1.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
2.
Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen. A fossil fuel, coal forms when plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time, throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, the extraction of coal, its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, since 1983, the worlds top coal producer has been China. In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal –47. 7% of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production, in 2015 other large producers were United States, India, European Union and Australia. The word originally took the col in Old English, from Proto-Germanic *kula. In Old Turkic languages, kül is ash, cinders, öčür is quench, the compound charcoal in Turkic is öčür kül, literally quenched ashes, cinders, coals with elided anlaut ö- and inflection affixes -ülmüş. At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas, due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed, the temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation and this trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal, as coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization. The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, the exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae, in its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it able to retain. Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal, jet, a compact form of lignite, is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper Palaeolithic
3.
National Development and Reform Commission
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The candidate for the chairperson of the NDRC is nominated by the Premier of the Peoples Republic of China and approved by the National Peoples Congress. Since February 2017 the Commission has been headed by He Lifeng, the NDRCs functions are to study and formulate policies for economic and social development, maintain the balance of economic development, and to guide restructuring of Chinas economic system. The NDRC has twenty-six functional departments/bureaus/offices with an authorized staff size of 890 civil servants, the NDRC is a successor to the State Planning Commission, which had managed Chinas centrally planned economy since 1952. Since then the organization further shifted its policy from an economy to a socialist market economy. The restructured organization was merged into a newly created NDRC. Also, recently the NDRC has been placed in charge of Chinas strategic petroleum reserves, ma Kai, the Chairman of the NDRC served as the first chair of the committee. The committee is the arm of the Leading Group on Climate Change. The NDRC oversees the National Energy Administration ensures the states energy needs, NEA was established in August 2008, replacing the National Energy Bureau which attempted to reform China’s highly dispersed energy management
4.
Anthracite
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Anthracite is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, Anthracite is the most metamorphosed type of coal, in which the carbon content is between 92. 1% and 98%. The term is applied to varieties of coal which do not give off tarry or other hydrocarbon vapours when heated below their point of ignition. Anthracite ignites with difficulty and burns with a short, blue, Anthracite is categorized into standard grade, which is used mainly in power generation, and high grade and ultra high grade, the principal uses of which are in the metallurgy sector. Anthracite accounts for about 1% of global reserves, and is mined in only a few countries around the world. China accounts for the majority of production, other producers are Russia, Ukraine, North Korea, South Africa, Vietnam, the UK, Australia, Canada. Total production in 2010 was 670 million tons, Anthracite derives from the Greek anthrakítēs, literally coal-like. Other terms which refer to anthracite are black coal, hard coal, stone coal, dark coal, coffee coal, blind coal, Kilkenny coal, crow coal or craw coal, markets to distinguish it from its competitors. Culm has different meanings in British and American English, england, culm is the imperfect anthracite of north Devon and Cornwall, which was used as a pigment. The term is used to refer to the rock strata whose deposits are found in both Britain and in the Rhenish hill countries. Lastly, it may refer to coal exported from Britain during the 19th century, america, culm refers to the waste or slack from anthracite mining, mostly dust and small pieces not suitable for use in home furnaces. Anthracite is similar in appearance to the jet and is sometimes used as a jet imitation. Anthracite differs from ordinary bituminous coal by its hardness, its higher relative density of 1. 3–1.4, and luster. It contains a percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter. It is also free from included soft or fibrous notches and does not soil the fingers when rubbed, anthracitization is the transformation of bituminous coal into anthracite. The moisture content of fresh-mined anthracite generally is less than 15 percent, the heat content of anthracite ranges from 22 to 28 million Btu per short ton on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. The heat content of coal consumed in the United States averages 25 million Btu/ton, on the as-received basis. Since the 1980s, anthracite refuse or mine waste has been used for power generation in a form of recycling
5.
Lignite
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Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its low heat content. It has a carbon content around 60–70 percent and it is mined all around the world and is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation, but is also mined for its germanium content in China. The energy content of lignite ranges from 10 to 20 MJ/kg on a moist, the energy content of lignite consumed in the United States averages 15 MJ/kg, on the as-received basis. The energy content of lignite consumed in Victoria, Australia, averages 8.4 MJ/kg, lignite has a high content of volatile matter which makes it easier to convert into gas and liquid petroleum products than higher-ranking coals. Unfortunately, its moisture content and susceptibility to spontaneous combustion can cause problems in transportation. However, removing the moisture increases the cost of the final lignite fuel, because of its low energy density and typically high moisture content, brown coal is inefficient to transport and is not traded extensively on the world market compared with higher coal grades. It is often burned in power stations near the mines, such as in Australias Latrobe Valley, the operation of traditional brown-coal plants, particularly in combination with strip mining, can be politically contentious due to environmental concerns. An environmentally beneficial use of lignite can be found in its use in cultivation and distribution of biological control microbes that suppress plant disease causing microbes, lignite begins as an accumulation of partially decayed plant material, or peat. Burial by other sediments results in increasing temperature, depending on the geothermal gradient and tectonic setting. This causes compaction of the material and loss of some of the water and this process, called coalification, concentrates the carbon content, and thus the heat content, of the material. Deeper burial and the passage of time result in expulsion of moisture and volatile matter, eventually transforming the material into higher rank coals such as bituminous. Lignite deposits are younger than higher-ranked coals, with the majority of them having formed during the Tertiary period. The Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria, Australia, contains estimated reserves of some 65 billion tonnes of brown coal, the deposit is equivalent to 25 percent of known world reserves. The coal seams are up to 100 metres thick, with coal seams often giving virtually continuous brown coal thickness of up to 230 metres. Seams are covered by little overburden. Lignite can be separated into two types, the first is xyloid lignite or fossil wood and the second form is the compact lignite or perfect lignite. Although xyloid lignite may sometimes have the tenacity and the appearance of ordinary wood and it is reducible to a fine powder by trituration, and if submitted to the action of a weak solution of potash, it yields a considerable quantity of humic acid
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
8.
Metric tonne
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The SI symbol for the tonne is t, adopted at the same time as the unit itself in 1879. Its use is also official, for the metric ton, within the United States, having been adopted by the US National Institute of Standards and it is a symbol, not an abbreviation, and should not be followed by a period. Informal and non-approved symbols or abbreviations include T, mT, MT, in French and all English-speaking countries that are predominantly metric, tonne is the correct spelling. Before metrication in the UK the unit used for most purposes was the Imperial ton of 2,240 pounds avoirdupois, equivalent to 1,016 kg, differing by just 1. 6% from the tonne. Ton and tonne are both derived from a Germanic word in use in the North Sea area since the Middle Ages to designate a large cask. A full tun, standing about a high, could easily weigh a tonne. An English tun of wine weighs roughly a tonne,954 kg if full of water, in the United States, the unit was originally referred to using the French words millier or tonneau, but these terms are now obsolete. The Imperial and US customary units comparable to the tonne are both spelled ton in English, though they differ in mass, one tonne is equivalent to, Metric/SI,1 megagram. Equal to 1000000 grams or 1000 kilograms, megagram, Mg, is the official SI unit. Mg is distinct from mg, milligram, pounds, Exactly 1000/0. 453 592 37 lb, or approximately 2204.622622 lb. US/Short tons, Exactly 1/0. 907 184 74 short tons, or approximately 1.102311311 ST. One short ton is exactly 0.90718474 t, imperial/Long tons, Exactly 1/1. 016 046 9088 long tons, or approximately 0.9842065276 LT. One long ton is exactly 1.0160469088 t, for multiples of the tonne, it is more usual to speak of thousands or millions of tonnes. Kilotonne, megatonne, and gigatonne are more used for the energy of nuclear explosions and other events. When used in context, there is little need to distinguish between metric and other tons, and the unit is spelt either as ton or tonne with the relevant prefix attached. *The equivalent units columns use the short scale large-number naming system used in most English-language countries. †Values in the equivalent short and long tons columns are rounded to five significant figures, ǂThough non-standard, the symbol kt is also sometimes used for knot, a unit of speed for sea-going vessels, and should not be confused with kilotonne. A metric ton unit can mean 10 kilograms within metal trading and it traditionally referred to a metric ton of ore containing 1% of metal. In the case of uranium, the acronym MTU is sometimes considered to be metric ton of uranium, in the petroleum industry the tonne of oil equivalent is a unit of energy, the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil, approximately 42 GJ
9.
