Environmental Policies and Problems in Term Paper

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" (2007) Recommendations of this report include those as follows:

China should learn from the successes and failure of the U.S. And other developed countries in reducing the influence of energy use on air quality;

Continued dialogue and information exchange among U.S. And Chinese scientists and policy-makers should be promoted through professional organization, government support programs, and the National Academies in both countries to promote joint development of energy and pollution control strategies." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007)

Other findings of this report include the fact that "an important lesson learned is that air pollution damage imposes major economic costs, through premature mortality, increased sickness and lost productivity, as well as in decreased crops yields and economic impacts." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) Studies conducted in the United States have shown that "emission reduction programs provide much greater benefit than their costs." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) It is interesting to note that emission controls are generally not as expensive as first believed to implement and "appropriate programs can lead to economically efficient approaches for improving the environment, reducing costs further." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) It is stated that "control costs are not purely costs as they create opportunities..." such as the manufacture and sales of energy efficient pollution control equipment. Air pollution industries in the U.S. is said to have generated an additional $27 billion in revenues employment approximately 178,000 in 2001. (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007; paraphrased) Recommendations which arose from these findings include the recommendation that both the U.S. And China need to improve permitting policies and economic mechanisms that reflect the external costs of pollution that are being paid by others whether it be through adverse health effects and quality of life degradation and might include taxes high enough on emissions to make the adding of controls more attractive economically and rebates or subsidies are suggested as possible methods for encouraging higher efficiency as well as technologies of a renewable nature. (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007)

This study further states findings that concentration for SO2 and NO2 along with Pb of an excessive nature have experienced reductions in order to comply with the levels of health standards in the United States however, China is lagging behind and there are still to many areas in China "where these exceed ambient standards." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) Stated as recommendations are those as follows:

The U.S. And China should "adopt minimum standards based on healthful air quality, which may require revising currently accepted standards.

Greater efforts are needed to understand and educe emissions from local sources in China where these standards are exceeded. These efforts would include source apportionment and dispersion modeling studies to determine sour contributions, attainment studies to determine the need emissions reductions, engineering design studies to evaluate control alternatives, enforcements to assure that the controls are implemented, and monitoring at all emissions source and receptor to assure that the reductions are successful;

U.S. And China need to evaluate and redesign compliance monitoring networks to better understand these precursor gases and local vs. regional contributions to PM25 and O3;

Multiple complementary modeling and data analysis methods need to be applied in both countries to determine major contributors and to evaluate non-linearity in emission reduction efforts;

5) Regional emission caps currently in palace in both the U.S. And China should be reexamined as they may be insufficient to attain healthful ambient concentrations; and PM25 control should be emphasized over, but not at the expense of PM10 and O3 reductions.

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(Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007)

The findings of this report also states that the current pollution levels are the result of various uses of energy by various sectors locally and regionally and that the requirement is for all of the sectors to participate in solutions toward pollution reduction and prevention. The current emission records do not accurately represent the "...characteristics of Chinese sources, fuels and operating conditions." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) Limitations for control technology at the present are stated to be:

technical expertise; supply bottlenecks; financing; shortsighted economic decisions; and political opposition. (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007)

China does not yet understand or accept hybrid technologies however the media may serve in educating and popularizing these technologies "thus increasing dissemination and potentially decreasing political opposition." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007) Recommendations arising from these specific findings in the study are stated to be:

Emission inventories must continued to be improved in both countries, with greater effort placed on developing real-world emission factors that can be related to available data for areas and mobile sources;

Emission certification tests, while necessary to evaluate new engine and industrial design, do not well present real-world emission factors. Real-world testing methods are proven technology and should be more widely applied in the U.S. And China;

Fuel-based emissions provide a common basis for combustion emissions, are more easily related to available activity data and allow comparison among energy sectors;

Emission inventories need to be evaluated and verified by independent means, such as receptor modeling. Special events (e.g. wildfires, dust storms, holiday celebrations) need to be included in inventories related to the time an location of occurrence;

There has to be a participation in emission reductions from all sectors, not just major industries. Enforcement and monitoring, as well as incentives, are needed to assure that emission reductions are implemented and maintained;

Incremental improvements should be made where possible, even if the best emission reduction technology is unaffordable at the current time; and Governments must improve policy incentives to adopt specific control technologies. Policies requiring the implementation of pollution controls is a positive first step, but these policies must be developed in tandem with appropriate incentives to overcome financial or other barriers." (Committee on Energy Futures and Air Pollution in Urban China and the United State, Policy and Global Affairs, 2007)

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

It would appear that China's reliance on the United States has extended further than the need of modeling its country's economy upon many of the same principles that the United States formed during the industrial revolution as China now needs U.S. assistance and guidance in understanding, then accepting and finally implementing pollution control technology to meet policy standards in China and those set out in International laws. The rate of premature deaths in China from air pollution are shockingly high and it is clear that China must continue to address this problem and seek a solution and a reduction in air pollution in China......

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