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'Diesel famine' should lead to new green energy strategy
By Ni Tao |
December 4, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE intense fuel crisis that had beset much of China for the past few months seems to be over as diesel supplies rose to the delight of drivers, who had queued for hours at service stations only to be told the supply had run out when it was their turn.
The country's "diesel famine" at this time of year is not new. What's new is this year's seasonal shortage came earlier than usual, lasted much longer and the impact was more acute.
Sinopec and PetroChina are mainly to blame. The energy giants seldom increase output at their refineries when demand rises for energy to heat homes and run businesses in peak season.
They sat on their hands watching gleefully a chaotic scramble for fuel that is in their favor.
To make things worse, local officials' rush to meet emissions reduction targets, as required under the 11th Five-Year Plan, had given rise to such methods as shutting down power generators and rationing supply to businesses.
Businesses coped by buying diesel generators and stockpiling the no less polluting fuel, effectively steering clear of the power crunch and mocking the wisdom of those who expected the draconian power cut to work the magic where other means of lowering carbon intensity had all failed.
The diesel crisis left many cities parched for the juice that kept life going. Chongqing was forced to introduce temporary supply restriction due to a severe "diesel famine." It's no coincidence that the hardest-hit provinces were also the ones keen on enforcing blackouts.
This penny wise, pound foolish approach to delivering on environmental promises is indicative of the incoherent thinking permeating China's development of green technology. This is all the more so if we examine the misery of the wind power industry.
Wind power, along with solar and biomass energies, are seen as vital to weaning the nation's energy dependence off fossil fuels, notably coal. Recent years have seen a reckless expansion of wind farms in several northern regions, including Inner Mongolia and Gansu. China now boasts a total wind power capacity of 20 million kilowatts, one of the highest in the world. But the technical constraint is looming increasingly large as wind power suppliers aren't connected to the national grid, meaning the more they produce, the more they waste.
In the first quarter of this year, domestic wind farms produced 500 million kilowatt hours of electricity, of which 300 million were not purchased, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on April 30, citing industry insiders.
At least millions of yuan are needed to upgrade the existing grid network and transmission equipment so that electricity generated by wind turbines can be transferred to the national grid, said the report.
As if the expansion isn't ambitious enough, China has ventured into even choppier waters: off-shore wind power. The 34 gigantic turbines of the East China Sea wind farm, erected in waters off the eastern coast of Shanghai, now contribute a negligible portion of the city's total electricity production, falling far short of its stated goal of powering 200,000 homes.
'Green' myth
It's a no-brainer that sending generated electricity over long distances isn't cost-effective.
So why are governments around the world so feverishly tapping into these alternative energies even though they know their applicability is limited?
In his book "Power Hungry," American energy expert Robert Bryce asks the same question.
His observations, especially his debunking of popular "green" misinformation, are especially relevant to the Chinese public.
"The renewable energy push is based on the bogus notion that those sources are 'greener' than hydrocarbons such as oil and natural gas. That's simply not true," Bryce argues.
Wind and solar power have some apparent disadvantages. Take wind. It requires much more land than, say, a coal-fired plant, in order to deliver the same amount of power. Due to wind's variability, its power supply isn't stable through the seasons, says the author.
Dirty as they are, coal and oil will remain as the fuels of choice for a long time to come. So it's more realistic to find ways to reduce pollution when burning these fuels and phase them out than do away with them immediately, Bryce says.
China has a keen interest in diversifying away from its coal dependence. The quest for a greener substitute is key to securing a future without energy scarcity as well as grabbing a big share of future global growth, which, as many have predicted, will be driven primarily by eco-friendly products and technologies.
Notwithstanding the green rhetoric seen in the media, and supposedly green initiatives it has undertaken, China lags behind world leaders in this regard. The misguided eagerness it shows in playing catching up has resulted in a movement-style pro-green campaign.
Without a holistic plan tailored to its own conditions, China's mixture of energies will look nice and balanced only in figures, not in substance.
The country's "diesel famine" at this time of year is not new. What's new is this year's seasonal shortage came earlier than usual, lasted much longer and the impact was more acute.
Sinopec and PetroChina are mainly to blame. The energy giants seldom increase output at their refineries when demand rises for energy to heat homes and run businesses in peak season.
They sat on their hands watching gleefully a chaotic scramble for fuel that is in their favor.
To make things worse, local officials' rush to meet emissions reduction targets, as required under the 11th Five-Year Plan, had given rise to such methods as shutting down power generators and rationing supply to businesses.
Businesses coped by buying diesel generators and stockpiling the no less polluting fuel, effectively steering clear of the power crunch and mocking the wisdom of those who expected the draconian power cut to work the magic where other means of lowering carbon intensity had all failed.
The diesel crisis left many cities parched for the juice that kept life going. Chongqing was forced to introduce temporary supply restriction due to a severe "diesel famine." It's no coincidence that the hardest-hit provinces were also the ones keen on enforcing blackouts.
This penny wise, pound foolish approach to delivering on environmental promises is indicative of the incoherent thinking permeating China's development of green technology. This is all the more so if we examine the misery of the wind power industry.
Wind power, along with solar and biomass energies, are seen as vital to weaning the nation's energy dependence off fossil fuels, notably coal. Recent years have seen a reckless expansion of wind farms in several northern regions, including Inner Mongolia and Gansu. China now boasts a total wind power capacity of 20 million kilowatts, one of the highest in the world. But the technical constraint is looming increasingly large as wind power suppliers aren't connected to the national grid, meaning the more they produce, the more they waste.
In the first quarter of this year, domestic wind farms produced 500 million kilowatt hours of electricity, of which 300 million were not purchased, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on April 30, citing industry insiders.
At least millions of yuan are needed to upgrade the existing grid network and transmission equipment so that electricity generated by wind turbines can be transferred to the national grid, said the report.
As if the expansion isn't ambitious enough, China has ventured into even choppier waters: off-shore wind power. The 34 gigantic turbines of the East China Sea wind farm, erected in waters off the eastern coast of Shanghai, now contribute a negligible portion of the city's total electricity production, falling far short of its stated goal of powering 200,000 homes.
'Green' myth
It's a no-brainer that sending generated electricity over long distances isn't cost-effective.
So why are governments around the world so feverishly tapping into these alternative energies even though they know their applicability is limited?
In his book "Power Hungry," American energy expert Robert Bryce asks the same question.
His observations, especially his debunking of popular "green" misinformation, are especially relevant to the Chinese public.
"The renewable energy push is based on the bogus notion that those sources are 'greener' than hydrocarbons such as oil and natural gas. That's simply not true," Bryce argues.
Wind and solar power have some apparent disadvantages. Take wind. It requires much more land than, say, a coal-fired plant, in order to deliver the same amount of power. Due to wind's variability, its power supply isn't stable through the seasons, says the author.
Dirty as they are, coal and oil will remain as the fuels of choice for a long time to come. So it's more realistic to find ways to reduce pollution when burning these fuels and phase them out than do away with them immediately, Bryce says.
China has a keen interest in diversifying away from its coal dependence. The quest for a greener substitute is key to securing a future without energy scarcity as well as grabbing a big share of future global growth, which, as many have predicted, will be driven primarily by eco-friendly products and technologies.
Notwithstanding the green rhetoric seen in the media, and supposedly green initiatives it has undertaken, China lags behind world leaders in this regard. The misguided eagerness it shows in playing catching up has resulted in a movement-style pro-green campaign.
Without a holistic plan tailored to its own conditions, China's mixture of energies will look nice and balanced only in figures, not in substance.
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