Journal article
Natural gas shortages during the "coal-to-gas" transition in China have caused a large redistribution of air pollution in winter 2017
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.117(49), pp.31018-31025
12/08/2020
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2007513117
PMID: 33229579
Abstract
The Chinese "coal-to-gas" and "coal-to-electricity" strategies aim at reducing dispersed coal consumption and related air pollution by promoting the use of clean and low-carbon fuels in northern China. Here, we show that on top of meteorological influences, the effective emission mitigation measures achieved an average decrease of fine particulate matter (PM
) concentrations of ∼14% in Beijing and surrounding areas (the "2+26" pilot cities) in winter 2017 compared to the same period of 2016, where the dispersed coal control measures contributed ∼60% of the total PM
reductions. However, the localized air quality improvement was accompanied by a contemporaneous ∼15% upsurge of PM
concentrations over large areas in southern China. We find that the pollution transfer that resulted from a shift in emissions was of a high likelihood caused by a natural gas shortage in the south due to the coal-to-gas transition in the north. The overall shortage of natural gas greatly jeopardized the air quality benefits of the coal-to-gas strategy in winter 2017 and reflects structural challenges and potential threats in China's clean-energy transition.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Natural gas shortages during the "coal-to-gas" transition in China have caused a large redistribution of air pollution in winter 2017
- Creators
- Siwen Wang - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, GermanyHang Su - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany; h.su@mpic.de yafang.cheng@mpic.deChuchu Chen - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, GermanyWei Tao - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, GermanyDavid G Streets - Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439Zifeng Lu - Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439Bo Zheng - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceGregory R Carmichael - Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242Jos Lelieveld - Atmospheric Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, GermanyUlrich Pöschl - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, GermanyYafang Cheng - Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.117(49), pp.31018-31025
- DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.2007513117
- PMID
- 33229579
- NLM abbreviation
- Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
- ISSN
- 0027-8424
- eISSN
- 1091-6490
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences; United States
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/08/2020
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering; Nursing; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984066331802771
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