International Energy Agency
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The IEA acts as a policy adviser to its member states, but also works with non-member countries, especially China, India, and Russia. The Agencys mandate has broadened to focus on the 3Es of effectual energy policy, energy security, economic development, the latter has focused on mitigating climate change. The IEA has a role in promoting alternate energy sources, rational energy policies. IEA member countries are required to maintain total oil stock levels equivalent to at least 90 days of the previous years net imports, at the end of July 2009, IEA member countries held a combined stockpile of almost 4.3 billion barrels of oil. On 1 September 2015, Fatih Birol took office as the new Executive Director, succeeding in this position former Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, the IEA was established to meet the industrial countries energy organization needs in the wake of the 1973–1974 oil crisis. In addition, the OECD had adopted recommendations on oil stockpiling in Europe, but due to their limited scope, establishment of the new organization was proposed by United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in his address to the Pilgrims Society in London on 12 December 1973. In so doing they will build on the work of the OECD, however, the OECD has a rule of unanimity, and not all member states were ready to participate. Therefore, instead of an approach, an autonomous approach was chosen. The IEA was created on 18 November 1974 by the Agreement on an International Energy Program, in April 2001, the IEA, in collaboration with five other international organisations launched the Joint Oil Data Exercise, which in 2005 became the Joint Organisations Data Initiative. The reliability and sustainability of our energy system depends on investment. But this wont materialize unless there are credible policy frameworks in place as well as access to long-term sources of finance. Neither of these conditions should be taken for granted, van der Hoeven said in a statement accompanying the report, only the OECD member states can become members of the IEA. Except for Chile, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, and Slovenia, in 2014, Estonia joined the IEA and became its 29th member. In 2017, India joined as the associate member of IEA. According to an unidentified former senior IEA official it was imperative not to anger the Americans. The Guardian also referred to a team of scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden who studied the 2008 World Energy Outlook and concluded the forecasts of the IEA were unattainable. According to their report, oil production in 2030 would not exceed 75 million barrels per day while the IEA forecasts a production of 105 million barrels per day. The lead author of the report, Dr. Kjell Aleklett, has claimed that IEAs reports are political documents, in the past, the IEA has been criticized by environmental groups for underplaying the role of renewable energy technologies in favor of nuclear and fossil-fuels. In 2009, Guy Pearse stated that the IEA has consistently underestimated the potential for renewable energy alternatives, a 2008 EWG report compares IEA projections about the growth of wind power capacity and finds that it has consistently underestimated the amount of energy the wind power industry can deliver
10.
2008 Summer Olympics
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A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events. China became the 22nd nation to host the Olympic Games and the 18th to hold a Summer Olympic Games. It was the time that the Summer Olympic Games were held in East Asia and Asia, after Tokyo, Japan, in 1964 and Seoul, South Korea. Beijing was awarded the Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001, the Government of the Peoples Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues were used to host the events, the official logo of these Olympic Games, titled Dancing Beijing, refers to the host city by featuring a stylized calligraphic character jīng. The Games were the second most watched Olympics in history, attracting 4.7 billion viewers worldwide, there were 43 world records and 132 Olympic records set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. An unprecedented 86 countries won at least one medal during the Games, Chinese athletes won the most gold medals with 51, and with 100 medals in total became only the 7th different Olympic team to top an overall medal tally. The United States won the most total medals with 110, the games were deemed highly successful with the rising standard of competition among nations across the world. Beijing was elected as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics on 13 July 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, defeating bids from Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities had submitted bids to the IOC, after the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka received only six votes and was eliminated, in the second round, Beijing was supported by a majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds. Torontos bid was their 5th failure since 1960, the size of China, its increased enforcement of doping controls, and sympathy concerning its loss of the 2000 Summer Olympics to Sydney were all factors in the decision. Eight years earlier, Beijing had led every round of voting for the 2000 Summer Olympics before losing to Sydney by two votes in the final round. Human rights concerns expressed by Amnesty International and politicians in both Europe and the United States were considered by the delegates, according to IOC Executive Director François Carrard, Carrard and others suggested that the selection might lead to improvements in human rights in China. In addition, a number of IOC delegates who had formerly been athletes expressed concern about heat and air quality during the Games, China outlined plans to address these environmental concerns in its bid application. The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimates the outturn cost of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics at USD6.8 billion in 2015-dollars and this includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e. g. The Beijing Olympics cost of USD6.8 billion compares with costs of USD4.6 billion for Rio 2016, average cost for the Summer Games since 1960 is USD5.2 billion. They went on to claim that revenues from the Games would exceed the original target of $16 million
11.
Shenhua Group
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Shenhua Group Corporation Limited is a leading state-owned mining and energy company in the Peoples Republic of China. Shenhua Group was founded in October 1995 under the auspices of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and it is the largest coal-producing company in China. In 2014 Shenhua Group produced 437 million tonnes of coal and sold 588 million tonnes of coal, in 2014, Shenhua Group’s revenue was 328.6 billion yuan, and the company ranked 196th in the Global Fortune 500. The same year the Shenhua Group’s profit was 64 billion yuan, Shenhua Group is the largest coal producer in the PRC, operating both underground and open cut mines. In 2014, the company sold about 588 million tonnes of coal, Shenhua, like other coal producers in the PRC, is required to meet reclamation standards set by the government for its mining projects. In 2014, Shenhua invested a total of US$37 million in conservation of soil and water, for example, afforestation areas were expanded by over 25,000,000 square meters in 2014. Shenhua has recently highlighted its progress in implementing smart mining technologies to improve mining efficiency, in 2013 the company was awarded the World Coal Association Award for Leadership on Mining Safety. Shenhua also largely transports the coal it produces, for example, in 2014, the company transported coal on its railways at a rate of 224 billion tonnes·km. Shenhua also owns three ports and works with third party ports that were used to transport about 235.8 million tonnes of coal by sea in 2014, Shenhua’s total power output dispatch was 324.6 billion kWh in 2014, most of this electricity was generated using coal. The PRC’s standards for coal-fired power plants require emissions control technologies for particulate matter, sulfur oxides, therefore, emissions control equipment was necessary for all power plants operated by Shenhua. The company has completed the desulfurization retrofits to all of its power generators. Shenhua Guohua, one of Shenhua Group’s largest electricity-generating subsidiaries, has implemented a program to achieve near-zero emissions at its coal fired power plants. In essence, the company has committed to emissions of PM, SOx, the PRC standards for key areas are shown in the table below. Based on the PRC’s 12th Five-Year Plan, the proportion non-fossil installed electricity capacity in the country is being increased from 26. 7% in 2010 to 33% in 2015, as a large electricity producer, Shenhua is also transitioning its energy mix. The company currently holds more than 5 GW of renewable energy capacity and is the PRC’s sixth largest producer of electricity from wind. Shenhua is also working to expand its portfolio, with an announcement to possibly invest US$1.7 billion by the end of the decade to build wind farms in Australia. Because of its relatively small oil and gas reserves, compared to coal, the PRC is a leader in coal conversion to liquid fuels, synthetic natural gas, Shenhua owns and operates facilities that convert coal to products through indirect coal liquefaction and direct coal liquefaction. Shenhua’s direct liquefaction plant is the largest such facility in the world, in 2014 alone, the facility produced 900,000 tonnes of liquid fuels and products, including diesel, naphtha, and liquefied petroleum gas
12.
