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Abstract: Because of the needs of sustainable development of the mankind society and natural environment building a renewable energy system is one of the most critical issues that today''s society must address. In the new energy system there is a requirement for a renewable fuel to replace current energy carrier. Hydrogen is an ideal secondary energy. Using solar energy to produce hydrogen in large scale can solve the problems of sustainability, environmental emissions, and energy security and become the focus of the international society in the area of energy science and technology. It has also been set as an important research direction by many international hydrogen programs. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China supported and launched a project of National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) – the Basic Research of Mass Hydrogen Production using Solar Energy in 2003 for R&D in the areas of solar hydrogen production. The current status of solar hydrogen production research is reviewed and some significant results achieved in the project are reported in this paper. The trends of development and the future research directions in the field of solar hydrogen production in China are also briefly discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a synthesis of assessment of sustainable biomass production potential in six Asian countries—China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and is based on the detailed studies carried out in these countries under the Asian Regional Research Programme in Energy, Environment and Climate (ARRPEEC). National level studies were undertaken to estimate land availability for biomass production, identify and evaluate the biomass production options in terms of yield per hectare and financial viability, estimate sustainable biomass production for energy, and estimate the energy potential of biomass production in the six Asian countries. Sustainable biomass production from plantation is estimated to be in the range of 182.5–210.5, 62–310, 0.4–1.7, 3.7–20.4, 2.0–9.9 and 11.6–106.6 Mt yr−1 for China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, respectively. The maximum annual electricity generation potential, using advanced technologies, from the sustainable biomass production is estimated to be about 27, 114, 4.5, 79, 254 and 195 percentage of the total electricity generation in year 2000 in China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, respectively. Investment cost for bioenergy production varies from US$381 to 1842 ha−1 in the countries considered in this study; investment cost for production of biomass varies from US$5.1 to 23 t−1. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]