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Photovoltaic Poverty Alleviation (PVPA) projects, which utilize the subsidies and income from PV power to alleviate poverty in rural areas, are part of a comprehensive energy policy innovation in China. It is expected that the projects will deploy at least 10 GW PV and benefit more than two million poor households in total by 2020. To achieve this goal, specific supporting policies and novel business models are necessary. In the present paper, the current status and existing supporting policies are introduced to give an overview of PVPA projects. Then representative business models in PV projects are summarized and compared to provide a reference for PVPA projects. Obstacles, such as subsidy delays, insufficient infrastructure, low quality of PV equipment, and inflexible profit allocation mechanism may reduce the revenue from PV operation and increase the costs of PV deployment. Therefore, this paper also proposes corresponding recommendations for policy makers considering the existing challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently China's wind power industry is challenged by many problems such as wind power integration and wind curtailment, which seriously hinders the development of onshore wind power. Since China's policy has a direct and significant influence on wind power industry, it is vital to analyze and evaluate published policies. This paper explores in detail 134 China's onshore wind power policies from 2005 to 2015 so as to provide analytical support for future formulation and implementation of wind power policy. Based on policy summary from equipment manufacturing industry, wind farms and power grid industry, this paper evaluates the policies from the perspective of overall plan, support policy and policy implementation using fitting method, game theory and empirical analysis. The results indicate that China's wind policy is gradually becoming perfected, for example, there are more reasonable objectives and improved support policies. However, many problems remain to be solved, like unreasonable planning, imperfect support policies, immature trading systems and uncoordinated actions among interest related parties. Furthermore, combined with international experiences, suggestions on improving China's wind power policy are proposed from seven aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of China׳s installed wind power capacity in recent years is closely related to the wind energy policies issued by the Chinese government. Using content analysis and quantitative analysis methods, this paper studies the historical evolution of Chinese wind energy policies. Based on 72 wind energy policies issued in the past two decades (1995–2014), this paper analyzes the issuing organization, form, number and stringency of wind energy policies and compares different policy instruments in two periods. The results show that the number and stringency of wind energy policies fluctuated greatly from 1995 to 2014 and that more than twenty organizations had independently or jointly issued the policies. The main organization issuing wind energy policies, however, is the department that controls key economic and administrative resources and not the one that is in charge of wind energy. Of the 72 policies issued, twenty-three took the form of notices, and eleven were measures. As to the policy instrument, environmental policies are most widely applied by the Chinese government, and “regulation control” and “goal-planning” instruments are the ones most frequently adopted. Furthermore, the application of supply- and demand-type policies is inadequate, and few effective instruments have been adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to its promising benefits in energy and environment, distributed energy system (DES) has increasingly attracted extensive attention worldwide. The application of DES has been increased rapidly in recent years with the supportive government policies and financial incentives. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically summarize and analyze the development status of DES in China. This paper not only presents researches, applications and policies, but provides some relevant suggestion and prospects on DES of China. DES especially the hybrid energy system that gas-fired combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) with renewable energy (solar and wind) will become the mainstream of future energy supply technologies in China. The paper will be helpful for international stakeholders in energy field to have better understanding on the progress of DES in China, which will benefit them in two aspects: one is that the Chinese situation will be a reference for their own countries or regions to develop energy policy and technology regarding DES, another is that they may be helped to find opportunities in Chinese market, while to contribute to Chinese DES development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the conventional energy resources are limited and environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent, new energy resources, being environmental friendly and renewable, are paid more and more attention by all the countries. At present, the development and utilization of new energy resources in China has made progress. However, due to the factors such as the international energy competition situation, China׳s productivity level and its development phase, and the lagging of related system and mechanism reforms, China׳s new energy has been faced with constraints in the aspects of the system, efficiency, supply, region and technology. If related reforms were not implemented, the development of new energy in China would be severely hindered for a long period of time in the future. In view of this, this paper reviewed the development status of China׳s new energy industry, and analyzed five aspects of constraints. Moreover, a discussion was carried out from four aspects of the system, consumption, production, technology reforms in order to break the corresponding constraints. Finally the future development planning of new energy was presented. All in all, the deep investigation into China׳s new energy development status, constraints, reforms and planning in this paper is aimed at promoting the reform of new energy resources production and utilization modes, improving the policy system continuously, addressing the deep-rooted institutional contradictions of the new energy industry, and providing the reference and advice for the transformation of China׳s energy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand-side management (DSM) is an effective means to construct low-carbon electricity system, improve energy efficiency and fastly enhance the sustainable development of economy. DSM in China has entered a period of rapid development. A series of policies and regulations related to DSM have been issued by some national ministries in China. However, some problems exist in the implementation of DSM. In view of that, the current situation of DSM development in China is analyzed in this paper from the three aspects of policies and regulations related to DSM, DSM organizational management and DSM development of representative regions. Following that, the challenges faced in DSM implementation are discussed and feasible measures are proposed based on the challenges. This paper is conducive to give impetus to the development of DSM in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is vast, abundant and particularly plentiful in energy sources, due to which it has obtained remarkable achievements on economy. However, its energy structure is too simple to support the sustainable development of economy as coal still contributes to the majority of energy consumption in China. As a consequence, Renewable Energy Law was enacted in 2005, and Chinese government announced a series of policies to boom renewable energy industry. Subsidy policy is one of the major forms of these policies. This paper aims to present these subsidy policies and to analyze their effects according to relative data in energy industry 2005–2013, to find out the deficiencies and enlighten possible policy improvements. The original intentions and abstracts of 5 different levels of subsidy related policies are summarized, and the effects in reality are attentively analyzed. It can be concluded that subsidy policies have different short-term effect on different renewable energies, and they all show some negative effect to a certain extent. 