China National Coal Group
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It is engaged in coal production and sales, coal chemicals, coal mining equipment manufacturing, coal mine design and related engineering services. In 2009 the corporation was re-incorporated as a limited company, the group also acquired Shanxi Huayu Energy in the same year. China United Coalbed Methane, a joint venture of China Coal Group and PetroChina, at the same time PetroChina acquired some assets from China United Coalbed Methane. China Coal Group later sold China United Coalbed Methane to China National Offshore Oil Corporation in tranches from 2010 to 2014, China Coal Groups subsidiary, China Coal Energy, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2006 and the Shanghai Stock Exchange since 2008. As at 31 December 2015, China Coal Group owned Taiyuan Coal Gasification Group 35. 39% stake as the second largest shareholder, in 2014, China Coal Group promised to inject Heilongjiang Coal Chemical Group and Shanxi Huayu Energy to the listed company in order to avoid competition. However, as at 2016 they were remained in the portion of the group. Nevertheless Heilongjiang Coal Chemical Company, another company, was already under China Coal Energy, in 2016 Shanxi Huayu Energy delayed a week to pay off principal and interest in full for a bond. Coal power in China Official website
13.
Datong Coal Mining Group
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The Datong Coal Mining Group is a third-largest state-owned coal mining enterprise in China, after Shenhua Group and China Coal Group. It is located at Datong City, the second largest city in Shanxi Province which has the greatest coal deposits in China, formerly Datong Coal Mining Administration, it was established in 1949. In 2000, Datong Coal Mining Administration was reconstructed as Datong Coal Mine Group Company Limited and its subsidiary company, Datong Coal Industry, was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2006. In an effort to reduce overcapacity production, improve recycling of resources and achieve green development, the company began developing a circular economy approach in Datong
14.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
15.
Hailar District
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Hailar District is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its size, is a city in administrative terms only, being mainly grassland. Hailar, therefore, is a de facto city, Hailar can also refer to the urban area around the Hailar district, with Hulunbuir being the wider geographical region that contains the urban area. Long known as the Pearl of the Grasslands, Hailar acts as a gateway between China and Russia, the district has an estimated population of 256,000, and serves as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and transportation. Hailar was founded as a Chinese fort in 1734, and during the administration of the Republic of China it was the city of Xingan Province. It is now a centre of production on the Chinese Eastern RR. Once known as Hulun, Hailar today is a small but thriving modern industrial city of around 300,000. When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, Hailar was the scene of a struggle in the wider campaign to push Japanese forces out of Manchuria and northeast China. Hailar Dongshan Airport serves the city, with flights to Beijing and Shenyang amongst others, hailars railway station is the penultimate major station before Manzhouli, the port city that stands close to the Russian border. It is on the famous Manchuria branch of the Trans-Siberian express route, trains to Harbin take about 12 hours, and 27 to Beijing. Hailar has a frequent series of buses that cover the town, Hailar has a humid continental climate bordering on a subarctic climate. Winters are long, very dry and severe, due to the semi−permanent Siberian High, while summers are short, though very warm, and rather wet, due to the East Asian monsoon. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −25.1 °C in January to 20.0 °C in July, with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 55% in December to 69% in February, sunshine is abundant year-round, and the annual total is 2,719 hours. Approximately 70% of the rainfall occurs during the three summer months. The Mohe-Huma-Hailar triangle between northern Heilongjiang and Northeastern Inner Mongolia, which almost equivalent to Chinas subarctic climate zone, hailars extreme temperatures ranges from -48.2 °C to 37.7 °C. Hailar is discernibly an ethnic minority town with a strong Han contingent, as such, signs are usually bi-lingual and Mongolian influence pervades in songs played on shop CD players, domes on buildings and the chitter chatter of some locals. As is the case with any Northern Chinese city, cultural facilities differ from those in the West, on the other hand, it does have many KTVs dotted about the town, including one luxurious one in the Yes-Se Nightclub, a new black building. Composer Vladimir Ussachevsky was born in Hailar, Unit 543 Unit 2646 Hailar at Encyclopædia Britannica Official website of Hailar District Government Post codes of Inner Mongolia
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Inner Mongolia
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Its capital is Hohhot, and other major cities include Baotou, Chifeng, and Ordos. It is the third largest subdivision of China, spanning approximately 1,200,000 km2 or 12% of Chinas total land area and it recorded a population of 24,706,321 in the 2010 census, accounting for 1. 84% of Mainland Chinas total population. Inner Mongolia is the countrys 23rd most populous province-level division, the majority of the population in the region is Han Chinese, with a sizeable titular Mongol minority. In Chinese, the region is known as Inner Mongolia, where the terms of Inner/Outer are derived from Manchu dorgi/tulergi. The term Inner 内 referred to the Nei Fan 内番, i. e. those descendants of Genghis Khan who granted the title khan in Ming and Qing Dynasties and lived in part of southern part of Mongolia. In recent years, some Mongols began to call Inner Mongolia Nan Menggu, literally South Mongolia, much of what is known about the history of Greater Mongolia, including Inner Mongolia, is known through Chinese chronicles and historians. Slab Grave cultural monuments are found in northern, central and eastern Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, north-western China, Mongolian scholars prove that this culture related to the Proto-Mongols. During the Zhou Dynasty, central and western Inner Mongolia were inhabited by peoples such as the Loufan, Linhu. During the Warring States period, King Wuling of the state of Zhao based in what is now Hebei, after destroying the Dí state of Zhongshan in what is now Hebei province, he defeated the Linhu and Loufan and created the commandery of Yunzhong near modern Hohhot. King Wuling of Zhao also built a long wall stretching through the Hetao region and he also maintained two commanderies in the region, Jiuyuan and Yunzhong, and moved 30,000 households there to solidify the region. After the Qin Dynasty collapsed in 206 BC, these efforts were abandoned, during the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu sent the general Wei Qing to reconquer the Hetao region from the Xiongnu in 127 BC. After the conquest, Emperor Wu continued the policy of building settlements in Hetao to defend against the Xiong-Nu, in that same year he established the commanderies of Shuofang and Wuyuan in Hetao. At the same time, what is now eastern Inner Mongolia was controlled by the Xianbei, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xiongnu who surrendered to the Han Dynasty began to be settled in Hetao, and intermingled with the Han immigrants in the area. Hetao was then taken over by the Khitan Empire, founded by the Khitans and they were followed by the Western Xia of the Tanguts, who took control of what is now the western part of Inner Mongolia. The Khitans were later replaced by the Jurchens, precursors to the modern Manchus, after Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and founded the Mongol Empire, the Tangut Western Xia empire was ultimately conquered in 1227, and the Jurchen Jin dynasty fell in 1234. In 1271, Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan established the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khans summer capital Shangdu was located near present-day Dolonnor. During that time Ongud and Khunggirad peoples dominated the area of what is now Inner Mongolia, after the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the Han-led Ming dynasty in 1368, the Ming captured parts of Inner Mongolia including Shangdu and Yingchang. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall of China at its present location, the Ming established the Three Guards composed of the Mongols there
17.
