SO2 emissions down 9.1% in China's power sector
Other accomplishments in 2007 listed in the report:
• The commissioning of 120 million kilowatts of desulfurization devices for coal-fired units;
• The addition of 13 million metric tons per day of urban sewage-processing capacity;
• A 3.2% decrease in chemical oxygen demand (COD), or the amount of chemicals found in water, to 13.82 million metric tons;
• A 4.7% drop in overall SO2 emissions to 24.69 million metric tons.
SO2 emissions in Beijing and Shandong's COD dropped 13.8% and 5% year over year, respectively, ranking No. 1 in the country. However, the emission of major pollutants in Hainan, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet increased.
The ministry also highlighted problems in operational desulfurization devices. China Resources Power Holding Company Limited (Hong Kong), Guizhou Jinyuan Company Limited (Guiyang) and Shanxi International Power Group Company Limited (Taiyuan) were punished after failing to commission the equipment last year at the Hubei Puqi Power Plant, the Jinsha Power Plant, the Xishui Power Plant of the Qinbei General Plant and the Liulin Power Plant. The ministry has temporarily suspended the approval of environmental impact assessments for the companies' thermal power projects until the desulfurization devices are commissioned.
In addition, seven power plants were fined five times the tariff charged for desulfurization facilities after failure to properly operate the equipment. The plants will be required to correct the problem within an unspecified period of time.
Related News

Zapping elderly brains with electricity improves short-term memory — for almost an hour
LONDON - To read this sentence, you hold the words in your mind for a few seconds until you reach the period. As you do, neurons in your brain fire in coordinated bursts, generating electrical waves that let you hold information for as long as it is needed. But as we age, these brain waves start to get out of sync, causing short-term memory to falter. A new study finds that jolting specific brain areas with a periodic burst of electricity might reverse the deficit—temporarily, at least.
The work makes “a strong case” for the idea that out-of-sync brain waves in…