6 core problems are summarized in this paper, and remedy strategies are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green roof is an effective energy efficiency measure to reduce the building cooling load in summer and heating load in winter, in addition, it can add ecological benefit and landscape value to the community. Therefore, it has attracted extensive attention worldwide. This paper studies the selection of planting materials, plant configuration patterns and plant growth medium of the green roofs in China, and presents the researches on ecological benefits, thermal performance, and applications of the green roofs in China. This paper also introduces and analyzes the green roofs development policies in China, including the incentive mechanism, laws and regulations, and finally presents the analysis and suggestions on their application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China faced the greatest challenge in balancing its economic growth, energy and resource security as well as environmental pollution. The energy-intensive industries, which used to be the major force driving China׳s economic growth, had seriously exhausted the countries׳ natural resources and energy, and at the same time polluted the environment because of the severe surplus of low-efficiency production capacities. As a result, the Chinese government had initiated multiple economic and administrative policies to eliminate these low-efficiency production capacities intended to improve the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries. These policies are summarized in this paper, along with export tax rebating rate, resource tax, administrative audit and approvals, differential electric power pricing and shutting down the low-efficiency production capacities. The paper also evaluates the effects of these policies by analyzing several key indicators about the energy-intensive industries, including fixed asset investment growth rate, energy-intensity of industrial added-value, waste gas emission-intensity of industrial added-value. The VALDEX methodology is selected to examine the improving trends of energy-efficiency for energy-intensive industries. The analyzing results show that firstly the development of low-efficiency capacities tends to be more sensitive to the policies, so the policies that China had enacted really exert very important effects on improving the energy-efficiency of energy-intensive industries. However, the effects of economic policies seem more faster and obvious than the fiscal policies. Besides, the results also show that polices which are designed to reserve energy may not necessarily exert the same effects on reducing emissions. There is still large room for improving the energy efficiency of energy-intensive industries, substantial improvement still needs to be done for current policies’ system. Some suggestions for future work are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing transformation of the world's energy system requires detailed power-system models that help plan a cost-effective and reliable integration of variable renewables and demand-side resources. The quality and depth of the results of these models depend on the existence of trustworthy, complete, and high-resolution data on extant electric power assets and the demand they serve, wind and solar resources, and projections on costs and performance of technologies that could be developed during the next three decades. This paper assesses the quality of China's power system's publicly available data compared to the U.S. It concludes that despite growing use of power system models to inform and analyze Chinese energy policy, the availability of necessary data is still a significant barrier that severely limits the transparency, replicability, relevance, and usefulness of their results. • Ongoing energy system transformation requires detailed power-system models. • Usefulness of models' results depends on reliable, complete high-resolution data. • Paper proposes criteria to assess the quality of publicly available data for models. • Publicly available data for China's electric power system is scant and low quality. • Filling data gaps will inform decisions for a sustainable electric power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China''s PV industry has developed rapidly in recent years due to the dramatic demand from the world market. In contrast, until 2010 China''s domestic PV market has been very small due to lack of sufficient incentives in the country to promote domestic PV deployment. However, since early 2009 many incentives have been implemented in China. The paper makes an analysis on China''s solar PV incentive policies, particularly the national FIT scheme. Policy recommendations are made with regard to the promotion of the domestic solar PV market, including the construction of an effective national FIT scheme, the imposition of renewable portfolio system as well as the establishment of sound technical and administration standards for the grid-connection of PV systems. The paper contributes to the academic literature over China''s solar PV power policy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This research studies the low carbon transition of the electric power sector in China using a multi-level perspective (MLP) of niches, socio-technical regime, and landscape, as well as literature on innovation systems. Three lines of thought on transition process are integrated in the paper to probe the possible transition pathways in China. A MLP analysis is presented to understand the current niches, regime, and landscape of China’s power sector. A brief analysis on the future macroscopic socio-economic transition in the process of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization of Chinese society and its implication on power landscape are depicted to prove the urgency and magnitude of transition in China and why systematic transition management is needed. Five transition pathways, namely reproduction, transformation, substitution, reconfiguration, de-alignment/re-alignment, and reconfiguration, with their possible technology options are presented. The paper goes further to propose an interactive framework for managing the transition to a low carbon energy system in China. Representative technology options are appraised by employing innovation theory to indicate the logic of policymaking within the framework. Institutional gaps in realizing the transition are also addressed. The work presented in the paper will be useful in informing policy-makers and other stakeholders and may provide references for power sector transition management in other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since 2005, there has been dramatic progress in China''s wind power industry. The annual growth rate of newly constructed capacity reached a miracle of 105% and the total installed capacity has increased from 1.27GW in 2005 to 44.73GW in 2010, which has exceeded the target