China National Highway 110
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China National Highway 110 runs from Beijing to Yinchuan, via Hohhot and Baotou, in Inner Mongolia. It heads northwest from Beijing to Zhangjiakou then heads straight west, in October 2004 and November 2004, it was overwhelmed with traffic diverted from the Jingzhang Expressway, occurring as a result of a massive traffic jam on the expressway. In a related incident in August 2010, a 100-km traffic jam occurred on this route, rail lines are under construction which would relieve the bottleneck but will not be completed until 2012 at the earliest
18.
Energy policy of China
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The energy policy of China is a policy decided on by the Central Government with regard to energy and energy resources. Ensuring adequate energy supply to sustain economic growth has been a concern of the Chinese government since 1949. The country is currently the worlds largest emitter of greenhouse gases according to a Dutch research agency, however, Chinas per capita emissions are still far behind the developed countries. In addition, China is the leading renewable energy producer. From 2010 to 2015 China reduced energy consumption per unit of GDP by 18%, primary energy use in China was 26,250 TWh and 20 TWh per million persons in 2009. According to IEA the primary energy use grew 40% and electricity use 70% from 2004 to 2009, the energy import was three times bigger in 2009 compared to 2004. The share of energy import of the energy use was 12% in 2009. The CO2 emissions growth in five years was 44%, the agency calculated that China’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuels increased by 9% in 2006, while those of the United States fell by 1. 4%, compared to 2005. In 2002, China ranked 2nd in the list of countries by carbon emissions, with emissions of 3.3 billion metric tons. However, due to its population size, it only ranked 43 in the list of countries by carbon dioxide emissions per capita. In addition, it has estimated that around a third of Chinas carbon emissions in 2005 were due to manufacturing exported goods. Since 2006, China has overtaken the USA, producing 8% more emissions than the US to become the worlds biggest emitter of pollution. In the industrial sector, six industries – electricity generation, steel, non-ferrous metals, construction materials, oil processing, in the construction materials sector, China produced about 44% of the worlds cement in 2006. Cement production produces more carbon emissions than any other industrial process, other commentators, however, put the figure at 0.950 billion metric tons. More demanding targets were set for the most developed regions and those with most heavy industry, including Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, China also plans to meet 11. 4% of its primary energy requirements from non-fossil sources by 2015. In addition, the Government will in future include data on emissions in its official statistics. The development follows an unsuccessful experiment with voluntary carbon exchanges that was set up in 2009 in Beijing, Shanghai, Coal is the major source of energy in China. In 2011, according to the IEA, Chinese coal production was equivalent to 3,576 Mt*0.522 toe/Mt*11.630 TWh/toe =21,709 TWh, assuming the same caloric value for the imported coal, the net coal energy available would be 22,784 TWh
19.
Electricity sector in China
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Chinas electric power industry is the worlds largest electricity consumer, passing the United States in 2011 after rapid growth since the early 1990s. Most of the electricity comes from coal which accounted for an estimated 73% of domestic electricity production in 2014, coal-fired electricity production has declined since 2013 coinciding with a major boom in renewable energy. China currently lacks a national grid. There are currently 6 wide area synchronous grids, the lack of a single grid frequently creates power shortages. China has abundant energy with the worlds third-largest coal reserves and massive hydroelectric resources, in April 1996, an Electric Power Law was implemented, a major event in Chinas electric power industry. The law set out to promote the development of the power industry, to protect legal rights of investors, managers and consumers. Before 1994 electricity supply was managed by electric power bureaus of the provincial governments, now utilities are managed by corporations outside of the government administration structure. To end the State Power Corporations monopoly of the industry, Chinas State Council dismantled the corporation in December 2002. SPC had owned 46% of the electrical generation assets and 90% of the electrical supply assets. The smaller companies include two electric power grid operators, five power generation companies and four relevant business companies. Each of the five power generation companies owns less than 20% of Chinas market share for electric power generation. Ongoing reforms aim to separate plants from power-supply networks, privatize a significant amount of state-owned property, encourage competition. It is expected that the electric power companies will be divided into electric power generating. A policy of competition between the different generators will be implemented in the next years, northern and north-eastern Chinas older industrial base has fallen behind, remains focused on the domestic economy and has suffered relative decline. In recent history, Chinas power industry is characterized by fast growth, in Spring,2011, it was reported by The New York Times that due to increased demand and price controls shortages of electricity existed and power outages should be anticipated. The government-regulated price electricity could be sold for had not matched rising prices for coal, price caps encourage wasteful use of cheap electricity and therefore producers are struggling to generate enough power. It seems likely the cost of power will need to substantially over the medium term to curb wasteful energy consumption. In theory, the government could raise power costs by a similar amount across the whole of China in the interests of inter-regional equity, Chinas power transmission system remains under-developed
20.
State Grid Corporation of China
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State Grid Corporation of China is the largest electric utility company in the world. It is state-owned and transmits and distributes power in China and in overseas markets, the power distributor is headquartered in Xicheng District, Beijing and manages distribution from four regional subsidiaries. The company is the second largest in the according to the 2016 Fortune Global 500 ranking. It has 1.9 million employees,1.1 billion customers, China began an initiative to reform the countrys power sector in a three-stage process in 1986. The two grid companies created were the State Grid Corporation of China and a smaller China Southern Power Grid Company, at its creation, the company had a generation capacity of 6.47 gigawatts. In 2003 and progressively so through the early 2000s, electrical shortages caused the government to institute rolling blackouts, the State Grid Corporation estimated there were 1 trillion yuan in losses from 2002 to 2005. The State Grid Corporation of China ran the first 1, 000-kilovolt alternating current power line between Northern Shanxi and center Hubei in January 2009, in 2012 it began operation of an 800-kilovolt direct current line that sends hydropower from western Sichuan to Shanghai. It also has a current loop line in the Yangtze river delta. The State Grid Corporation was involved in a multi-phase smart-grid project for Chinas electrical grid planned for 2011-2015, Chinas smart grid efforts are different from those in the US in that its plans heavily use ultra high voltage lines. Several UHV construction projects began in 2012 to bring UHV power lines across Huainan, Wannan, by 2015, the company plans to have three more horizontal UHV lines through West Inner Mongolia to Weifang, from Central Shanxi-Xuzhou to Yaan-southern Anhui and 11 other lines by 2015. In 2012 the company invested in CDP Reti, there have been several reports of corruption amongst a number of senior officials at the State Grid Corporation of China, with allegations of graft made. A number of officials have stepped down as result. In 2010, the company is about to invest US$11 billion in the Sarawak, in Australia, State Grid owns a 41% stake in ElectraNet, a 19. 9% stake in AusNet Services, and 60% stake in Jemena. State Grid Yingda Group Yingda International Trust China Southern Power Grid Company China Datang Corporation List of companies of China Official website Official website
21.
