New numbers suggest pollution in China nearing hazardous level

Numbers from pollution monitoring stations in China suggest that pollution has risen above the World Health Organization’s (WHO) designated danger levels. According to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center, the air-quality index for Beijing is above 300 in some places, and at 500 in others.
According to the WHO, the concentration of Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5), particles in the air that are two and a half microns or less in width, should be no more than 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Monitors at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported a record high on January 12 of 728. For reference, a good index is 50 or below is considered good; an index of 500 is enough to warrant warning people against outdoor physical activities. At the current levels of pollution, residents are at risk of respiratory infections and increased mortality from lung cancer and heart disease.
Last December, the government declared that outdoor activities would have to stop, and factories would need to reduce their capacity until pollution levels can be decreased. Unfortunately, increased temperature and humidity play a factor in how quickly these very high levels of pollution can disperse. A rough average of the PM 2.5 levels from January 12 through the 15th put levels at 419, with the number slowly decreasing each day; the readings for January 17 have the levels in the low 70s. Advised residents to use public transportation to attenuate the contribution of personal vehicles. Although the large number of automobiles in China have traditionally been cited as major contributors to air pollution, there are currently more pressing factors.
Industrial uses account for the consumption of more than 310 million metric tons of coal annually, while heating plants consume 153.8 million metric tons. However, the largest consumers of coal by far, are power generation plants, which consume 1.3 billion metric tons every year. China is currently the world’s largest consumer of coal at around 3.2 billion metric tons per year. (December 31, 2012)