14 DAY TRIAL // By now, most people are all too familiar with the fact that China is battling a major air pollution crisis. In fact, some specialists claim that living conditions in this part of the world are not all that different to those one would expect to witness during a nuclear winter.
As reported on several occasions, China has not only its fleet but also its coal-fired power plants to thank for the fact that it is now pretty much drowning in smog and for the fact that people are sometimes forced to wear masks when leaving their homes.
The good news is that, according to recent media reports, the country is ready and willing to take steps towards improving on air quality across its territory. By the looks of it, this is to be achieved by investing in reforming China's energy production and consumption. Clean Techies informs that, during a recent meeting of the State Energy Commission, Premier Li Keqiang said that China was looking into the possibility to up its dependence on nuclear power. Specifically, it would appear that the country wishes to speed up the approval process for new nuclear facilities.
Should things go according to plan, China expects that it will give the thumbs up to nuclear projects whose combined energy generating capacity it one of 8.6 gigawatts this year. To put things into perspective, it must be said that, in 2013, the country only gave the green light to plans to build two nuclear reactors with an overall capacity of 2.1 gigawatts.
Apart from supporting the development of its nuclear power industry, China wishes to invest in hydropower stations and also get behind plans to harvest other green energy sources by means of wind and solar farms. “These energy projects can ensure stable economic growth and increase China's capability to safeguard energy security,” Premier Li Keqiang said in a statement.
Just for the record, it must be said that this country is not just now discovering the perks of harvesting renewables for energy production. On the contrary, it was last year that China installed a record 12 gigawatts of solar capacity and 16 gigawatts of wind capacity.
Apart from boosting nuclear power production and upping its dependence on renewables, the country hopes that it will manage to get its air pollution crisis under control by promoting the use of electric vehicles and by improving on the ecological footprint of coal plants whose emissions are not in accordance with existing requirements.