Article by Chinamining
China will cap its total energy consumption at 4 billion tons of coal equivalent by 2015, said Zhang Guobao, former head of the country’s National Power Administration, on Friday.
The quantity is set as a mandatory ceiling in the draft 12th 5-Year Plan (2011-2015), Zhang told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The five-year period will see an typical annual increase of 4.24 percent in power use, he said. Last year, three.two billion tons of coal equivalent was consumed, Zhang added. .
“The job of power conservation and emission cuts is arduous”, he stated, as he compared the growth of energy use with the 7 percent of annual economic expansion set by the central government throughout the 5 years to 2015.
China’s economic boom in recent years has been fueled by rising consumption of power. Nevertheless, inefficient use of energy and pollution has posed a threat to sustainable and balanced growth.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stated on February 27 that China would never ever exchange a high economic growth rate at the cost of harming the atmosphere. He said China would set annual economic growth target at 7 percent during the 5 years to 2015, lower than the 7.5 percent aim set for the 5 years via 2010.Wen also stated that China aimed to cut the quantity of energy and carbon dioxide emissions required for each and every unit of gross domestic product by 16 to 17 percent from this year to the end of 2015.
The two targets are also included in the five-year blueprint, Zhang said, as he called for more efforts to promote power conservation and emission cuts.
The 12th 5-Year Plan draft will be reviewed and is expected to be approved by deputies to the National People’s Congress, which opens its annual session Saturday in Beijing.
China announced in 2009 that it pledged to cut carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, relative to 2005 levels. In the 5 years to 2010, China achieved a 19.1 percent decrease in energy consumption per unit of GDP, close to its target of a 20 percent cut.
He mentioned that the 5-year strategy would demand greater energy efficiency. China would start a trial program for power saving and emission cuts and resource comprehensive utilization in sectors such as clean coal, oil refining, thermal power, nuclear power and renewable energies during the five-year period, he said.
In addition, he stated that energy security is also a significant process via the five years when China will increase strategic reserves of oil and gas, although constructing storage bases for organic gas and coal.
He mentioned that the current turmoil in the Middle East had driven up international oil costs, raising the alert on energy security when once more.
“Oil security is the most important portion of achieving power security,” he stated, adding that “preparations for option energies ought to be made as soon as doable.”
xinhua
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