the New York Timesreported that new information from Chinese gov-
ernment agencies indicate that coal use “has actually been climbing
faster in China than practically anywhere else in the world.”
NEWENERGY
As China moves forward in the twenty-first century, efficiency remains
the key to its energy future, the one bright spot in an otherwise gloomy
picture. Because China began from such a low level of efficiency, there
is still a long way to go—which, ironically, is good news for the envi-
ronment. If the most efficient equipment and processes currently
available on the world market were installed throughout China’s
energy system, China’s energy consumption could be cut by 40 to 50
percent, according to studies conducted by Zhou Dadi and his col-
leagues at the Beijing Energy Efficiency Center.
To encourage such reforms, the World Bank has helped to create
energy management corporations to spread the word about efficiency
opportunities within China. The corporations approach factory man-
agers with a simple message, said the Bank’s Robert Taylor: “Managing
your factory in an energy-efficient way will increase your bottom line.
And if you don’t believe it, here are some case studies that prove it.”
Unfortunately, the main thrust of the Bank’s lending in China, as it is
throughout the world, remains the encouragement of new fossil fuel
development.
What about supply side alternatives to coal? Solar and wind power
provide electricity in some sparsely populated regions in western
China, but their impact on total energy consumption is miniscule.
The same is true of nuclear energy, which supplies 1 percent of total
electricity demand. Some Chinese planners have envisioned a bigger
role in the future for nuclear power, but its high capital costs, to say
nothing of its many safety problems, make that unlikely. (These draw-
backs, however, did not prevent Chinese officials from announcing in
1997 that they would buy a $2 billion nuclear power plant from
Russia.) Hydropower delivers about one-quarter of China’s electricity,
and total installed capacity is expected to quadruple by 2020.
However, because electricity comprises only about one-fifth of China’s
China 21