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China to face energy security crisis by 2010: forecast
PTI via Hindu News
China, whose economy is growing at over 10 per cent, will face an energy security crisis since it will be dependent on foreign sources for 50 per cent of its oil needs in 2010, according to an energy forecast published here.
China would face an energy supply security problem in the next five years as international competition for oil heated up, the report published by China’s Social Sciences Academic Press forecast.
China’s Energy Development Report 2006 proposed reducing dependence on imported oil, actively participating in competition on the international oil market and strengthening international cooperation to ensure supply security.
The report, quoted by the China Youth Daily, said China became a net oil importer in 1993 and a net crude oil importer in 1996.
In 2004, crude imports surpassed 100 million tonnes and the country’s dependence on imports stood at 40 per cent, the report said. China is the world’s second largest energy consumer after the United States.
The Chinese Government is encouraging state-run oil companies to secure oil and gas deals in foreign countries so as to ensure oil security to maintain the nation’s double-digit economic growth.
For example, the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China’s largest oil producer, on Wednesday announced that it bought 66.2252 million listed shares of OAO Rosneft, Russia’s leading oil giant, for $ 500 million at $ 7.55 per share.
(20 July 2006)
Uh-oh. No mention of conservation or alternate energy sources for China, as peak oil looms. Other reports from China have been more foreward-thinking. -BA
China pursues renewable energy, water and healthcare goals
China-AsiaStocks.com
China’s Attempt to Balance the Environment and a Rapidly Growing Economy Drives Regulation, Innovation and Investment in Renewable Energy, Water Industry and Healthcare
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…We often hear and use the expression “follow the money” to watch and understand industry trends. In China, it’s a case of “smell the water and the air” to understand what is needed and where the money should be going in China.
Ironically, information on disasters and health crises may not always be available to the public if the Chinese government has its way, based on newly drafted legislation that will allow them to fine newspapers up to $12,000 if they report on these types of emergencies without first getting permission.
But we won’t be in the dark completely if renewable energy companies like Vitasti have their way. As Vitasti, Inc states, “The country knows that it cannot proceed with the economic development and ignore the environment in future growth”
Consumers in China are readily embracing the environmental movement as evidenced by recent info released by Greenpeace International stating that their surveys showed Chinese consumers were prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly PCs than any other country. It’s a step towards the ultimate goal of creating balance and harmony with technology and the environment.
The environmental race is one that China cannot afford to lose and based on recent news, they are making serious efforts to repair the damage of the past and find solutions for the future. The question remains – are they moving fast enough? The outcome of the balancing act of managing rapid economic growth and the environmental concerns will impact the world for generations to come as the pollution moves outside of China’s borders.
(July 2006)
The associated press release is online. The website in which this article appeared, China-AsiaStocks (CAS) is compensated by Hendrx and Vitasti, two companies involved in water generators and wind farms, respectively. The information is basically a press release. What strikes me as unusual is the lobbying for the environment, apparently by busiinesses. -BA
China Wind Power Boom May Bust Without Policy Change
Nao Nakanishi, Reuters via Planet Ark
HONG KONG – China’s wind energy boom threatens to turn into a bust unless Beijing’s new energy policymakers change its controversial investment regime soon.
Many industry officials have opposed Beijing’s system, which they say spurs utilities to rush into cut-price investment regardless of a project’s quality or viability, potentially leaving China with large wind farms that sit idle or need constant repair.
Now the issue is critical as an unrelenting oil price rally and a fresh push for green energy from the world’s second-biggest power consumer is about to trigger a wave of new investment.
Under the right framework, that investment could go part way to limiting China’s reliance on dirty coal or costly imported oil. But without a new policy many fear the worst.
“The policy must be changed,” Shi Pengfei, vice-president of the China Wind Energy Association, told Reuters. “Otherwise, there will be damage done to the industry.”
(24 July 2006)
China and the World Economy: Prospects and Challenges
Lord Browne of Madingley, BP CEO, World Energy Source
In the last 10 years, China has experienced a dramatic period of economic growth. Despite continued population growth, per-capita income in China has risen by more than 100 per cent. According to recent figures, the Chinese economy is now two and a quarter times the size it was in 1995, and nine and a half times larger than in 1980. Perhaps most remarkable of all, China has become part of the global economy, after decades in which the focus of Chinese development was overwhelmingly internal.
I can’t imagine that, in 1995, anyone could have predicted that within just 10 years, China would not only be a member of the World Trade Organization, but would also be one of the largest holders of foreign currency reserves in the world and a very significant player in most of the world’s trading markets.
The process has proved once again that open trade is not a zero-sum game. Trade benefits all those who participate, and I believe we are only just beginning to see the full benefits of extending the open global economy to a country with great potential and great needs, which trade can help to fulfill.
(25 July 2006)
One of the (few) interesting things about this article is that Lord Browne acknowledges that the “mounting evidence [of climate change], including the statement made last summer by the scientific academies of all the G8 nations, is compelling.”
He’s right about trade not being a zero sum game, as expressed ecologically in the formula for carrying capacity, which explains that the combined carrying capacity of two regions linked through trade is greater than the carrying capacity of the two regions seperately. On the other hand, from an economic and human rights perspective deregulated trade can result in a ‘race to the bottom’ of environmental and labour conditions, as corporations play goverments off against each other for the most favourable conditions to business. So in that sense it is not zero-sum either.
-AF
