Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Keywords
Energy conservation and emissions reductions in major industries • Energy
intensity • Carbon emissions intensity • 11th Five-Year Plan • Outlook of the
12th Five-Year Plan
Entering the twenty-first century, with the rapid development of urbanization and the
residential consumption structure gradually shifting from the necessities of clothes
and food, to dwelling and traveling, the energy demands of business and the civil and
transportation sectors in China are expected to show a constant and stable increase and
take up a growing proportion of the national energy consumption structure. On the
other hand, since China is still experiencing rapid industrialization, industrial sectors
account for more than 70 % of total national energy consumption. During the 11th
Five-Year Plan period, the energy conservation and emissions reduction philosophy of
the Chinese government was “Grasp the Key-Points, Promote in an All-Round Way”.
Major measures, such as the campaign to save energy at thousands of firms and
implement the top 10 energy saving projects, targeted the industrial sector, especially
the major energy-consumption industries and enterprises. As for industries that have
the potential to consume more energy, like the transportation, business and civil
sectors, the main thrust of the initiatives was to comprehensively enhance construction
mechanisms, including legal and regulatory, standards and marks; while encouraging
research, investment and the spread of key technologies [
9
].
In terms of energy saving and emissions reductions, the Chinese government has
primarily combined the control of sources and exploration of potential. Strict access
standards were added to new production/livelihood capabilities, which were primarily
aimed at the production of high energy-consuming products (including final energy-
consuming products such as automobiles and houses) and equipment, and the design
and construction of newly added production/livelihood capabilities, in order to elevate
energy efficiency from the beginning. For current production capabilities and
facilities, multi-step energy standards were set and strictly implemented. To tackle
the overcapacity problem of some industries, an organic combination of eliminating,
reforming and merging with newly constructed projects was taken.
In summary, to achieve concrete progress in the energy conservation and
emissions reduction of various sectors, during the 11th Five-Year plan period, the
Chinese government set out a series of energy conservation and emission reduction
measures concerning the prices, finances, taxation, currency and industry fields,
through a collection of economic, legal and regulatory and executive means. It has
made unprecedented endeavors to promote energy conservation and emissions
reductions, especially in terms of capital investment. During the 11th Five-Year
Plan period, the central government investment budget amounted to 223.2 billion
RMB, among which 9.61 billion RMBwas used to improve energy efficiency. A fine
investment pattern of “motivated by the government and engagement by society as a
whole” was formed, which greatly contributed to the realization of the energy saving
goals set for the 11th Five-Year Plan period. The following chapter is devoted to
