher corn prices, higher metal prices, etc.
If interested in more China analysis, check out www.allroadsleadtochina.com and www.china-crossroads.com. I am writing about business, corp responsibility, and sustainability on a daily basis. Many of the issues I cover will become important for those in sustainability, so I hope to see some treehuggers come by!
r
www.allroadsleadtochina.com
2)
Someone care to explain -dig- a little more? Should we be worried? Does this means that chinawide production comes to a silent halt?
with 1.5 BILLION people in china mabey they need to tkae a hard look at how sustainable there population is, furthermore how sustainable is the whole human population
if china slowsdown cuase shortages in the matierial that we consumerist americans depend on, ohh well. mabey we shouldent have put our selves into the position where all our jobs go over seas, or where our economy has become so dependant on the people of a monsterous govt.
China has been criticized for its over-zealous population planning, and now people think they need to do more? Though in a way I believe they do need to catch up with the times, with their population planning. The leverage doesn't seem as affective as it was a generation ago.
However, most of the world could learn a thing from the policies China was and may endeavor to do in the future. Not that I prescribe to copying them, just coming up with a brainstorm of ideas from what they have done.
Good questions for pondering....
Um, why is this not being reported anywhere else? Where's this information coming from?
Again, part of the solution, we need to control the population. Not just in China, but global. This is getting out of control.
to Barnaby..
Please thinks before you open your mouth. boycott Chinese goods will only hurt the poor in China. You think poor people care about the environment? When they don't have foods in their table because some uniform western hippie boycott their goods.
We care about the environment because we richer enough to have time in our hand to care for it. Boycott and making more poor people is not the solution. Next time please use your brain before you started spreading propaganda.
to Barnaby..
Please thinks before you open your mouth. boycott Chinese goods will only hurt the poor in China. You think poor people care about the environment? When they don't have foods in their table because some uniform western hippie boycott their goods.
We care about the environment because we richer enough to have time in our hand to care for it. Boycott and making more poor people is not the solution. Next time please use your brain before you started spreading propaganda.
Yes!
If the Chinese economy were to buckle, the US would flail for a while, but in my mind it'd come back (not necessarily "stronger" or "better") a lot more responsibly.
These are reserves of coal. Not their only energy source, just their cheapest. As coal becomes more scarce they will move to the next cheapest source like oil. Their economy will not grind to a halt, just their products will get incrementally more expensive.
Kent
www.ecounit.com
Ivan - boycotting goods will not do so much damage. I know this is quite a contentious issue.
However, the more we purchase those goods, the more we support the system that creates them. Suppose suddenly there was no demand for those goods. Yes, people would lose their jobs and factories would shut. But wouldn't that be a good thing? Maybe the mass exodus from the Chinese countryside would stop or at least slow down. Maybe people there would be more self-reliant for food supplies. Maybe people would go back to living within their means, as we once all did, not too long ago.
Also, perhaps boycotting has other implications, such as supporting goods made in your home country and the local workers who made them, or saying 'no' to transportation costs (environmental as well as economic), or saying 'no' to the chemicals used to make those goods.
I do not agree that those people should be dependent on foreigners purchasing their goods.
Wow. I've never actually 'felt' the depletion of natural resources, but this one really made me feel it. Inspiring and worrisome at the same time.
what will happen when they run out of coal? i was just wondering about that.
another thought: is this a reason china is stomping all over tibet? for their coal?
China is not running out of coal, and it has some of the largest reserves around. It is a matter of the transportation network not being able to keep up (ref - my comments above).