of China''s energy long-term planning for 2020. During the 11th Five-Year-Plan (FYP), the Chinese government has issued a series of polices to promote and regulate the development of wind power industry, which is the underlying force driving its rapid development. This paper is a systematical review on the current status and policies of wind power industry in China. Firstly the current status including achievements and shortcomings is presented, and then the relevant polices and regulations released during the period of 11th FYP are reviewed. Meanwhile, the main approaches of the policies and regulations in promoting the development of wind power industry are discussed and the issues of the current policies are analyzed. Finally, the paper concludes on the perspectives of wind power policies in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Low carbon electricity is essential for China''s low carbon development. In the paper low carbon electricity is defined as an economy body manages to realize its potential economic growth fueled by less electricity consumption, which can be characterized by indexes of GDP electricity intensity and CO2 emissions per unit electricity generation. IRSP is proposed by Hu to implement power planning on state level in deregulated power sector and is used in the paper to study China''s power planning into 2030. A business-as-usual scenario is projected as baseline for comparison while low carbon electricity development based on IRSP is studied. Results show that, with IRSP, China could save energy by 1.5 billion toes and reduce CO2 emission by 5.7 billion tons, during 2010–2030. Super Smart Grid (SSG) must be constructed as the physical foundation of IRSP. The main components of developing SSG in China are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Renewable energy technologies offer an economically viable and environmentally suitable scenario towards addressing energy requirements for rural livelihoods. China''s Renewable Energy Rural Electrification Program, initiated in 2001, is an effort to employ renewable energy technologies on a large-scale for rural electrification. The Program has been designed with several stages. This paper firstly offers an analysis of the problems encountered during the progress of this rural electrification program, using data obtained from field survey of representative areas in western China where the first stage of the program was implemented. The paper then explores feasible solutions in order to address existing rural energy issues and provide long-term reliable energy service for remote communities. In support of future course of development of renewable energy application for rural energy demands, policy recommendations are provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Charging heating fees based on floor space in China leaves building developers no economic returns on the investment to weatherize the buildings and install regulation devices with terminal equipment. Therefore, they lack incentives to improve the thermal insulation properties of the buildings. Tenants also lack incentives to efficiently use heat, opening windows to cool down rooms when they are overheated, without concern for the amount of heat wasted. In response, over the past decade, the Chinese government has invested large amounts of resources in an effort to promote energy conservation with heating systems by trying to change the fee method based on floor space to amount of heat used, but with little effect. The major issues related to reform with the heat-metering system are elaborated in this paper by comparing the pros and cons of several metering methods. Firstly, room temperatures are unable to be effectively adjusted using the current methods, meaning that the original intention to save energy cannot be achieved. Secondly, current heat-metering methods are not acceptable to users, which creates its own problems. Heat metering based on households in apartment buildings, the primary living space for Chinese people, causes two problems: the energy consumed by households located at the top or at the corner of buildings is two to three times higher than households located elsewhere within the building; heating fees may increase by 20–30% if surrounding households are not heated. Current metering methods are unable to effectively resolve these two problems, therefore, they are not accepted. To overcome these difficulties, a proper metering and charging method must be developed which is both acceptable to users and able to guarantee good room temperature control at the same time. To achieve this goal, this paper presents a new method: the total heating fee of a building is allocated according to the accumulated on-time as well as the floor space of each household. Not only can this new method control the user behavior of opening windows or setting the starting point too high, but also resolve problems caused by location and heat transfer between households. It is also effective in promoting energy saving by users and appears to be acceptable to users. Survey results show that it is acceptable to a large number of users. It seems that this is the most practical way to reform the current methods for heat metering based on household use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At present, there is no specific legal basis for the development and utilisation of marine renewable energy, nor legal protection for the developers in China. The consequence is that the Chinese Government is unable to provide institutional support for the substantive development of marine renewable energy, resulting in slow development of China's marine energy industry. This paper provides an institutional framework for the establishment of relevant laws in China and legislative proposals in legal perspective, for the better development of marine renewable energy. The Chinese Government should optimise the administrative management system, strengthen financial regulation such as tax and emphasise sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncovering the contributions of each sector’s driving factors to the growth of national economic carbon emissions has great significance for China in developing its nationwide emission trading scheme (ETS). The paper applies the index decomposition analysis (IDA) and logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) model to discuss the underlying drivers behind China’s national economic carbon emissions during the period 1996–2012 from both sector and factor decomposition perspectives and accordingly offers policy proposals for China’s national ETS development. Major conclusions include: (1) Six heavy industry sectors, the transport & storage & post sector, and the construction sector are the largest contributors, and hence proposed for incorporation into the ETS’s coverage. (2) The rapid expansion of economic output dominantly increases carbon emissions. The design of cap on emissions should allow for a proper increment and establish a new entrant reserve to coordinate economic development. (3) As the dynamics of carbon emissions vary markedly across sectors, allowance allocation needs to consider the changing sectoral structure of emissions. (4) The combined effects of sectoral energy intensity and structure changes largely offset carbon emissions. Benchmarking is suggested as an ideal allocation mechanism, and the setup of sectoral carbon intensity benchmark should synthetically evaluate the potential impacts of related factors. (5) Manufacturer-based manner and carbon offset mechanism are respectively recommended for the initial implementation of carbon trading in the transport & storage & post sector and the construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper