Target tougher as energy fight cools
Source: Xinhua |
August 9, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Chen Yi, a government civil servant, found the temperature of her office in downtown Beijing much higher than before, not because of a particularly sultry summer, but because the air conditioner was set at 26 degrees Celsius.
"We are told the room temperature should be higher than 26 degrees in the summer. It is not a new rule, but has never been strictly implemented like this year," Chen said, and recalled, in past years, scorching summer days which required wearing a coat in the office.
China's energy savings and emission cuts campaign is also being supported by the general public, with room temperature controls enforced in places ranging from government offices to shopping malls, and tough emission standards applied to motorists.
More people have even begun to use the stairs to save the electricity used by elevators.
But despite these efforts, China faces a tough task in meeting its energy efficiency goals. It seeks to cut energy consumption per unit of economic output by 20 percent by the end of this year from its 2006 level. The government reported in July that energy use had been reduced by 15.69 percent by the end of 2009.
However, this trend was reversed during the first quarter of this year as energy use per unit of GDP rose by 3.2 percent. And the National Bureau of Statistics reported last week that the figure for the first half of this year was 0.9 percent higher.
"It is rather difficult to meet the five-year energy saving target in time," Li Zuojun, a researcher with the National Development and Research Center of the State Council, said.
A construction boom followed by the stimulus package to tackle the global financial crisis drove up demand in power-consuming industries such as steel, cement and petroleum.
The Chinese government faces a dilemma in balancing economic recovery, still heavily dependent upon industrial expansion, and meet the energy target which is essential for the country's sustainable development.
China's manufacturing activity recently contracted, with the Purchasing Managers' Index for the sector standing at 51.2 percent in July, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous month.
Wang Qing, an economist with Morgan Stanley Asia, said intensified energy cutting efforts would hold back industrial expansion.
"We are told the room temperature should be higher than 26 degrees in the summer. It is not a new rule, but has never been strictly implemented like this year," Chen said, and recalled, in past years, scorching summer days which required wearing a coat in the office.
China's energy savings and emission cuts campaign is also being supported by the general public, with room temperature controls enforced in places ranging from government offices to shopping malls, and tough emission standards applied to motorists.
More people have even begun to use the stairs to save the electricity used by elevators.
But despite these efforts, China faces a tough task in meeting its energy efficiency goals. It seeks to cut energy consumption per unit of economic output by 20 percent by the end of this year from its 2006 level. The government reported in July that energy use had been reduced by 15.69 percent by the end of 2009.
However, this trend was reversed during the first quarter of this year as energy use per unit of GDP rose by 3.2 percent. And the National Bureau of Statistics reported last week that the figure for the first half of this year was 0.9 percent higher.
"It is rather difficult to meet the five-year energy saving target in time," Li Zuojun, a researcher with the National Development and Research Center of the State Council, said.
A construction boom followed by the stimulus package to tackle the global financial crisis drove up demand in power-consuming industries such as steel, cement and petroleum.
The Chinese government faces a dilemma in balancing economic recovery, still heavily dependent upon industrial expansion, and meet the energy target which is essential for the country's sustainable development.
China's manufacturing activity recently contracted, with the Purchasing Managers' Index for the sector standing at 51.2 percent in July, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous month.
Wang Qing, an economist with Morgan Stanley Asia, said intensified energy cutting efforts would hold back industrial expansion.
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