Can China’s Shale Gas Help It Reach Peak Coal by 2020? thumbnail China’s GDP has grown 670% from $1.2 trillion at the beginning of the century to $9.24 trillion in 2013. That’s mind-numbingly fast growth. Perhaps the only thing more amazing is how the country has accomplished the feat: with the help from coal, a lot of coal. Some estimates demonstrate that China has had to build at least one new coal power per week to fuel growth, which is backed up by the fact that nearly 80% of all electricity generated there comes from coal (compared to just 39% in the United States). However, after recently agreeing to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 or sooner, economists quickly realized that China would need to reach peak coal usage well before then. No surprise, then, that Beijing announced last month that coal use would peak by 2020. In fact, some provinces will […]