America's Climate Problem: The Way Forward by Robert Repetto

Author:Robert Repetto [Repetto, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Ecology, Political Science, Nature, Environmental Policy
ISBN: 9781136540547
Google: w8trmPGo0MEC
Goodreads: 17545664
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Box 5.1 What China has already done

Since 2005, almost all large new power plants constructed in China have used efficient super-critical technology. By 2007, Chinese companies had started constructing even more advanced ultra-super-critical power plants. Since 2007, the Chinese government has closed more than 500 older sub-100MW power plants, each of which emits almost three times the CO2 per kilowatt hour of the best available technology. China has begun closing relatively inefficient plants with capacities under 300MW, which currently account for 30 per cent of total capacity. The National Development and Reform Commission in China now requires that large power companies ‘buy out’ and close down inefficient generating plants equivalent to 60 per cent of proposed construction capacity before projects will be approved.

China has completed construction of a next stage generating plant, a 250MW integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant, with potential for carbon capture and storage. The second and third stages are to add 400MW of IGCC capacity with commercial scale carbon capture and storage.

China's Renewable Energy Law, which came into effect in 2006, mandates that the power grid purchase renewable power. China has already adopted a national renewable energy portfolio standard calling for an increase to 3 per cent of total generation by 2010 and 15 per cent by 2020. China also subsidizes wind, solar and bio-power projects, including a feed-in tariff for wind power.

China aspires to be the market leader in renewable energy. China is a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (solar) cells, second only to Japan, and became the world's largest manufacturer of wind towers by the end of 2009. China has 60 per cent of global installed capacity of solar water heaters, now installed in 10 per cent of all Chinese homes. The market continues to grow at about 20 per cent per year. In 2009, China invested almost twice as much in renewable energy projects as the US.

In the transportation sector, fuel economy standards were issued in 2005 that were much stricter than those in the US. They have recently been tightened and remain stricter than the new American standards. In 2006 a heavy ‘gas guzzler’ excise tax based on engine displacement was adopted, the rate ranging from 1 per cent for a fuel-efficient subcompact car to 40 per cent for a large SUV. China is also heavily investing in hybrid electric and all-electric vehicles. A Chinese company is one of the first to introduce an all-electric vehicle to commercial mass markets, both domestic and export. China is also by far the world's largest producer and consumer of electric bicycles.

To reduce energy use in buildings, new constructions are required to use energy-efficient materials and insulation, and to adopt energy-saving technologies for heating, air-conditioning, ventilation and lighting systems. The design standards require new buildings to lower energy consumption per square meter to half the current Chinese average or less, and stricter standards were adopted for richer cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. The national government has also adopted one of the world's most comprehensive mandatory

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