Industrial corporations in south China's Guangdong Province will face tighter energy
standards in the next five years under a province-wide effort to
improve efficiency and lower consumption.
Speaking at a forum on recycling yesterday in Guangzhou, Tong
Xing, deputy governor of Guangdong Province, said 1,000 large
industrial corporations had been enlisted in an "energy-saving
project" to coincide with the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10)
period.?
"The annual energy consumption of each unit of added industrial
value in these corporations is set to decrease by 16 percent in the
next five years, compared to the amount in 2005," Tong said.
Tong said 1,000 corporations which come from a variety of
industrial sectors, including power generation, oil and chemical
production, building materials, iron and steel, textiles and paper
mills consumed more than 77 million tons of standard coal last
year, accounting for 43.4 percent of the province's overall energy
consumption.
"By reducing industrial energy consumption, the project aims at
improving efficiency, reducing environmental pollution and
alleviating energy shortages in the province," Tong said.
Energy shortfalls have been a recurring challenge for Guangdong,
an economic powerhouse in south China, hampering the province's
economic development, said Chen Jian, an official from the
Guangdong Provincial Committee of Economy and Trade.
Guangdong also signed an energy-saving agreement with the
National Development and Reform Commission earlier this year under
which the province promised to trim energy consumption at 26
large-scale industrial corporations by 2.3 million tons of standard
coal by the end of 2010.
Guangdong has been working to reduce energy consumption in
recent years, Chen said.
"Having a strict system to monitor energy consumption at large
industrial corporations is the key to saving energy and improving
energy using efficiency," Chen said in an interview with China
Daily yesterday.
Chen said the 1,000 industrial corporations enlisted in the
"energy-saving project" are expected to save 12.33 million tons of
standard coal in the five years ahead.
According to the Guangdong Provincial Statistics Bureau, the
province consumed 0.79 tons of standard coal for every 10,000 yuan
(US$1,250) of GDP last year.
Chen said that to achieve the goal of reducing the amount of
energy consumed per unit of GDP by 16 percent, Guangdong will work
closely with international organizations in the energy sector to
develop and promote more state-of-the-art energy-saving
technology.
(China Daily December 15, 2006)