Gigawatt
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The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units defined as 1 joule per second and can be used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. Power has dimensions of M L2 T −3, when an objects velocity is held constant at one meter per second against constant opposing force of one newton the rate at which work is done is 1 watt. 1 W =1 V ⋅ A Two additional unit conversions for watt can be using the above equation. 1 W =1 V2 Ω =1 A2 ⋅ Ω Where ohm is the SI derived unit of electrical resistance, a person having a mass of 100 kilograms who climbs a 3-meter-high ladder in 5 seconds is doing work at a rate of about 600 watts. Mass times acceleration due to gravity times height divided by the time it takes to lift the object to the given height gives the rate of doing work or power. A laborer over the course of an 8-hour day can sustain an output of about 75 watts, higher power levels can be achieved for short intervals. The watt is named after the Scottish scientist James Watt for his contributions to the development of the steam engine, in 1960 the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures adopted it for the measurement of power into the International System of Units. For additional examples of magnitude for multiples and submultiples of the watt, technologically important powers that are measured in femtowatts are typically found in reference to radio and radar receivers. For example, meaningful FM tuner performance figures for sensitivity, quieting and these input levels are often stated in dBf. This is 0.2739 microvolt across a 75-ohm load or 0.5477 microvolt across a 300-ohm load, the picowatt is equal to one trillionth of a watt. Technologically important powers that are measured in picowatts are typically used in reference to radio and radar receivers, acoustics, the nanowatt is equal to one billionth of a watt. Important powers that are measured in nanowatts are also used in reference to radio. The microwatt is equal to one millionth of a watt, compact solar cells for devices such as calculators and watches are typically measured in microwatts. The milliwatt is equal to one thousandth of a watt, a typical laser pointer outputs about five milliwatts of light power, whereas a typical hearing aid for people uses less than one milliwatt. Audio signals and other electronic signal levels are measured in dBm. The kilowatt is equal to one thousand watts and this unit is typically used to express the output power of engines and the power of electric motors, tools, machines, and heaters. It is also a unit used to express the electromagnetic power output of broadcast radio. One kilowatt is equal to 1.34 horsepower
22.
Coal gasification
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Coal gasification is the process of producing syngas–a mixture consisting primarily of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor –from coal and water, air and/or oxygen. The hydrogen obtained from gasification can be used for various purposes such as making ammonia, powering a hydrogen economy. Methane from coal gasification can be converted into LNG for use as a fuel in the transport sector, in the past, coal was converted to make coal gas, which was piped to customers to burn for illumination, heating, and cooking. High prices of oil and natural gas are leading to increased interest in BTU Conversion technologies such as gasification, methanation and liquefaction, the Synthetic Fuels Corporation was a U. S. government-funded corporation established in 1980 to create a market for alternatives to imported fossil fuels. The corporation was discontinued in 1985, similar experiments were carried out in 1681 by Johann Becker of Munich and in 1684 by John Clayton of Wigan, England. The latter called it Spirit of the Coal, William Murdoch discovered new ways of making, purifying and storing gas. In France, Philippe le Bon patented a gas fire in 1799, in 1816, Rembrandt Peale and four others established the Gas Light Company of Baltimore, the first manufactured gas company in America. In 1821, natural gas was being used commercially in Fredonia, the first German gas works was built in Hannover in 1825 and by 1870 there were 340 gas works in Germany making town gas from coal, wood, peat and other materials. The foreman told me that stokers were selected from among the strongest and that explained the sadness and apathy in the faces and every movement of the hapless men. The first public piped gas supply was to 13 gas lamps, the credit for this goes to the inventor and entrepreneur Fredrick Winsor and the plumber Thomas Sugg, who made and laid the pipes. Digging up streets to lay pipes required legislation and this delayed the development of street lighting, meanwhile, William Murdoch and his pupil Samuel Clegg were installing gas lighting in factories and work places, encountering no such impediments. In the 1850s every small to medium-sized town and city had a gas plant to provide for street lighting, subscribing customers could also have piped lines to their houses. By this era, gas lighting became accepted, gaslight trickled down to the middle class and later came gas cookers and stoves. The 1860s were the age of coal gas development. Scientists like Kekulé and Perkin cracked the secrets of organic chemistry to reveal how gas is made, from this came better gas plants and Perkins purple dyes, such as Mauveine. In the 1850s, processes for making Producer gas and Water gas from coke were developed, unenriched water gas may be described as Blue water gas. Mond gas, developed in the 1850s by Ludwig Mond, was producer gas made from coal instead of coke and it contained ammonia and coal tar and was processed to recover these valuable compounds. Blue water gas burns with a flame which makes it unsuitable for lighting purposes
23.
Integrated gasification combined cycle
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An integrated gasification combined cycle is a technology that uses a high pressure gasifier to turn coal and other carbon based fuels into pressurized gas—synthesis gas. It can then remove impurities from the prior to the power generation cycle. Some of these pollutants, such as sulfur, can be turned into re-usable byproducts through the Claus process and this results in lower emissions of sulfur dioxide, particulates, mercury, and in some cases carbon dioxide. With additional process equipment, a water-gas shift reaction can increase gasification efficiency, the resulting carbon dioxide from the shift reaction can be separated, compressed, and stored through sequestration. Excess heat from the combustion and syngas fired generation is then passed to a steam cycle. This process results in improved thermodynamic efficiency compared to pulverized coal combustion. Coal can be found in abundance in the USA and many other countries, of the traditional fossil fuels - oil, coal, and natural gas - coal is used as a feedstock for 40% of global electricity generation. Fossil fuel consumption and its contribution to large-scale, detrimental environmental changes is becoming a pressing issue, in particular, coal contains more CO2 per BTU than oil or natural gas and is responsible for 43% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. Thus, the emissions that IGCC technology allows through gasification and pre-combustion carbon capture is crucial to addressing aforementioned concerns. In this example the syngas produced is used as fuel in a gas turbine which produces electrical power, in a normal combined cycle, so-called waste heat from the gas turbine exhaust is used in a Heat Recovery Steam Generator to make steam for the steam turbine cycle. An IGCC plant improves the process efficiency by adding the higher-temperature steam produced by the gasification process to the steam turbine cycle. This steam is used in steam turbines to produce additional electrical power. IGCC plants are advantageous in comparison to conventional power plants due to their high thermal efficiency, low non-carbon greenhouse gas emissions. The key disadvantage is the amount of CO2 released without pre-combustion capture, the solid coal is gasified to produce syngas, or synthetic gas. Syngas is synthesized by gasifying coal in a closed pressurized reactor with a shortage of oxygen, the shortage of oxygen ensures that coal is broken down by the heat and pressure as opposed to burning completely. The chemical reaction between coal and oxygen produces a product that is a mixture of carbon and hydrogen, or syngas. CxHy + O2 → CO2 + H2 The heat from the production of syngas is used to steam from cooling water which is then used for steam turbine electricity production. The syngas must go through a separation process to remove CO2
24.
