"BEIJING (AP) -- China is considering halting efforts to make oil from coal due to concerns about the expense and energy demands, a state news agency on Sunday quoted an official as saying." "China is hoping to ease its rising dependence on imported oil by promoting alternative energy sources such as oil-from-coal and solar, wind and nuclear power." "A report in April by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said use of liquid coal could lead to a 119 percent increase in greenhouse gases released per barrel of fuel if production and vehicle emissions were counted." "The Chinese government announced plans in March to invest $13 billion to build Asia's largest facility to make diesel fuel from coal." http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHI...-06-10-05-06-45
Very good news if true. Perhaps the Chinese will be the first to make liquid fuels via Fischer-Tropsch using atmospheric CO2 as raw material; it would be rather sad if they and not the West take the lead in environmentally sustainable energy development.
Oil discoveries in the South China Sea (or the Yellow Sea) may be the reason behind this. There's probably also a lot of concern over remaining coal reserves. The Chinese are probably burning through them pretty quickly given the rate at which their economy has grown over the last 20 years. Still, it is good news.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Jun 18 2007, 09:50 AM) [snapback]463958[/snapback]</div> I wouldn't worry about this. China is selling its "environmental" soul in its attempt to be the world's #1 economy.
