In the heads of many folks who environmentally aware (myself included) there is an unflattering image of China's power plants: hulking, Soviet-era smog machines. While not entirely inaccurate, a new MIT study on the country's coal industry paints a much more complex picture than many westerners might expect.

The MIT study (pdf) found that many of China's coal plants are being built with state-of-the-art technology and that government regulation of these facilities is expanding. The problem is that an unstable marketplace causes price spikes, which leads plant owners to buy cheaper, dirtier, (and more local) coal. In addition, lack of standards enforcement means that many sites are being run without scrubbers and other eco-measures.

China's electric power sector is 2nd in size only to the United States and builds three to four 500 megawatts coal burners each week.

So the good news is that while China's coal industry continues to be megapolluter, wider use of already-installed technology and better enforcement of environmental regulations could get the country breathing a little easier.