Indoor air quality
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Indoor air quality is a term which refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. IAQ can be affected by gases, particulates, microbial contaminants, source control, filtration and the use of ventilation to dilute contaminants are the primary methods for improving indoor air quality in most buildings. Residential units can further improve air quality by routine cleaning of carpets. Determination of IAQ involves the collection of air samples, monitoring human exposure to pollutants, collection of samples on building surfaces, IAQ is part of indoor environmental quality, which includes IAQ as well as other physical and psychological aspects of life indoors. Indoor air pollution in developing nations is a health hazard. A major source of air pollution in developing countries is the burning of biomass for heating and cooking. The resulting exposure to high levels of particulate matter resulted in between 1.5 million and 2 million deaths in 2000, second-hand smoke is tobacco smoke which affects other people other than the active smoker. The only certain method to improve air quality as regards second-hand smoke is the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free laws. Radon is an invisible, radioactive gas that results from the radioactive decay of radium. Radon is probably the most pervasive serious hazard for air in the United States and Europe. There are relatively simple test kits for do-it-yourself radon gas testing, radon gas enters buildings as a soil gas and is a heavy gas and thus will tend to accumulate at the lowest level. Radon may also be introduced into a building through drinking water particularly from bathroom showers, the half life for radon is 3.8 days, indicating that once the source is removed, the hazard will be greatly reduced within a few weeks. Radon mitigation methods include sealing concrete slab floors, basement foundations, water drainage systems and they are usually cost effective and can greatly reduce or even eliminate the contamination and the associated health risks. Mold is always associated with moisture, and its growth can be inhibited by keeping humidity levels below 50%, in areas where cellulosic materials become moist and fail to dry within 48 hours, mold mildew can propagate and release allergenic spores into the air. In many cases, if materials have failed to dry out several days after the suspected water event, through a mold investigation, which may include destructive inspection, one should be able to determine the presence or absence of mold. In a situation there is visible mold and the indoor air quality may have been compromised. There are some varieties of mold that contain toxic compounds, however, exposure to hazardous levels of mycotoxin via inhalation is not possible in most cases, as toxins are produced by the fungal body and are not at significant levels in the released spores. The primary hazard of mold growth, as it relates to air quality
25.
Arsenic
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Arsenic is a chemical element with symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals. It has various allotropes, but only the form is important to industry. The primary use of arsenic is in alloys of lead. Arsenic is a common dopant in semiconductor electronic devices. Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, a few species of bacteria are able to use arsenic compounds as respiratory metabolites. Trace quantities of arsenic are a dietary element in rats, hamsters, goats, chickens. However, arsenic poisoning occurs in multicellular life if quantities are larger than needed, Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem that affects millions of people across the world. The three most common allotropes are metallic gray, yellow, and black arsenic, with gray being the most common. Gray arsenic adopts a structure consisting of many interlocked, ruffled, six-membered rings. Because of weak bonding between the layers, gray arsenic is brittle and has a relatively low Mohs hardness of 3.5. Nearest and next-nearest neighbors form an octahedral complex, with the three atoms in the same double-layer being slightly closer than the three atoms in the next. This relatively close packing leads to a density of 5.73 g/cm3. Gray arsenic is a semimetal, but becomes a semiconductor with a bandgap of 1. 2–1.4 eV if amorphized, gray arsenic is also the most stable form. Yellow arsenic is soft and waxy, and somewhat similar to tetraphosphorus, both have four atoms arranged in a tetrahedral structure in which each atom is bound to each of the other three atoms by a single bond. This unstable allotrope, being molecular, is the most volatile, least dense, solid yellow arsenic is produced by rapid cooling of arsenic vapor, As 4. It is rapidly transformed into gray arsenic by light, the yellow form has a density of 1.97 g/cm3. Black arsenic is similar in structure to red phosphorus, black arsenic can also be formed by cooling vapor at around 100–220 °C
26.
Fluorine
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Fluorine is a chemical element with symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists as a highly toxic pale yellow diatomic gas at standard conditions, as the most electronegative element, it is extremely reactive, almost all other elements, including some noble gases, form compounds with fluorine. Among the elements, fluorine ranks 24th in universal abundance and 13th in terrestrial abundance, proposed as an element in 1810, fluorine proved difficult and dangerous to separate from its compounds, and several early experimenters died or sustained injuries from their attempts. Only in 1886 did French chemist Henri Moissan isolate elemental fluorine using low-temperature electrolysis, industrial production of fluorine gas for uranium enrichment, its largest application, began during the Manhattan Project in World War II. Owing to the expense of refining pure fluorine, most commercial applications use fluorine compounds, the rest of the fluorite is converted into corrosive hydrogen fluoride en route to various organic fluorides, or into cryolite which plays a key role in aluminium refining. Organic fluorides have very high chemical and thermal stability, their uses are as refrigerants, electrical insulation and cookware. Pharmaceuticals such as atorvastatin and fluoxetine also contain fluorine, and the fluoride ion inhibits dental cavities, global fluorochemical sales amount to more than US$15 billion a year. Fluorocarbon gases are generally greenhouse gases with global-warming potentials 100 to 20,000 times that of carbon dioxide, organofluorine compounds persist in the environment due to the strength of the carbon–fluorine bond. Fluorine has no metabolic role in mammals, a few plants synthesize organofluorine poisons that deter herbivores. Fluorine atoms have nine electrons, one fewer than neon, and electron configuration 1s22s22p5, the outer electrons are ineffective at nuclear shielding, and experience a high effective nuclear charge of 9 −2 =7, this affects the atoms physical properties. Fluorines first ionization energy is third-highest among all elements, behind helium and neon and it also has a high electron affinity, second only to chlorine, and tends to capture an electron to become isoelectronic with the noble gas neon, it has the highest electronegativity of any element. Fluorine atoms have a small covalent radius of around 60 picometers, similar to those of its period neighbors oxygen, conversely, bonds to other atoms are very strong because of fluorines high electronegativity. Unreactive substances like powdered steel, glass fragments, and asbestos fibers react quickly with cold fluorine gas, wood, reactions of elemental fluorine with metals require varying conditions. Some solid nonmetals react vigorously in liquid air temperature fluorine, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide combine readily with fluorine, the latter sometimes explosively, sulfuric acid exhibits much less activity, requiring elevated temperatures. Hydrogen, like some of the metals, reacts explosively with fluorine. Carbon, as black, reacts at room temperature to yield fluoromethane. Graphite combines with fluorine above 400 °C to produce non-stoichiometric carbon monofluoride, higher temperatures generate gaseous fluorocarbons, heavier halogens react readily with fluorine as does the noble gas radon, of the other noble gases, only xenon and krypton react, and only under special conditions. At room temperature, fluorine is a gas of diatomic molecules and it has a characteristic pungent odor detectable at 20 ppb
27.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons—organic compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen—that are composed of multiple aromatic rings. Formally, the class is defined as lacking further branching substituents on these ring structures. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are a subset of PAHs that have fused aromatic rings, the simplest such chemicals are naphthalene, having two aromatic rings, and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. PAHs are neutral, nonpolar molecules found in coal and in tar deposits and they are produced as well by incomplete combustion of organic matter. The tricyclic species phenanthrene and anthracene represent the members of the PAHs. Smaller molecules, such as benzene, are not PAHs, PAHs with five or six-membered rings are most common. Those composed only of six-membered rings are called alternant PAHs, which include benzenoid PAHs, the following are examples of PAHs that vary in the number and arrangement of their rings, Examples of PAH compounds PAHs are nonpolar and lipophilic. Larger PAHs are generally insoluble in water, while some PAHs are soluble, the larger members are also poorly soluble in organic solvents as well as lipids. Although PAHs clearly are aromatic compounds, the degree of aromaticity can be different for each ring segment, according to Clars rule for PAHs the resonance structure with the largest number of disjoint aromatic п-sextets—i. e. Benzene-like moieties—is the most important for the characterization of the properties, in contrast, in anthracene the resonance structures have one sextet, which can be at any of the three rings, and the aromaticity spreads out more evenly across the whole molecule. Three Clar structures with two each are present in chrysene. Superposition of these reveals that the aromaticity in the outer rings is greater compared to the inner rings. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are found in natural sources such as creosote. They can result from the combustion of organic matter. PAHs can also be produced geologically when organic sediments are transformed into fossil fuels such as oil. Wild fires are another notable source, substantially higher outdoor air, soil, and water concentrations of PAHs have been measured in Asia, Africa, and Latin America than in Europe, Australia, and the U. S. /Canada. PAHs are typically found as complex mixtures, most PAHs are insoluble in water, which limits their mobility in the environment. Aqueous solubility of PAHs decreases approximately logarithmically as molecular mass increases, two-ring PAHs, and to a lesser extent three-ring PAHs, dissolve in water, making them more available for biological uptake and degradation
28.
