Sydney — When the temperature drops to freezing in a country of almost 1.4-billion people, the power needed to keep the population warm soars. That’s one of the main reasons China’s northern cities have spent much of the past month choking on smoggy, toxic air. Particulate concentrations in areas north of Shanghai that once qualified for state heating subsidies and retain a legacy of coal generation tend to be about 55% higher than in areas to the south, according to a 2013 study — enough to reduce lifespans by about five-and-a-half years. While China’s headlong construction of new renewable generation capacity may be taking the edge off this, its effect is felt least in the winter when reservoirs run low, skies darken, wind speeds fall, and smog settles in. While improvements to the country’s electricity grid may ameliorate the situation by allowing China’s northern cities to feed on more of the power generated from the country’s vast western hydro, wind and solar installations, th...
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