If this story is true, it suggests the Chinese may be wiser than us. The AP is reporting:
China “may put an end to projects which are designed to produce petroleum by liquefying coal,” the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing an official of the country’s top economic planning agency…. “Liquefied coal projects consume a lot of energy, though the successful industrialization of liquefied coal could help reduce the country’s dependence on petroleum.”
China may be starting to place concerns about global warming — and the tremendous water requirements of coal-to-oil — above energy security and economic growth. That is big news.
A slightly different AP story suggests the Chinese have equally enlightened views about ethanol:
The State Council, China’s cabinet, has approved in principle a ‘long-term renewable energy development plan,’ which calls for restrictions on developing the two energy sources [ethanol and coal-to-oil] due to their environmental impact.
Food trumps fuel. The report said:
China’s grain stores should be focused on feeding its 1.3 bln people and crop lands should be reserved for food production, not energy production….
The renewable energy plan would restrict China’s ethanol industry to producing fuel from non-grain sources, such as grasses, corn stalks or other plant by-products….
Such wisdom is in short supply anywhere in the world — so let’s hope the story is the beginning of a real trend in China.
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