debates the main reasons why Chinese and Brazilian energy policies have not focused on Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) deployment until now. Like most emerging economies, China and Brazil have registered large increases in energy demand, as well as considerable growth of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On the other hand, both countries have played an important role on the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure and - considering that large portions of their territories present high levels of "Direct Normal Irradiation" (DNI) - CSP technologies might have figured as an important strategy for the mitigation of atmosphere pollution and global warming. Since large scale deployment of CSP technologies still implies high "Levelized Costs Of Electricity" (LCOE) that could affect the competitiveness of national industry in global markets, we argue that a comprehensive answer for this question must place national energy policies in the context of a "world-system" analysis. CSP has not benefited from the international demand that has boosted wind turbines and photovoltaic cells with their subsequent price reductions. Furthermore, we will discuss the "elective affinities" between thermal solar investments and the development of those regions that present the lowest performances in the Chinese and Brazilian socioeconomic realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's photovoltaic (PV) industry has undergone dramatic development in recent years and is now the global market leader in terms of newly added capacity. However, market diffusion and adoption in China is not ideal. This paper examines the blocking and inducement mechanisms of China's PV industry development from the perspective of technological innovation. By incorporating a Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach, the analysis performed here complements the previous literature, which has not grounded itself in a theoretical framework. In addition, to determine the current market dynamics, we closely examine market concentration trends as well as the vertical and horizontal integration of upstream and downstream actors (74.8% and 36.3%). The results of applying the TIS framework reveal that poor connectivity in networks, unaligned competitive entities and a lack of market supervision obstruct the development of China's PV industry. Therefore, we maintain that inducement mechanisms are required to instigate learning-by-doing capacities, which may help overcome blocking mechanisms and offset functional innovation deficiencies. In addition, policy implications are proposed for promoting the development of the PV industry in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of clean energy supply remains a challenge in China, particularly in rural areas with large population. Biogas production from anaerobic digestion of biomass is an efficient technology for energy strategy in China. This paper reviews the importance of household biogas in China and discusses the regional differentiation of rural household biogas (RHB), and related driving factors. Gray correlation analysis showed that regional differentiation of RHB exhibited the highest correlation degree with temperature (0.889), followed by raw materials, rural population, and levels of income and education. According to the total biogas production in China, the development regions of RHB was separated into Region 1, Region 2 and Region 3. The highest development level of RHB was found in Region 2 with a total biogas production of 1.2×10 10 m 3 , accounting for 77.6% of the total TBP of China in 2012. Moreover, the RHB development levels in Region 1 and Region 3 were 1.84×10 9 and 1.69×10 9 m 3 , respectively. Basing on the results of regional differentiation of RHB and characteristic of the primary influence factors in different regions, this study proposes that RHB development must be further promoted by combining actual situation of different regions to avoid blind development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural institutional settings and policies have played an essential role in shaping China's rural energy system. Based on a mix of 275 rural energy policies and extensive literature, this paper reviews the history of rural energy policies and key policy instruments in China from 1949 to 2018. In view of socioeconomic context and rural energy issues, the evolution background of rural energy policies is divided into four distinct stages: a centrally planned economy (1949–1978), transiting from a planned economy to a market economy (1979–1996), dynamic development of the market economy system (1997–2006), and perfection of the market economy system (2007–2018). In parallel, rural energy policies have experienced four evolution stages of: stagnation, initial development, boom, and perfection. In each period, the characteristics and implementation effects of rural energy policies are analyzed. Three main policy instruments, including subsidies, rural electrification projects, and biogas projects are also assessed. The main results are as follows: (1) a comprehensive rural energy policy is lacking, and most policies are focused on techno-economic aspects; (2) most rural energy policies are problem-oriented and deficient in predictability; (3) the regional heterogeneity of rural residents' willingness and interests are not adequately considered in rural energy policies; (4) the current rural energy administrative system restricts the implementation of rural energy policies; and (5) the role of the energy market system has been overlooked. Finally, the paper provides corresponding policy implications. • A comprehensive rural energy policy is lacking and most focused on techno-economic aspects. • Most rural energy policies are problem-oriented and deficient in predictability. • Regional heterogeneity of farmers' willingness and interests are not fully considered. • Rural energy administrative system restricts the implementation of rural energy policies. • The role of energy market system has been overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although energy efficiency improvement can reduce energy consumption, reduction of the effective price will also increase the demand for energy services. Part of this reduction is then offset because of the energy efficiency improvement. The magnitude of this energy rebound effect is one of the important factors that must be considered in the formulation and implementation of energy policies. The textile industry is a traditional pillar industry in China. It is an important part of the national economy and contributes significantly to international trade. This study uses the Morishima elasticities of substitution (MES) model combined with asymmetric energy prices, trans-log cost function, and other econometric methods to establish a framework to measure the rebound effect in China׳s textile industry. The empirical results of this paper indicate that the rebound effect for China׳s textile industry is 20.991%. This reveals that energy efficiency improvement is conducive for energy saving to a certain degree. Notwithstanding, these results also prove that energy efficiency improvement is not the only way for China׳s textile industry to realize energy saving and emission reduction. Finally, based on the analysis, future policy priorities are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) and scenario analysis have been applied respectively to analyze the impact of CO 2 -emission and its potential reduction in China׳s power industry. According to the results of LMDI, there are six factors that affect the carbon emission in the power industry. Electricity intensity (EI), and economic activity (EA) are the primary