Historical records indicate that energy consumption intensity has been reduced dramatically by four percent each year since 1977 in China, who would be consuming twice as much energy as it did in 1995 without the reduction.

Zheng Jianchao, academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), made the remarks Thursday at the 7th General Assembly of CAE in his speech "Challenges and Technological Opportunities for Sustainable Energy Supply in China".

Though great success in energy conservation has been achieved, China's energy consumption is still relatively high, 4.6 times more than the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) average, acknowledged Zheng.

"To keep a balanced energy supply, China should further reduce its energy intensity by over 50 percent by 2020," he said.

Zheng noted that the two factors restraining further reduction of energy intensity: the continuously rapid growth of energy-intensive industries like steel and cement driven by large-scale construction, and the fast increase of vehicle and electric appliance in recent years.

Statistics showed that 50 million air conditioners, 65 million TV sets, and 23 million refrigerators were manufactured in China in 2003, and most of the products were sold in the domestic market.

However, there is still a great potential for China to save energy, Zheng said. China's overall efficiency could be improved by over 20 percent compared with the advanced international standard.

Further significant reduction of energy consumption could be materialized if the nation reorients its energy policy to increasethe share of value-added products over the energy-intensive ones, he said.

Source: Xinhua