Abstract
Asia has become one of the global economic centers responsible for nearly 30 % of global GDP as of 2011. This may not be too surprising when we consider the fact that 55 % of global population is concentrated in this area. However, considering the fact that Asia accounted for only 15 % of the global economy in 1973, it can be said that the change over the past 40 years has been quite considerable. At the same time, energy consumption increased along with economic growth. Furthermore, now Asia has a huge share of air pollution and greenhouse gases emission. The purpose of this chapter is to organize the data of the current situation where energy consumption is increasing along with economic growth in Asia and to have an overview of local air pollution and global environmental problems brought about as a result of energy consumption. We will analyze the energy structure in Asia which has low energy efficiency and large environmental impacts. However, as for local air pollution, the indications are showing that it has been on a course of improvement in recent years. Finally, the future outlook is examined based on that given by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
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Notes
- 1.
Energy theft is said to amount to nearly 20 % of power generation in India despite the low price of electricity. Therefore, some argue that raising the price of electricity is difficult in practice. However, it is better to assist low-income people with welfare policies such as cash handouts to match the amount of electricity price increase. By doing so, low income people also will have an incentive for electricity saving so that they can keep more of the handout at hand (and the unused money may be spent on children’s education, etc., which is better for society). It is expected that energy wasting can be eliminated as a whole, leading to a good result where supply deficiency is eased.
- 2.
Even with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology which is considered most promising, it cost 4,200 yen per ton CO2 in Japan as of 2013. The target is to decrease the cost to 1,000 yen per ton to achieve commercialization in the 2020s.
- 3.
By the way, this figure is high also in Africa and India. This is because consumption of so-called traditional biomass energy, that is, firewood and animal manure, makes up a large proportion. On the other hand, the figure in China is mostly modern renewable energy, such as wind power and solar energy.
- 4.
As was described previously, official monitoring data of PM2.5 did not exist until after 2012; however, observation figures by NASA satellite data revealed that Beijing and Shanghai accomplished over 5 % improvement in annual average concentration when periods 2001–2003 and 2008–2010 are compared (Zell et al. 2012).
- 5.
IEA shows energy demand outlook in three scenarios: Current Politics Scenario where current standard of energy saving and environmental regulation is extended, New Policies Scenario where policies and regulation with high probability of introduction are included based on current international debate, and 450 ppm Scenario where CO2 concentration is restricted to 450 ppm (= rise in temperature is maintained within 2°). IEA itself seems to consider probability highest in its New Policies Scenario. Therefore, this paper will introduce the New Policies Scenario as the future outlook.
- 6.
Needless to say, Japanese companies are expected to contribute to tackle with these issues; however, they are not quite successful in marketing due to the high cost as solution for Asia. It will be necessary for them to develop products with dramatically lower cost through collaboration with Chinese companies. Refer to Horii (2010) for details.
References
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Horii, N. (2016). Asia’s Local Air Pollution and Impacts on Global Climate Change. In: Shimaoka, T., Kuba, T., Nakayama, H., Fujita, T., Horii, N. (eds) Basic Studies in Environmental Knowledge, Technology, Evaluation, and Strategy. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55819-4_1
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