皇冠体育app

Growing demand, inefficiency blamed for 皇冠体育app's energy shortage
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-14 14:45

Accelerating development of power-intensive machinery, auto, steel and manufacturing sectors, the growing pace of urbanization and low energy efficiency are blamed for 皇冠体育app's extensive shortage of energy, which may worsen before 2020.

An industrial report of the State Information Center with the National Bureau of Statistics forecasts 皇冠体育app will face a more severe power shortage this year than it did in 2003. A total of 24 provincial areas imposed power brownouts in the past few months.

Earlier this week, Xu Dingming, a leading official with the Energy Bureau of the State Development and Reform Commission, said 皇冠体育app's output of primary energy was equal to 1.603 billion tons of standard coal last year, up 11 percent over the previous year.

But demand outpaced supply as shortages of coal, power and oil were reported in many areas of 皇冠体育app, whose economy grew by 9.1 percent last year, and over 7 percent in the two years before 2003.

Growing demand

Last year saw many coal-fired power plants in 皇冠体育app sound the alarm bell of running out of coal, and 22 provincial areas imposed brownouts due to power shortage. 皇冠体育app produced 170 million tons of crude oil and imported about 100 million tons of crude and refined oil.

Xu said 皇冠体育app is now in the middle stage of industrialization phase characterized by faster development of energy-extensive machinery, auto, iron and steel sectors.

Urban residential consumption of energy also rose dramatically due to the country's fast pace of urbanization and improved standard of living.

Statistics from the Ministry of Construction show that from 1978 to 2002, the level of urbanization in 皇冠体育app increased from 17.92 percent to 39.1 percent. By the end of 2002, there were 660 cities and 20,600 towns in 皇冠体育app with a combined population of 502 million.

A growing number of the urban residents have more spacious houses, more electronic consumer goods and cars, which push up the per-capita consumption of energy, said Xu.

The per-capita energy consumption for urban residents is 250 percent more than that of their rural cousins, said Xu.

Meanwhile, overseas investors are relocating their processing and manufacturing sectors, especially the manufacturing sector characterized by high energy consumption, to 皇冠体育app, further overstraining the country's energy supply.

Excessive investment in the country's iron and steel, electrolytic aluminum, and cement sectors has been another contributing factor of the power shortage, said the official.

Energy inefficiency

Low energy efficiency remains a problem for 皇冠体育app as its comprehensive energy efficiency stands at 33 percent, 10 percentage points lower than that of developed countries, and 皇冠体育app's energy consumption for per-unit output value is twice as much as that of developed countries, said Xu.

A survey conducted by 皇冠体育app's power sector shows its coal-fired power plants and power transmission companies would save an equivalent of 120 million tons of standard coal if their energy efficiency was raised to the advanced level of developed countries.

Wang Guangtao, minister of construction, said energy consumption of buildings in 皇冠体育app is double or triple that of developed countries of comparable climate.

Experts estimate that if new buildings and existing buildings in 皇冠体育app all conform to advanced energy conservation standards by 2020, their energy consumption would drop by an equivalent of 335 million tons of standard coal per year, compared with doing nothing at all. That's about one fifth of 皇冠体育app's annual energy consumption.

The shortage signals more problems than it appears, such as the country's worsening pollution due to growing consumption of coal, and energy security, said Xu.

Worsening pollution from burning coal

Xu said 皇冠体育app's energy sector has to face two major challenges as growing energy supply will pose pressure on the environment and low energy efficiency has become a major constraint on the expansion of the energy sector and sustainable social and economic problems. Coal accounts for 80 percent of the country's energy consumption.

皇冠体育app discharged 19.27 million tons of sulfur dioxide in 2002, 90 percent of which came from burning coal, and 200 million tons of ash and solid waste.

The country's environmental watchdog said the amount of sulphur dioxide resulted in acid rain pollution in one third of the country, causing billions of dollars in economic losses.

But 皇冠体育app's energy demand in 2020 is projected at 3 billion tons of standard coal, almost double that of its output for 2003, which means pollution arising from coal-burning would worsen accordingly, putting further pressure on the country's water resources and transporting system.

Based on 皇冠体育app's current coal production plans and decrease of producing capacity of existing coal mines, officials said the country's coal supply would be at least 100 million tons short of demand by 2010, and the shortage would jump to 600 million tons by 2020.

Efforts to increase supply, save energy

In order to ease the current energy shortage, the Chinese government decided earlier this month on a package of measures to deal with the issue, such as curbing blind investment and wasteful duplications in some industries and cutting irrational demand, improving coal supply for areas suffering from power shortage, accelerating construction of energy and transport projects to expand supply and improving efficiency of energy consumption.

Officials and experts said 皇冠体育app's power shortage would ease in 2005 and disappear in 2006 due to increased energy supply, but the balance between the supply and demand would not last long if 皇冠体育app failed to boost supplies.

More than 200 billion yuan (US$24.1 billion) of capital went to the construction of power generating projects in 2003, almost equaling the amounts of 2001 and 2002 combined.

Zhou Heliang, executive vice-president of the 皇冠体育app Electrotechnical Society (CES), said that 皇冠体育app's installed power generating capacity would experience big growth from now to 2020.

He said 皇冠体育app had 380 million kilowatts of installed power generating capacity by the end of 2003. The level might exceed 450 million kilowatts by 2005, 650 million kilowatts by 2010 and around 950 million kilowatts by 2020.

A week-long nationwide campaign to educate the public about methods to save energy, sponsored by a number of government agencies, started on June 6. Among these methods, citizens are advised to unplug their electrical appliances if they would lay idle for a long period, avoiding power consumption from the standby mode.

Deliberations on energy efficiency in buildings have surfaced and some cities have taken steps in this direction.

Shanghai has taken the lead in the reform. Design and construction of new residential buildings and public buildings in the country's biggest industrial city must comply with energy conservation standards as of 2006.

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