driving factors for the increment in emissions, accounting for 42.33% and 57.05% of the total increment during 1985 to 2011. Results also demonstrated that energy efficiency (EE) contributed 13.54% abatement during 1985 to 2011, and will play a key role in emission abatement in the future. Furthermore, the paper estimate the trend of power sector׳s carbon dioxide emission under three scenarios (basic, moderate and optimum) in order to determine the mitigation potential. The potential mitigation rate will equal to 22.03% and 37.57% in 2020 in Case A and Case B respectively in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China׳s 12th Five-Year Plan, released in March 2011, specifies water management targets in addition to energy and carbon intensity targets. Energy and water resources are becoming the major bottlenecks restricting sustainable development in China. Energy and water are interconnected and complementary; however, macroenergy policies do not consider the impact on water resources, while water related policies do not consider the impact on energy consumption. In this paper, an energy-water evaluation methodology based on an input–output model was introduced, and correlation between energy and water supply sectors was established by this methodology. The correlation coefficients for the energy-water nexus, allowing the water savings associated with energy saving policies in China to be estimated, particularly for key industrial sectors during the 12th Five-Year Plan period were provided. These results indicate that by achieving the energy saving targets in the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan, progress will also be made toward achieving the water use targets. It is believed that targets for the synergies between energy savings and water conservation should be improved. The effect of water conservation resulting from energy savings varies greatly in different sectors, and to maximize the synergies, energy and water conservation technologies should be promoted in key industrial sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facing with great pressure to feed the demand outstripping the supply situation as well as alleviate the energy pollution problem, China has accelerated the pace of shale gas exploration. During the 12th Five-Year-Plan (FYP) period, Chinese government and petroleum enterprises actively promoted the development of shale gas industry, and made certain progresses in various aspects. Meanwhile, a series of preferential and supportive policies were developed to encourage shale gas exploration. However, as the shale gas industry is still in the initial stage in China, there are many challenges and difficulties existing in shale gas development. This paper presents a systematical review on the current status and policies of shale gas industry in China, aiming to provide important reference to the policy-makers for introducing and improving policies. Firstly, the current status including progresses and difficulties is presented. Subsequently, the recent policies for shale gas development are reviewed. The analyses of current policies and implementation barriers are followed. Finally, specific policy suggestions are proposed and a general conclusion is drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the changes in carbon-dioxide (CO 2 ) emission in China׳s cement industry over the period 1991–2010. Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) was applied for the decomposition analysis. Five determinants were examined and the results divided into five time intervals, according to China׳s five-year economic plans. The results show that labor productivity was the major driving force of increase in CO 2 emission in China׳s cement industry, and energy intensity was the major contributor to CO 2 emission reduction. The other three factors also generated certain level of effects. This article provides some policy suggestions which could be adopted to reduce CO 2 emission in this energy-intensive industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of renewable energy, which is an important way to solve the environmental protection, has now become a research focus around the world. As a developing country with rapid growth, China gains the rapid development of economy, but the environmental pollution is becoming increasingly serious in recent years. Electricity industry plays an important role for energy-saving and emission-reduction in China, in order to reduce the environment pollution, it needs to consider how the electricity consumption affects the carbon emissions. In this paper, a stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STRIPAT) model was built, which estimates the relationship between the carbon emissions, population, GDP per capita, electricity consumption and energy consumption. It found that population, GDP per capita and the ratio of electricity consumption in energy consumption are change 1%, the carbon emissions will change 1.207%, 0.901% and −1.188% respectively. Based on the relationship, there electricity energy development scenarios were assumed and analyzed, and it found that the way to reduce carbon emissions should consider improving technical ability, which should accounting for improving the ratio of electricity power ratio in the energy consumption, improving the efficiency of using fossil energy and the development of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy is an important factor in achieving a low-carbon economic development path in China. This paper investigates the factors influencing renewable electricity consumption in China. Specifically, the factors that influence the share of renewable electricity in total electricity consumption in China is investigated using data from 1980 to 2011 and employing the Johansen cointegration technique and vector error correction model. The result of the analysis shows that there is a long run relationship between renewable electricity consumption and GDP per capita, trade openness, foreign direct investment, financial development and share of fossil fuel in energy consumption. Economic development and financial development promotes renewable electricity consumption while foreign direct investment, trade openness and the lobby of conventional energy sources undermine the share of renewables in total electricity consumption in China. While the effects of shocks to the other variables appear to die out over time, the “lobby effect” is persistent and explosive. The results also show that there is a uni-directional short run causality from financial development to renewable electricity consumption and from renewable electricity consumption to trade openness. The Chinese government should pursue policies that not only increase the amount of renewable electricity, but also increase the share of renewables in total electricity consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As fossil fuels reserves deplete rapidly and the low-carbon economy develops expeditiously, especially in China, natural gas as a clean and alternative energy is underway to help meet increased energy needs and climate needs. Therefore, accurate forecasts of natural gas production and consumption have been a necessary task for policy making in the coming years. This paper presents a review of natural gas forecasting models. The multicycle Hubbert model is employed to forecast China’s annual nature gas production and to determine the peak production, the peak year and the future production trends based on several different URR scenarios. Moreover, a small-sample effective rolling GM(1,1) model is proposed for the first time to forecast exponential natural gas consumption with different lengths of data sets. Then, the grey relationship