Mercury (element)
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Mercury is a chemical element with symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is commonly known as quicksilver and was formerly named hydrargyrum, Mercury occurs in deposits throughout the world mostly as cinnabar. The red pigment vermilion is obtained by grinding natural cinnabar or synthetic mercuric sulfide, likewise, mechanical pressure gauges and electronic strain gauge sensors have replaced mercury sphygmomanometers. Mercury remains in use in research applications and in amalgam for dental restoration in some locales. It is used in fluorescent lighting, electricity passed through mercury vapor in a fluorescent lamp produces short-wave ultraviolet light which then causes the phosphor in the tube to fluoresce, making visible light. Mercury poisoning can result from exposure to water-soluble forms of mercury, Mercury is a heavy, silvery-white liquid metal. Compared to other metals, it is a conductor of heat. It has a point of −38.83 °C and a boiling point of 356.73 °C. Upon freezing, the volume of mercury decreases by 3. 59%, the coefficient of volume expansion is 181.59 × 10−6 at 0 °C,181.71 × 10−6 at 20 °C and 182.50 × 10−6 at 100 °C. Solid mercury is malleable and ductile and can be cut with a knife, because this configuration strongly resists removal of an electron, mercury behaves similarly to noble gases, which form weak bonds and hence melt at low temperatures. The stability of the 6s shell is due to the presence of a filled 4f shell, an f shell poorly screens the nuclear charge that increases the attractive Coulomb interaction of the 6s shell and the nucleus. Like silver, mercury reacts with hydrogen sulfide. Mercury reacts with solid sulfur flakes, which are used in mercury spill kits to absorb mercury, Mercury dissolves many other metals such as gold and silver to form amalgams. Iron is an exception, and iron flasks have traditionally used to trade mercury. Several other first row transition metals with the exception of manganese, copper, other elements that do not readily form amalgams with mercury include platinum. Sodium amalgam is a reducing agent in organic synthesis, and is also used in high-pressure sodium lamps. Mercury readily combines with aluminium to form a mercury-aluminium amalgam when the two pure metals come into contact, since the amalgam destroys the aluminium oxide layer which protects metallic aluminium from oxidizing in-depth, even small amounts of mercury can seriously corrode aluminium. For this reason, mercury is not allowed aboard an aircraft under most circumstances because of the risk of it forming an amalgam with exposed aluminium parts in the aircraft, Mercury embrittlement is the most common type of liquid metal embrittlement
29.
Selenium
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Selenium is a chemical element with symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the table, sulfur and tellurium. It rarely occurs in its state or as pure ore compounds in the Earths crust. Selenium was discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who noted the similarity of the new element to the previously discovered tellurium, Selenium is found in metal sulfide ores, where it partially replaces the sulfur. Commercially, selenium is produced as a byproduct in the refining of these ores, minerals that are pure selenide or selenate compounds are known but rare. The chief commercial uses for selenium today are glassmaking and pigments, Selenium is a semiconductor and is used in photocells. Applications in electronics, once important, have been supplanted by silicon semiconductor devices. Selenium is still used in a few types of DC power surge protectors, Selenium salts are toxic in large amounts, but trace amounts are necessary for cellular function in many organisms, including all animals. Selenium is an ingredient in multivitamins and other dietary supplements. It is a component of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase and it is also found in three deiodinase enzymes, which convert one thyroid hormone to another. Selenium requirements in plants differ by species, with some plants requiring relatively large amounts, Selenium forms several allotropes that interconvert with temperature changes, depending somewhat on the rate of temperature change. When prepared in chemical reactions, selenium is usually an amorphous, when rapidly melted, it forms the black, vitreous form, usually sold commercially as beads. The structure of black selenium is irregular and complex and consists of rings with up to 1000 atoms per ring. Black Se is a brittle, lustrous solid that is soluble in CS2. Upon heating, it softens at 50 °C and converts to gray selenium at 180 °C, the red α, β, and γ forms are produced from solutions of black selenium by varying the evaporation rate of the solvent. They all have low, monoclinic crystal symmetries and contain nearly identical puckered Se8 rings with different arrangements. The packing is most dense in the α form, in the Se8 rings, the Se-Se distance is 233.5 pm and Se-Se-Se angle is 105. 7°. Other selenium allotropes may contain Se6 or Se7 rings, the most stable and dense form of selenium is gray and has a hexagonal crystal lattice consisting of helical polymeric chains, where the Se-Se distance is 237.3 pm and Se-Se-Se angle is 130. 1°
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Biomass
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Biomass is an industry term for getting energy by burning wood, and other organic matter. It has become popular among power stations, which switch from coal to biomass to comply with the law. Biomass most often refers to plants or plant-based materials that are not used for food or feed, as an energy source, biomass can either be used directly via combustion to produce heat, or indirectly after converting it to various forms of biofuel. Conversion of biomass to biofuel can be achieved by different methods which are classified into, thermal, chemical. Historically, humans have harnessed biomass-derived energy since the time people began burning wood to make fire. Even today, biomass is the source of fuel for domestic use in many developing countries. Biomass is all biologically-produced matter based in carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the estimated biomass production in the world is 104.9 petagrams of carbon per year, about half in the ocean and half on land. Wood remains the largest biomass energy source today, examples include forest residues, yard clippings, wood chips, wood energy is derived by using lignocellulosic biomass as fuel. Harvested wood may be used directly as a fuel or collected from waste streams to be processed into pellet fuel or other forms of fuels. The largest source of energy from wood is pulping liquor or black liquor, in the second sense, biomass includes plant or animal matter that can be converted into fibers or other industrial chemicals, including biofuels. Based on the source of biomass, biofuels are classified broadly into two major categories, first-generation biofuels are derived from sources such as sugarcane and corn starch. Sugars present in this biomass are fermented to produce bioethanol, a fuel which can be used directly in a fuel cell to produce electricity or serve as an additive to gasoline. However, utilizing food-based resources for production only aggravates the food shortage problem. Second-generation biofuels, on the hand, utilize non-food-based biomass sources such as agriculture. These biofuels mostly consist of lignocellulosic biomass, which is not edible and is a waste for many industries. Despite being the alternative, economical production of second-generation biofuel is not yet achieved due to technological issues. These issues arise due to chemical inertness and structural rigidity of lignocellulosic biomass. Plant energy is produced by crops grown for use as fuel that offer high biomass output per hectare with low input energy
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Balance of trade
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The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports, is the difference between the monetary value of a nations exports and imports over a certain period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance of trade for goods versus one for services, generally trade surplus is seen as positive economic indicator, however in exceptional circumstances a trade deficit is due to government forex policy to achieve other macroeconomic goals. The balance of trade part of the current account, which includes other transactions such as income from the net international investment position as well as international aid. If the current account is in surplus, the net international asset position increases correspondingly. Equally, a deficit decreases the net asset position. The trade balance is identical to the difference between a countrys output and its domestic demand, measuring the balance of trade can be problematic because of problems with recording and collecting data. This cannot be true, because all transactions involve an equal credit or debit in the account of each nation, the discrepancy is widely believed to be explained by transactions intended to launder money or evade taxes, smuggling and other visibility problems. Especially for developing countries, the statistics are likely to be inaccurate. In export-led growth, the balance of trade will shift towards exports during an economic expansion, however, with domestic demand led growth the trade balance will shift towards imports at the same stage in the business cycle. Monetary balance of trade is different from physical balance of trade, developed countries usually import a lot of raw materials from developing countries. Typically, these materials are transformed into finished products. Financial trade balance statistics conceal material flow, most developed countries have a large physical trade deficit, because they consume more raw materials than they produce. Many civil society organisations claim this imbalance is predatory and campaign for ecological debt repayment. S debt that has funded the consumption, the U. S. has a trade surplus with nations such as Australia. The issue of trade deficits can be complex, Trade deficits generated in tradeable goods such as manufactured goods or software may impact domestic employment to different degrees than trade deficits in raw materials. Economies such as Japan and Germany which have savings surpluses, typically run trade surpluses, china, a high-growth economy, has tended to run trade surpluses. A higher savings rate generally corresponds to a trade surplus, correspondingly, the U. S. with its lower savings rate has tended to run high trade deficits, especially with Asian nations. The economist Paul Craig Roberts notes that the comparative advantage principles developed by David Ricardo do not hold where the factors of production are internationally mobile. In 2010, economist Ian Fletcher wrote Free Trade Doesnt Work, What Should Replace It and Why, small trade deficits are generally not considered to be harmful to either the importing or exporting economy
