A pie graph from China Daily used in http://blog.strategy4china.com/?cat=5 to illustrate the major causes of Beijings air pollution.
From the pie chart it can be seen that in Beijing the highest contributor to causing air pollution is car emissions, with dust and dirt, industrial emissions and energy consumption also adding to the problem.
Car emissions are the highest contributor to air pollution as a result of increased population and demand for transport. Over the last 15 years, car use has doubled from 16 million to 32 million and car emissions contributed carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, small dust particles and VOC to the ever increasing air pollution.
Another result of China’s development is the need for energy and electricity which is generated through the burning of coal and contributes to 20% of Beijing’s air pollution causes. Additionally from the earthtrends pie chart it can be seen that 74.2% of China’s power is obtained from coal China burns half of the world’s coal within all of its industries, resulting in high emission of sulphur dioxide.
http://earthtrends.wri.org/images/china_electricity.gif
Furthermore http://www.lenntech.com/ describes how industrial processes required for the production of goods demanded by the growing economy and population, contribute to 10% of Beijing’s air pollution, emit a variety of pollutants and are responsible for the emissions of sulphur dioxide, VOC, methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Overall it can be seen that numerous factors are adding to this never ending problem, therefore making the decrease and eradication of air pollution significantly hard. This eradication is hard as every aspect of China's industry and population is involved in some way so everyone will be impacted.
References:
blog.strategy4china.com/?cat=5. (2007) Pollution standards in China. www.blog.strategy4china.com/?cat=5. Viewed 11th March 2008
earthtrends.wri.org/images/china_electricity.gif. (2007) Beijing Temporarily Bans Cars in Bid to Reduce Air Pollution. Ward. C. www.earthtrends.wri.org/images/china/electricity.gif. Viewed 11th March 2008
lenntech.com/FAQ-air-pollution.htm. What causes air pollution. www.lenntech.com/FAQ-air-pollution.htm. Viewed 11th March 2008
