A BRIEF LOOK AT CHINES ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Energy consumption is a serious concern for any country not just at the domestic level, but also at global level. Chinas huge appetite for energy not only affects the country, but also affects the global environment a result in global warming and environmental pollution in general. Chinas primary energy dependency on coal has raised the serious concerns for other countries. A result of burning coal with other ingredients produce CO2 and nitrogen oxide in the environment, which is not just hazardous to health, but also contributes to global warming. If we look at the chines energy policy in the last few decades, it has completely changed from soviet style policy from 1952 until 1980s to Dengs Initial Reforms till 1992 and to a transition state till 2001. Chines energy intensity (Energy consumption per unit GDP) was gradually high till 80s but after that it continue to decline till 2000 as GDP growth became higher than energy consumption. In the Five-Year Plan period from 2006 to 2010, China made a substantial achievement, with a 19.06% reduction in energy intensity. Last year, the government announced another significant target of 16% for the twelve year plan period. The new 2011 energy intensity data reflects the initial outcomes of the twelve year plan, and provides some indications on energy consumption trends in China, In the last five-year plan period, the government closed down many inefficient industries, and many industries retrofitted their factories to improve energy efficiency. Besides improvements in energy efficiency, another possible reason for the energy intensity reduction in 2011 is the economic slowdown in China, as GDP growth rate continue to decrease. One of Chinas key strategies to reduce energy consumption is to restructure the economy by shifting from industrial sectors to service sectors. Many cities in the eastern region have moved their energy-intensive industries to the traditionally less-developed central and western regions in order to improve their energy efficiency and to promote low-carbon development. For example, Beijings energy intensity is the lowest among all the provinces. This is mainly due to its focus on service industries that contribute about 75% of its overall GDP. the slower growth in energy consumption will reflect the fact that there will be further structural changes in the Chinese economy and that subsequently some energy-intensive sectors in the economy are expected to decline. Affiliated with the slower growth in energy demand will be a continuation of the change in market shares with oil, natural gas and hydro-electricity becoming increasingly important energy sources at the expense of coal, reflecting government policies towards the use of cleaner energy in China According to current statistics the Coal represents 64 percent of the total energy consumed, with oil and natural gas accounting for 15 percent and 4.5 percent respectively. where as the share of hydro and nuclear power still accounts for a very low proportion i.e. 14 and 2 percent for China's energy mix, despite a major program to construct hrydro and atomic power plants. For the wind and solar power, the share is even lover almost 0.3%, although govermnet has

announced new projects for renewables, but it will heavily depend upon expansion of electrical grid. As for Hydro, it will going to be a major role player in chines energy market other than coal as government has planned to increase its share up to 19% by 2020. China is moving ahead rapidly in building new nuclear power plants, many of them conspicuously on time and on budget. Some are leading new-generation western designs. The future of chines energy consumption is still uncertain at this point but the current policies and trend indicates that it will be toward low carbon emsission environment maybe through shifting toward service industries, hydro, nuclear as a principal provider. It will be interesting to see if China is able to take the opportunity to promote low-carbon development for ongoing economic development.