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During the multiple-energy-source era, China must realize the clean and efficient use of coal. This article compares coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) technology and competitive alternatives for clean, efficient coal use with regard to energy efficiency, CO2emissions, water consumption, unit investment, and cost. It was found that coal-based SNG-and-power cogeneration without carbon capture (CC) is the most feasible for China at present. This study also analyzes the differences in the challenges faced by coal-based SNG plants between China and the US. Unlike the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in the US, coal-based SNG plants in China will remain strategically significant for decades because of high domestic demand and enduring natural gas prices. The findings in this paper indicate that projects as operational coal-based SNG-only plants in China cannot be implemented, but the coal-based SNG industry should continue developing. Coal-based SNG-and-power cogeneration technology can be a strategic choice for China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a good power supplement form of super power and large-scale energy base, distributed energy has the characteristics of less investment and flexible power generation. Facing with the double pressure of the sustainable development of energy use and environmental protection, it has become an efficient solution to meet the demand of load growth, reduce environmental pollution and improve the comprehensive utilization of energy and the reliability of power supply. However, the development of distributed energy starts relatively late in China and confronts many difficulties. So this paper analyzes the present development situation and existing problems of the distributed energy in China. Then it elaborates from the aspects of policies and regulations, technical specifications, price policy and grid-interconnection codes. At last, this paper puts forward relevant policy suggestions of the guarantee mechanism of distributed energy. This paper argues that, with the attention of the development of distributed energy increasing, a series of policies to promote the construction and interconnection of distributed energy will be introduced, and distributed energy will get scaled development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to argue for the necessity and significance of studying the distributional employment impacts of renewable and new energy development (RNE). Based on the comprehensive review of the methodology and conclusions of existing literatures, this paper builds up an extended input–output model to study RNE’s distributional employment impacts on gender and personnel structure. The case study of China׳s power sector in this paper affirmed earlier doubts that RNE development will indeed aggravate the gender inequality problem and add to the level of mismatch between the structure of labor demand and supply, causing structural unemployment problems. The quantitative analysis in this paper outlined here implies that from 2011 to 2020 the development of RNE will bring about 7 million employment gains, but only 81.8% of which can be realized due to the mismatch problem. The study of China may alert other countries to be less-optimistic about RNE’s employment impacts and reaffirm the need to carry out the distributional employment impacts analysis. This paper concludes with policy suggestions such as providing suitable training and equal promotion opportunities for women, offering courses and vocational trainings to RNE-related majors, in order to reduce the structural unemployment problem and further speed up the development of RNE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In March 2011, China’s central government set a new challenging target of reducing its energy intensity by 16% during 2011–2015, after it had achieved a reduction of 19.1% during 2006–2010. And this new target was assigned to provincial authorities in August 2011. However, China’s provincial energy-economic developments are unbalanced and different provinces have different key sectors for energy conservation. Most previous studies focused on provincial energy efficiency at the aggregate level, or the three-industry level (or one-digit level). However, whether for policy decision or academic research, it is necessary to further subdivide the sectors. In this paper, we use three indicators (Gini Coefficient, energy consumption share and energy intensity) to compare provincial energy conservation potentials at the two-digit sector level. To our knowledge, this paper is the first one to identify the keys for energy conversation across the 31 provinces×65 sectors. And the results are shown in visualized maps and matrix tables to help identify the key province×sectors for energy conservation easier. This also helps the central and provincial governments to distinguish key sectors when they monitor the energy conservation progress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Wind power generation has increased rapidly in China over the last decade. In this paper the authors present an extensive survey on the status and development of wind power generation in China. The wind resource distributions in China are presented and assessed, and the 10 GW-scale wind power generation bases are introduced in details. The domestic research status of main components of WP system is then elaborated, followed by an evaluation of the wind power equipment manufacturers. Finally, the outlook for the development of the wind power utilization in China is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Chinese Government paid more attention to the exploitation of offshore wind power, and it became an important trend in the development of wind power industry. However, the development of offshore wind power in China was still in the initial stage. Compared with land-based wind power, the development of off-shore wind power had not only weaknesses and uncertainties, but also strengths and opportunities. In order to research the development of offshore wind power, this paper summarized the aspects on policy, market, technology and development planning of offshore wind power in China, and then adopted SWOT method to analyze the influencing factors, which impact on the development of China's offshore wind power. At last, this article analyzed the internal and external factors that affect the golden period of offshore wind power development, and drew a conclusion that the golden period of offshore wind power in China will come in the future, and most likely around 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric power industry is a typical industry with high energy consumption and high emissions in China. To relieve the increasing environmental pressures and promote the sustainable development of China’s economy and society, it is urgent to take actions to reduce energy consumption and pollution emissions of China’s electric power industry. In this paper, we first present an overview of the development status of China’s electric power industry, including the total power generating capacity and proportions of different power generation methods, the development of renewable energy power generation, as well as the average utilization hours of different power generation equipment. Then, the development of energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry is studied. The indicators of energy conservation include coal consumption for power supply, power consumption rate of power plants and comprehensive line loss rate; while the contents of emissions reduction include desulfurization, emissions control and the comprehensive utilization of solid waste. Finally, suggestions in five aspects to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry are presented. The five suggestions are improving power generation technologies, expanding renewable energy power generation, optimizing power generation process, strengthening monitoring and regulation, and promoting power generation rights and emissions trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All recent analyses acknowledge that environmental resources are in short supply and that it is on them that "carrying capacity" calculations ought to be based. For the specific case of the Chinese society, which is undergoing an unprecedented period of continuous growth, it seems therefore mandatory to alleviate the conflict between high-speed development and available resources. This paper analyzes the variation of the natural resources input into China during years 2000-2007 using the exergy and extended exergy socio-economic metric. Fluxes of materials, labor, capital and environmental remediation expenses were quantified by a numeraire solidly rooted on a second-law metric, so that a new mode of ecological accounting that quantifies both the composition and the proportion of the extended exergy flows can shed light on the total available energy input into the Chinese society. Two new indicators, labor production efficiency and net pro-capite exergy resource input, are proposed to depict the contribution of economic, social and environmental aspects to the usual four production factors and to express the conversion results in transferring efficiency and quantity from material energy to economic output. "Social" extended exergy analysis, applied to each one of the seven sectors of the society, is suggested as an effective method to reveal the energy quality degradation in the resource conversion process at both national and sectoral levels. The comparison of social resource accounting among different societies by using these two indicators may provide useful additional information to evaluate the production conversion coefficients, to assess the environmental impacts and to diagnose possible ecological dysfunctions. In addition, the extended exergy analysis of the Chinese society is helpful in uncovering the long-term resource depletion and promoting efficiency of the resource transformation in the social-economic-environmental system, thus providing a holistic method and a systematic view for decision makers responsible for environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a new and green energy source. China has significant opportunities for solar energy utilization with its huge solar resource. The solar PV power in China has developed for 50 years, and experienced a rapid progress in the last 10 years. To address the needs of the fast growth of the PV power industry in China, it is critical to identify, analyze and understand the growth path and the characteristics of the industry. This paper summarizes the status of the solar energy resources and the development of the solar PV power industry in China, and puts forward the main factors that impacted the development of the industry. A study refers to the selected five main factors the factors are: technology research and development, industrial plans, laws and regulations, electricity price policies, and projects incentive policies. A multifaceted approach including literature survey, statistical data investigation, law review, and regulation and policy study are adopted to investigate these factors. Analysis of the typical events, the growth process and the characteristics of the five factors, allows the establishment of growth route models. The results can be a useful reference for the development of solar PV power industry in China and other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]