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Comment by tomhschmidt | Hacker News Reader

A lot of this pollution is just a remnant from when China's economy was still largely manufacturing-based. Now that this percentage is beginning to change, (mid 30s in mid 2000s down to high 20s now), the government seems earnest in their attempts to curb pollution.

See:

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-pollution-business-oppo...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/china-diesel-standa...

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Around Beijing, the problem is (1) use of coal as fuel with outdated poorly maintained energy producing equipment, (2) use of coal directly by peasants in the winter to keep warm (in Hebei), and (3) lots of cars with poor fuel quality (even if the emissions equipment is working, they aren't given the right quality of fuel). The solutions are quite simple: upgrade the equipment, get farmers to use natural gas for warming, and import the good black stuff from Saudi, not the cheap bad stuff (Sinopec is evil).

I prefer to blame 串儿 and excessive 中南海 smokers

Blaming the Chuan (outdoor BBQ) vendors is quite funny; I feel like the officials are trying to deflect blame for their black Audi's running on crappy fuel.

and with China's huge investments in Mongolian coal mines, it's not about to get much better any time soon :(

Depends on (a) the quality of the coal (chinese coal tends to be quite bad, American coal is much cleaner) and the quality of the emissions equipment in whatever is burning the coal (Chinese environment regulations are bad, plant owners tend to skim and use outdated equipment).

Compare to the US or Germany, where coal is still heavily used, but the environmental impact is much reduced.

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