analysis is used to select the best consumption curve in correspond with different URR scenarios. The empirical result shows that the supply–demand gap will be larger and larger in the future, with a minimum gap of 22 bcm in 2011 and 225 bcm in 2050, with a maximum gap of 31 bcm in 2011 and 807 bcm in 2050, which indicates that the natural gas production in China cannot meet the rising consumption. Therefore, policy measures must be taken to ameliorate the situation, including expanding natural gas imports, increasing unconventional natural gas production, complementing the gap with other energy resources and combining energy saving with emission reduction. Accurate forecasting of natural gas production and consumption can provide the basis for decision making and help the government generate new significant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2000, solar thermal utilization (STU) has a great process in China, not only with a large scale commercial development, but also with an increasing number of scientific publications and patent applications. In this paper, several representative technologies of STU in China are studied based on an analysis of the relationship between patents and policies. Patent information of STU is collected and analyzed in terms of the time distribution, type distribution and technical trends. The main driving factor—energy policy—was discussed through the patent analysis. STU patents took off after the millennium and 85.8% of them came from the solar water heater. For conventional technologies, 94.2% of the granted patents were from companies and individuals, and the patents proposed by various research institutions were mainly in the technological beginning and technological maturity. Advanced technologies are still at a growth stage in China, and they have 412 patents in all and 70.5% of the patents were from systematic design and test method. Energy policies have played a significant role in promoting the progress of STU in China. Based on a patent analysis, it can be expected that STU will enter the age of medium-high temperature in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving equality and efficiency of household energy distribution is the primary concern of China’s policy makers in their effort to reform the energy pricing system. In this paper, we use Atkinson Index as an analytical tool to quantitatively and systematically evaluate the equality and efficiency of household energy distribution. The result shows that the Atkinson index of electricity expenditure is much smaller than that of transportation expenditure, which indicates that transportation expenditure responds better to income differences. Furthermore, a geographical distribution analysis indicates that households in Middle China suffer greater inequality in energy distribution than those in Eastern and Western China. In view of the oncoming energy pricing reform in China, we reevaluate the Atkinson index under the new pricing scenarios for electricity and petroleum products. Compared to the current household energy pricing mechanism, the simulated new policies generate more allocative efficiency of household energy and ensure more equality of energy consumption for low income households. On this account, we suggest that geographical differences and equality in energy distribution be duly addressed in reforming energy policies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State Grid Corporation of China and China Southern Power Grid Corporation put forward the vision of Smart Grid in 2009. Then China launched the second round of distribution automation system (DAS) project. This paper summarizes the DAS in this round, including the project planning, current development and related technical standard. The development situation and trend of feeder automation (FA) technology are focused. The various realization modes and test verification technology of FA are presented in details. With the integration of distributed generation to distribution grid, the trend of Advanced Distribution Automation (ADA) and other techniques such as optimizing operation and practicability of FA in China are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, China has witnessed substantial progress in urbanization and industrialization and has become the manufacturing center of the world, but has suffered from severe environmental deterioration, especially air pollution. National and provincial governments have adopted a series of policy tools aiming at energy conservation and emission reduction, varying from energy saving regulations to cleaner production policies. This paper investigates provincial energy saving and emission reduction policies by evaluating their effectiveness on local air pollution control. Relying on a panel data regression analysis on a sample of 26 provinces and four centrally-controlled municipalities over a ten-year period from 2002 to 2011, we find empirical support for the positive impacts of provincial energy saving regulations and two environmental standards on the improvement of local air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid rise of China as a dominant global player in the solar photovoltaic industry has drawn much attention from scholars and policy-makers. However, few literatures have launched an in-depth analysis of China׳s strategic promotion of the photovoltaic industry. This study aims to fill this gap. This paper investigates legislative and policy development along with industrial strategies which the Chinese government has pursued in order to encourage development in the photovoltaic industry and also in related research and development activities. Moreover, from the perspective of technological and industrial development trends, the authors carried out an analysis of China׳s photovoltaic industry chain, pointing out that China׳s photovoltaic industry has the potential to take one step further in the areas of research and development, and the possibility of achieving breakthroughs in international cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of small hydropower in China plays an important role in many aspects reflecting national and local public policies such as raising the level of rural electrification, driving rural economic and social development, improving farmers׳ production and living conditions, promoting energy conservation and reducing greenhouse emissions. This paper introduced the current development of small hydropower; analyzed the external environment of small hydropower investment; summarized small hydropower financing models in China; dissects the problems existing in the small hydropower investment and financing; finally puts forward some suggestions to improve the current situation of the small hydropower investment and financing policies and measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of China’s power industry has lasted for decades, while the implementation of demand side management (DSM) in China is still in its infancy. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study of the DSM and Demand Response (DR) programs in China under the context of China’s power industry reform. We first present a brief introduction of the background, including the socio economic status and geographical location of China, the energy policy of China, China’s power industry, the smart grids and microgrid in China, and the reform of China’s power industry. Then, based on the introduction of DSM and the analysis of DSM practices in some countries, we discuss the development status of DSM and the reform of electricity pricing in China. Finally, the main challenges in five aspects for the future development of DSM programs in China are proposed and discussed. These challenges include customer understanding and participation, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and information and communication technology (ICT), pricing mechanisms and optimal scheduling, big data analytics based decision support, as well as government regulations and market policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ease environment pressure and alleviate the scarce problem of energy, Chinese government has begun to exploit and develop shale gas (SG) since 2009. However, the formation of competitive market is bristled with difficulties, due to its infancy, imperfect and lack of standardization. This paper firstly analyzes the status quo of technology, policy, cost, and competition of SG industry in China. Then a system dynamics (SD) model is built to show various trends of Chinese SG industry under different scenarios, which shows that technology, policy and cost all have effects on competitiveness. At last, the simulations reveal that the number of competitors in Chinese SG industry will arrive at its peak from 2019 to 2020. The corresponding recommendations have been presented: Chinese government should pay more attention on the perfection of laws and regulations of SG industry. And competitors should focus on increasing R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of China’s new energy policies on expected changes and volatility in new energy stock prices. Considering different kinds of policies (energy legislation, binding targets for new energies, economic incentives and technological research and development) and several new energy indexes (China’s new energy sector and the solar, wind, nuclear and lithium battery subsectors), we used a regression model with a GARCH specification and dummy variables to differentiate policy pre- and post-announcement effects on expected returns and volatility. Our evidence indicates that pre- and post-announcement energy legislation policies dampened price volatility in all subsector indexes and that economic incentives had a positive policy announcement effect on all subsector index prices. Other new energy policies had no significant impact on either the mean or the volatility of the new energy assets. The potential implications for policy makers and investors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and climate change have become one of the most important issues of great concern. Consequently, improving energy efficiency and developing renewable energy have also become the fundamental energy policies of all countries around the world. China has put forward the ambitious goal to speed up the construction of the resource conserving and environmentally friendly society. In Copenhagen Global Warming Summit, held in November 2009, China made a solemn commitment: by 2020, the CO 2 emissions per unit of GDP (i.e. carbon intensity) will decrease by 40% to 45% compared with that in 2005. Therefore, increasing energy efficiency, reducing energy consumption and protecting environment will undoubtedly become the urgent task in China, hence energy saving and emission reduction prove to be the developing trend. The Energy Saving Power Generation Dispatching (ESPGD) Measures (trial) printed by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) was required to carry out energy saving power generation dispatching, so as to maximize the environmental benefits which the renewable energy and other clean energy create, minimize the energy consumption and pollutant emissions, and promote the secure, efficient and clean electric power system. The implementation of ESPGD is facing enormous challenges both in technology and in regulations. How to realize the balance among energy conservation, environmental protection and economic efficiency under the premise of secure and stable system operation, and how to promote the effective implementation through the policy measures, are the key problems to be resolved urgently for China to thoroughly carry out ESPGD. This paper introduces the concept of ESPGD, elaborates the influences of ESPGD on the entire electric power industry, discusses the situation and comparison of ESPGD in the pilot provinces, and puts forward technical and policy suggestions for the effective implementation of ESPGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy development is a major response to address the issues of climate change and energy security. The utilization of renewable resources, however, highly depends on the climate conditions, which may be impacted in the future due to global climate change. Based on literature analysis, this paper presents a general framework for renewable energy vulnerability assessment and applies grey cluster analysis method to demonstrate the features of vulnerability, and then employs the Simple Additive Weighting Approach to address the multiple-attribute decision problems of vulnerability assessment in China. The categorized results imply that the proposed index system is suitable for decision-making analysis and comparative analysis of renewable energy vulnerability to climate change in China. In terms of exposure part, the cluster results are complex and varied due to the unique combination of natural factors, social factors and the energy structure. In the sensitivity section, the results are presented on the distribution of areas rich in hydropower, wind power and solar energy potential. Moreover, the main results of this study are the higher renewable energy vulnerability of the poorer regions of China to climate change and the relative higher importance of adaptive capacity building in vulnerability management. Finally, policy recommendations on regional renewable energy vulnerability management are also made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the research is to study consumers' attitudes towards biodiesel implementation in China. In the paper, authors analyzed the future trends of diesel demand and revealed the prospects of biodiesel in China. And a comprehensive survey has been conducted for 226 private diesel vehicle owners (drivers) in Beijing. The questionnaire survey method is used to collect information, including respondents' viewpoints on fuels selection, biodiesel quality, biodiesel price and related policies. Furthermore, authors applied Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze the collected data. The results indicate that the most important factor affecting consumers' selection of biodiesel is price. Other significant factors are policy, government incentives and biodiesel quality. Besides, the results also showed that policy and government incentives could affect the price and quality of biodiesel. These results give rise to serious consideration about consumers' preference for and awareness of biodiesel. The research findings will help government and corporations to understand the consumer's energy consumption behaviors and improve the further implementation for biodiesel in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Wind power is one of the world׳s major renewable energy sources, and its utilization provides an important contribution in helping solve the energy problems of many countries. After nearly 40 years of development, China׳s wind power industry now not only manufactures its own massive six MW turbines but also has the largest capacity in the world with a national output of 50millionMWh in 2010 and set to rise by eight times of that amount by 2020. This paper investigates this development route by analyzing relevant academic literature, statistics, laws and regulations, policies and research and industry reports. The main drivers of the development in the industry are identified as technologies, turbines, wind farm construction, pricing mechanism and government support systems, each of which is also divided into different stages with distinctive features. A systematic review of these aspects provides academics and practitioners with a better understanding of the history of the wind power industry in China and reasons for its rapid development with a view to enhancing progress in wind power development both in China and the world generally. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper systematically collects and sorts out China polices of biomass power generation policy, mainly from 2006 to 2012, based on the actual demand of the biomass power generation project. According to the effect of the policy implementation, it analyzes the problems about the policies, such as the development goal being too large, tax policies not being easy to implement, the relevance amongst some policies being poor, and provides some suggestions. Finally, it concludes that biomass power generation should be developed steadily in China, and fiscal supporting should not be introduced any more. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In addition to providing a review of electricity generation developments in China, this paper features the development of a framework for understanding the socio-political economy influencing electricity market development. It documents and presents a critical evaluation of the social, technological, economic and political forces which influence electricity generation policy in China. The analysis provides insight into why China's electricity generation shopping basket is being filled with both coal and CO2-reduced electricity generation technologies. It concludes that installed capacity of hydro power, wind power, nuclear power and solar PV power will outpace government projections due to inter alia a proclivity on the part of the Chinese government to set conservative (and achievable) targets, waning apathy toward pollution associated with coal-fired power, progressive improvements in grid connection and resilience, increased economic viability of these alternative energy sources and government support for these industries as strategic commercial sectors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: At present, countries around the world set off a round of upsurge of exploitation and utilization of geothermal energy. As one of renewable energy resources, geothermal energy has the advantages of great resource potential, low carbon emissions, widespread distribution, easy development and so on. China׳s geothermal resources are enormous and have huge potential for exploitation. However, due to the lack of reasonable industry planning and policies support, and lag of technologies, the industrial development speed and scale are far behind the wind, solar and biomass energy. The 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People׳s Republic of China explicitly issues that in future China will vigorously develop the geothermal energy and provide more policy support for geothermal industry development from medium to longer term. This paper describes China׳s geothermal resource potential and status quo of geothermal industry, and analyzes the obstacles of the industry development. Then, it accordingly puts forward the development pattern of China׳s geothermal industry and gives out related countermeasures. At last, it outlines the prospects in this field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper focuses on the relationship between bioenergy industry and energy security. The situation of fuel ethanol, biodiesel, biogas and biomass power industry of China in recent years has been introduced comprehensively. With a quick look at the existing bioenergy industrial development policies, combined with China's energy security situation, we drew the following conclusions: (1) the bioenergy industry is an effective way to achieve China's energy security; (2) as for energy substitution from cost aspect, China has already had the ability to make bioenergy substitute for fossil fuels; (3) from technical aspect, however, China's bioenergy technologies are not mature, this means that in a very long period of time, biomass and fossil energy will jointly develop in a mutually beneficial way. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Wind power installation in China has increased rapidly since 2004. However, wind power usage remains relatively low resulting in a lot of idle capacity beginning in 2007. In this paper, we determine the main framework of China's current wind power policies and illustrate how these policies led to the rapid installation expansion accompanied by large idle capacity. Building on this, we explore how to alleviate the high installation low wind power usage conflict in China. We establish optimal models to (i) analyze wind power and power grid company behavior; (ii) demonstrate the impact of China's current policies on power and grid companies; and (iii) clarify the causes and mechanisms resulting in high growth and low wind power capacity usage. Our analysis shows that the incentive incompatibility of current policies, which enticed power companies to pursue installation expansion regardless of quality while inhibiting grid companies from improving connectivity, transmission and scheduling technology, is the primary cause for such large-scale idle capacity. The results of our study suggest that the fundamental way to scale up wind power utilization is to enhance policy incentive compatibility, which mainly includes (i) distributing revenues and diversifying risk fairly between power and grid companies; and (ii) motivating power companies to address demand fluctuation actively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Micro-grids are effective concepts and systems to interface renewable and sustainable energy resources into utility, which has been paid significant attention. In this paper, the policies and demonstrations of micro-grids for researches and developments, as well as practical applications in China have been comprehensively reviewed. Many recent policies on renewable energy and micro-grids are summarized, which have been guiding and contributing the development of micro-grids in China. Additionally, the available micro-grids demonstrations in China are also introduced in detail. Finally, the emergency necessaries and trends of micro-grid applications in China have been concluded. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: At present, the global energy consumption of transport sectors is about one third of the total energy consumption of the world, such a proportion in China accounts for about 20%. Over the past decades, with the continuous development of China's economy, China's energy consumption increases rapidly, China became the world's biggest energy consumer in the year of 2009. Meanwhile, China's transport energy consumption grows greatly, and the proportion of the transport terminal energy consumption is expanding considerably. Recently, a number of theoretical methods and technical schemes focusing on China's transport energy consumption and saving were reported. In this paper, by reviewing the existing reports, we discuss and analyze the current status of China's transport energy consumption including four different transport sectors: road, railway, waterway and civil aviation, and outline the trend of China's transport energy consumption and the four sectors. In addition, the technology status of China's energy saving in road, railway and waterway transport as well as civil aviation and their development direction are also presented. Here by analyzing the major development barriers of the technology and policy of China's transport energy saving, some related policy suggestions are proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]