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Air
pollution
is the human introduction of chemicals,
particulate matter, or biological matter into
the atmosphere that causes harm or discomfort to
humans or other living organisms, or damages the
environment.
Air pollution has
been shown to cause cancer and
respiratory disease and is a major contributor
to global warming.
Coal-fired power plants
are a major contributor to air pollution,
generating vast amount of particulate matter
into the atmosphere.
(For details, see
this article by the Union of Concerned
Scientists:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c02c.html).
With rising oil prices,
coal fired power plants are being built at an
unprecedented rate worldwide.
It
is estimated that the increase in global-warming
gases from
China's
coal use will probably exceed that for all
industrialized countries combined over the next
25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction
in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks.
It
is clear that innovative technological solutions
are needed to remediate flue gases produced by
the burning of coal. |