David, I for one appreciate that you don't sugarcoat such developments, and call them as they are. Perhaps large scale Chinese development of CTL will hasten a climate catastrophe, and that maybe it will even be properly attributed to human-forced climate change. It would seem that only an awesomely destructive climate event will move the masses, and governments, to get serious about not killing ourselves.

And remember what Derrick Jensen said:

"We're f@#*%d, and life is really, really good."

If people can claim "carbon neutral" air travel, why can't China claim "carbon neutral" CTL?

China has an annual production capacity of 3.1 billion condoms and imports another 1.5 billion.

Assuming they could inflate the used ones to an average size of 10 liters, they would have an impressive 46 gigaliter capacity to store the unwanted CO2.

   It is not clear how many of these will actually get built, but generally you can expect China to try everything to meet it's growing demands for electricity.  And coal is readily available, so trying to find some way to use it is likely.

   Note that "the Chinese government has expressed concern about the possible environmental impact of uncontrolled expansion, and has taken steps to limit the number of smaller facilities."  So there are likely to be a limited number of these.

   Of course, the US continues to use coal and plans to develop such plants, and so do many other countries.  India is in the process (according to the article), and South Africa has several (and who knows, may build more).

   To change the situation, the developed countries need to use their wealth and technological knowhow to not only use green energy themselves, but to spread it to the developing countries at a price they can afford.

   Many of the developing countries are making efforts, but financial and technological constraints limit what they can do.  We can pick on them or find a way to lift everyone up.  The choice, and the ball, are still in the hands of the developed nations.

patrick in Beijing

I know Sasol has been looking for business in China.

Anyone know if this plant is any kind of co-operative deal w them?

The article doesn't say.

Cheers

Whiskerfish (in Africa)

Pike county Kentucky's and Mingo County WVA's gasification plants are still on the drawing board. Pike County being tied in with the Airforce alternative fuel program.

They look like scaled down versions of FutureGen, is this the new direction 15 or 20 smaller plants as opposed to one large one?

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

Wow...China is doing all the stuff you don't like (just like India) but yet you want the US to sign "international" agreements that don't include that two-fifths of the Earth's population.

This seems like good justification for holding out until Asia joins the Green movement.

Anyone wish to weigh in with an opinion on Underground Coal Gassification.  Could this be the route to cost effective coal use with carbon sequestration?