Abstract:
Part I: In the People's Republic of China both the industrial and household sectors contribute to environmental pollution. Researchers in this project are particularly interested in assessing how improvements in coal-burning stoves and other household energy-using technologies will affect the energy intensity, pollution generation, and health -- thus, the quality of life -- in China. This project received seed funding to study the households of the workers in the coke-making plants in China and the resulting health effects, in an attempt to link the "environment vs. health" complex with factors in the realm of human economic activities. In Part II, researchers are examining the energy used by, and pollution generated in, households in township and village enterprises (TVEs) in China and the resulting health effects, specifically in the households of workers in the coke-making plants in China, most of which are part of the rapidly growing TVE sector in China.