China's energy-saving campaign saves 150 mln tons of coal
Published by MAC on 2011-10-10Source: Xinhua, Reuters, Planet Ark
Perhaps we shouldn't cheer too soon.
China's recently-announced "saving" in coal use is almost negligible compared with the country's annual consumption of coal. (This stood at 3.2 billion tonnes in 2009 and is permitted to rise to 3.8 billion tonnes per year at the upper limit).
Nonetheless, Beijing's energy policy is in marked contrast to that of its closest competitor, India, where the government and industry's thirst for the black stuff shows no sign of abating.
On top of this, the proportional rate of coal imports to India from overseas mines (particularly ones in Indonesia) is on the increase.
China's energy-saving campaign saves 150 mln tons of coal
Xinhua
4 October 2011
A national energy-saving campaign involving over 1,000 companies managed to save equivalent to 150 million tons of coal from 2006 to 2010, China's top economic planner said Sunday.
The companies that consumed half the energy of the industrial sector, or one-third of all China's energy, saved more than the 100-million-ton target set for the five year period, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
In the past five years, the companies cut down more than 30 percent of energy consumption per unit of production of alumina, ethylene, and caustic soda, and over 10 percent for crude oil processing, electrolytic aluminum and cement, the NDRC said.
China launched the campaign to curb energy consumption in 2006, the first year of its 11th Five-Year Plan, among nine energy-gobbling industries, including steel and iron, non-ferrous metal, coal, oil and petrochemicals as well as chemicals and construction materials.
The country aims to save equivalent to 670 million tons of coal from 2011 to 2015.
China to limit coal production output - media
Reuters
2 November 2010
SHANGHAI - China plans to limit its coal output and step up mines consolidation in its next five-year plan though power capacity is expected to exceed 1.4 billion kilowatts by the middle of the next decade, local media reported.
China plans to limit annual coal production to between 3.6 and 3.8 billion tonnes in its next five-year development plan, compared with 3.2 billion tonnes mined in 2009, China's Century Business Herald said on Tuesday, citing China Coal Research Institute's director He Youguo.
He said under the blueprint, large coal miners should account for around 66 percent, or about 2.5 billion tonnes, of the targeted yearly production, while total output for mid-sized mines with a capacity of above 300,000 tonnes would be limited at 800 million tonnes.
Total output from small mines, classed as those with annual capacity of lower than 300,000 tonnes, would be limited to 500 million tonnes, the paper said.
China is the world's largest coal producer and consumer, but its highly fragmented coal industry has long been plagued with a poor safety record as well as inefficient and polluting mining operations.
He said coal mines consolidation would remain as a key focus for the government and it plans to establish 8-10 major coal firms with annual capacity of above 100 million tonnes and another 8-10 companies with output of around 50 million tonnes.
Further consolidation efforts to cut outdated capacity and limit output would continue to boost coal import volumes, which have increased strongly since 2008 when Beijing first launched the consolidation drive.
Rapid growth in China's power demand will also boost the country's new-found voracious appetite for imported coal.
China's installed power-generating capacity is expected to exceed 1.4 billion kilowatts (KW) by the end of 2015, compared with a forecast 960 million KW this year, the official China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a five-year plan being drafted by the China Electricity Council.
China's industrialisation and urbanisation will continue to fuel energy demand during the 2011-2015 period, although the pace of growth will be curbed by government policies to encourage energy conservation, the newspaper said.
China's existing energy consumption structure, which is dominated by coal-fired power generation, is unlikely to be changed over the next five years, although the proportion of coal consumption will be reduced by several percentage points. ($1=6.83 Yuan) (Reporting by Samuel Shen and Fayen Wong; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
China To Invest 2 Trillion Yuan In Low-Carbon Economy
By Terril Yue Jones
PlanetArk
26 September 2011
China will invest 2 trillion yuan (about $313 billion) to promote a green, low-carbon economy in the next five years, a senior economic planning official was quoted on Sunday as saying.
The government will promote low-carbon development with a variety of projects during China's current five-year plan which began this year, Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission was quoted by the China Daily newspaper as saying.
The green economy plan includes setting up 100 bases for demonstrating resource utilisation and launching low-carbon pilot programmes in five provinces and eight cities, Xie said at the Second China International Eco-City Forum in Tianjin, east of Beijing.
Chinese leaders have often stated their commitment to cutting China's energy consumption and developing green technology.