China and coal

Well, what do you know... It turns out that China is really doing something about its emissions.  We have been listening for a long time now about how China has become the world's leader in carbon emissions.  In this regard there are three typical excuses you hear from the Chinese, 1) we are manufacturing for the world, 2) we have lower per-capita emissions than other developed countries, 3) we are growing, we need to pollute before we can afford not to.  Great excuses! To be honest they do make sense to me, however I have always had the feeling that they are not enough.  It is not important.  It turns that China is really doing something about its emissions (yes, I said it again).  According to a recent article from the NY Times China is currently building 60% of its new coal power plants with high efficient less-pollutant technology than traditional coal power plants.  So China is the new leader in clean coal power plants.  I would have never guessed so.  I have always been concerned about the efforts of countries such as Denmark and Austrialia in regard of climate change, I mean... does it matter what they do if China keeps growing?  Now I now it does.  It is still not enough, but 60% of new power plants in China means one a month.  That is not bad, not at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/world/asia/11coal.html?_r=1&hp