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Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
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Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earths atmosphere. Currently it constitutes about 0. 04% by volume of the atmosphere, despite its relatively small concentration CO2 is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earths surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is an part of the carbon cycle, a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earths oceans, soil, rocks and the biosphere. Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide, almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds. The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of CO2, the present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years. The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources, particularly the burning of fossil fuels, the daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013. It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year, an estimated 30–40% of the CO2 released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans, rivers and lakes, which contributes to ocean acidification. Each part per million by volume represents approximately 2.13 gigatonnes of carbon in the atmosphere as a whole, following the start of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO2 concentration has increased to 400 parts per million and continues to increase. This has caused the phenomenon of global warming, the global average concentration of CO2 in Earths atmosphere is currently about 0. 04%, or 400 parts per million by volume. There is a fluctuation of about 3–9 ppm which is negatively correlated with the Northern Hemispheres growing season. The Northern Hemisphere dominates the annual cycle of CO2 concentration because it has much greater land area, concentrations reach a peak in May as the Northern Hemisphere spring greenup begins, and decline to a minimum in October, near the end of the growing season. At the scientific recording station in Mauna Loa, the concentration reached 400 ppm for the first time in May 2013, the current concentration may be the highest in the last 20 million years. Carbon dioxide concentrations have varied widely over the Earths 4.54 billion year history, Carbon dioxide is believed to have been present in Earths first atmosphere, shortly after Earths formation. On long timescales, atmospheric CO2 concentration is determined by the balance among geochemical processes including organic carbon burial in sediments, silicate rock weathering, the net effect of slight imbalances in the carbon cycle over tens to hundreds of millions of years has been to reduce atmospheric CO2. On a timescale of billions of years, such downward trend appears bound to continue indefinitely as occasional massive historical releases of buried carbon due to volcanism will become less frequent. The rates of processes are extremely slow, hence they are of no relevance to the atmospheric CO2 concentration over the next hundreds or thousands of years. The loss of plant life would also result in the loss of oxygen. The most direct method for measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations for periods before instrumental sampling is to measure bubbles of air trapped in the Antarctic or Greenland ice sheets
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Kyoto Protocol
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The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 parties to the Protocol, the Protocols first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have stated that they may withdraw from the Protocol or not put into force the Amendment with second round targets. Japan, New Zealand and Russia have participated in Kyotos first-round but have not taken on new targets in the commitment period. Other developed countries without second-round targets are Canada and the United States, as of July 2016,66 states have accepted the Doha Amendment, while entry into force requires the acceptances of 144 states. Of the 37 countries with binding commitments,7 have ratified, negotiations were held in the framework of the yearly UNFCCC Climate Change Conferences on measures to be taken after the second commitment period ends in 2020. This resulted in the 2015 adoption of the Paris Agreement, which is an instrument under the UNFCCC rather than an amendment of the Kyoto protocol. The view that human activities are responsible for most of the observed increase in global mean temperature since the mid-20th century is an accurate reflection of current scientific thinking. Human-induced warming of the climate is expected to continue throughout the 21st century, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have produced a range of projections of what the future increase in global mean temperature might be. The IPCCs projections are baseline projections, meaning that they assume no future efforts are made to reduce gas emissions. The IPCC projections cover the period from the beginning of the 21st century to the end of the 21st century. The likely range is a increase in global mean temperature over the 21st century of between 1.1 and 6.4 °C. The range in temperature projections partly reflects different projections of greenhouse gas emissions. Different projections contain different assumptions of social and economic development. The range also reflects uncertainty in the response of the system to past. 1992 The UN Conference on the Environment and Development is held in Rio de Janeiro and it results in the Framework Convention on Climate Change among other agreements. 1995 Parties to the UNFCCC meet in Berlin to outline specific targets on emissions,1997 In December the parties conclude the Kyoto Protocol in Kyoto, Japan, in which they agree to the broad outlines of emissions targets. 2002 Russia and Canada ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC bringing the treaty into effect on 16 February 2005,2011 Canada became the first signatory to announce its withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol
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United States Department of Energy
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The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States Government concerned with the United States policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. It also directs research in genomics, the Human Genome Project originated in a DOE initiative, DOE sponsors more research in the physical sciences than any other U. S. federal agency, the majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories. Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry is the current Secretary of Energy and he was confirmed by a 62 to 37 vote in the United States Senate on March 2,2017. In 1942, during World War II, the United States started the Manhattan Project, after the war in 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission was created to control the future of the project. The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy, on August 4,1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which created the Department of Energy. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, who served under Presidents Nixon, a DOE spokesperson denied that phrases had been banned. In December 1999, the FBI was investigating how China obtained plans for a nuclear device. Wen Ho Lee was accused of stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory for the Peoples Republic of China, Federal officials, including then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, publicly named Lee as a suspect before he was charged with a crime. The U. S. Congress held hearings to investigate the Department of Energys mishandling of his case, republican senators thought that an independent agency should be in charge of nuclear weapons and security issues, not the Department of Energy. All but one of the 59 charges against Lee were eventually dropped because the investigation proved that the plans the Chinese obtained could not have come from Lee. Lee filed suit and won a $1.6 million settlement against the federal government, the department is under the control and supervision of a United States Secretary of Energy, a political appointee of the President of the United States. The Energy Secretary is assisted in managing the department by a United States Deputy Secretary of Energy, also appointed by the president, the department also has three under secretaries, each appointed by the president, who oversee the major areas of the departments work. The president also appoints seven officials with the rank of Assistant Secretary of Energy who have line management responsibility for major elements of the Department. The Energy Secretary assigns their functions and duties. S.4 billion budget request for DOE for fiscal year 2010, including $2.3 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The budget aims to expand the use of renewable energy sources while improving energy transmission infrastructure. It also makes significant investments in hybrids and plug-in hybrids, in smart grid technologies, most of the stimulus spending was in the form of grants and contracts. The contractor guarantees the energy improvements will generate savings, and after the contract ends, in loan guarantees, a conditional commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is completed. The DOE budget includes $280 million to fund eight Energy Innovation Hubs, yet another hub will develop smart materials that will allow the electrical grid to adapt and respond to changing conditions
