How fighting smog also supports the renewable power industry
Smog is a huge issue when it comes to human health, dirty air can cause a large varied list of diseases and even death. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that air pollution is the cause of over 1.6 million deaths in China alone, and over 7 million worldwide. Those affected usually die of conditions such as stroke, heart disease, heart attacks, or lung diseases. What particularly is in the air? Well due to coal fires and exhausts from cars, the air is polluted with materials such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. With all these materials stagnating in the very same air that is being pumped in and out of our lungs, it makes sense why it would be so toxic.
Due to the scale of this issue, China has begun to implement methods to counter air pollution as well as methods to cut down on Carbon Dioxide emissions. Coincidentally, the government is also improving efforts for renewable energy, specifically solar power. This isn't all sunshine and rainbows, in fact, there's barely any sunshine at all, and that's the problem. Solar power sorta kinda requires the sun, it's in the name. Due to the amount of garbage in the air, solar radiation has difficulty reaching the panels.
This gives more reason for China to try and fight smog in the air. Beijing, in particular, is in serious need of a cleanup. Though this is easier said than done. In order to prove the importance of clean air for the energy industry, researchers from the Climate Policy group at ETH Zurich conducted a study to display this. Researchers calculated that China could provide 85 to 158 terawatt hours of additional electricity per year in the year 2040 with today's photovoltaic systems. The catch is that this output could only be produced if all emissions in the surrounding area were completely eliminated. The production would exceed all of Switzerland's power requirements by one third and would generate 10.1 billion US dollars. That's a lot of smackaroos.
Most governing bodies in larger countries seem to hate taking risks, which does make sense. But if they see those numbers, not just China, but potentially other superpowers might look at it and score interest in solar power and potentially even climate change. Other good news, when it came to eliminating the emissions, the researchers calculated in that the photovoltaic production could cover 13-17 percent of the air pollution control measures necessary to achieve the goal of no emissions.
Source:
“Fighting Smog Supports Solar Power.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 6 Dec. 2018, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181206115940.htm.
Due to the scale of this issue, China has begun to implement methods to counter air pollution as well as methods to cut down on Carbon Dioxide emissions. Coincidentally, the government is also improving efforts for renewable energy, specifically solar power. This isn't all sunshine and rainbows, in fact, there's barely any sunshine at all, and that's the problem. Solar power sorta kinda requires the sun, it's in the name. Due to the amount of garbage in the air, solar radiation has difficulty reaching the panels.
This gives more reason for China to try and fight smog in the air. Beijing, in particular, is in serious need of a cleanup. Though this is easier said than done. In order to prove the importance of clean air for the energy industry, researchers from the Climate Policy group at ETH Zurich conducted a study to display this. Researchers calculated that China could provide 85 to 158 terawatt hours of additional electricity per year in the year 2040 with today's photovoltaic systems. The catch is that this output could only be produced if all emissions in the surrounding area were completely eliminated. The production would exceed all of Switzerland's power requirements by one third and would generate 10.1 billion US dollars. That's a lot of smackaroos.
Most governing bodies in larger countries seem to hate taking risks, which does make sense. But if they see those numbers, not just China, but potentially other superpowers might look at it and score interest in solar power and potentially even climate change. Other good news, when it came to eliminating the emissions, the researchers calculated in that the photovoltaic production could cover 13-17 percent of the air pollution control measures necessary to achieve the goal of no emissions.
Source:
“Fighting Smog Supports Solar Power.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 6 Dec. 2018, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181206115940.htm.
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