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China searches for energy security
ECO1Economy/EconomyChina searches for energy securityBy Yang JianxiangBeijing, Oct 5 Xinhua It was a mid-May night, and trucks queued up at a gas station by the East 5th Ring Road of Beijing. The line was long, blocking a lane of the main road.At the station, the oil pipe nozzles were dry - the stock of diesel had run out and the fresh supplies would not come until after midnight. But when new consignment came, it was far less than adequate. Most vehicles would be partly filled and some would wait in vain.The situation had a direct link with soaring oil prices on the international market. To the country's decision makers, it was a harsh reminder of a vital issue - energy security.Though the aggregate figure looks quite impressive, China is poor in energy resource reserves on per capita calculation. Proven reserves of fossil fuels have increased in recent years, but this cannot change the overall picture.Production of energy fell behind growing demand due to a rapid development of the economy, the quickening pace of urbanization and the rising living standard.The country's coal reserves ranked third globally. Production accounted for about 40 percent of world output in 2007. Given the current rate of exploitation, the reserves would be exhausted in a little over 80 years. The comparatively small reserves of oil and gas would dwindle even faster, in 15 years and 30 years respectively.The government announced an energy strategy that lay emphasis on conservation to optimize consumption. It relies on domestic production and seeks diversified sources to secure supply and to develop new and renewable energies as alternatives for the future."We will strive to establish a steady, economic and clean energy supply system," Zhang Guobao, minister in charge of the energy sector of the National Development and Reform Commission NDRC, said at an international conference in January.It might be necessary for China to maintain fast economic growth, but energy consumption may grow at a slower pace if a good job is done in conservation. The country's unit gross domestic product GDP energy consumption was three to eight times as much as those in the United States and Japan.Adjusting the demand of industries is one way to reduce energy consumption intensity. A government announcement made Oct 11, 2007 terminated preferential power rates for high energy consuming industries such as electrolytic aluminium, alloy and chloro-alkaline enterprises.Tightening management and upgrading technology also help reduce the energy consumption of suppliers as well as consumers. For example, thermal plants were required to adopt highly efficient new technologies for coal burning power generation.By the end of 2010 China has set a target of cutting down energy consumption per 10,000 yuan $1,460 of GDP by 20 percent, from 1.22 tons of coal equivalent TCE in 2005 to 0.98 TCE. That means an annual average of 4 percent.Last year, while the overall reduction rate of 3.66 percent still fell short of expectations, more than two-thirds of the provinces met the annual goal. This was in sharp contrast to the first year when only Beijing managed to do so.NDRC Energy Institute director Zhou Dadi said, efforts by some provincial governments and companies were inadequate.The government has acknowledged the importance of clean and renewable energy. China has abundant resources in hydropower and wind, solar, biofuel, geothermal and tidal energy. Renewable energy and nuclear power accounted for 7.5 percent of total energy consumption last year. The State Renewable Energy Medium- and Long-term Planning SREMLP aimed at raising the renewable share to 10 percent in 2010 and 15 percent in 2020.The latest statistics available show the country's nuclear power capacity totalled 9,100 mw, with 11 reactors in operation. By 2020, the State Nuclear Power Development Plan aims at a total installation of 40,000 mw, which would account for 4 percent of the nation's total power capacity. Compared with the world average of 14.8 percent and close to 80 percent in some leading countries, there was much room for China's nuclear power development.--Xinhuadkg/jg 730 Words05101051
2008-10-05 01:05:08
Rlys to invest Rs 2,000 cr on steel coaches
Indian railways plans to invest Rs 2,000 cr annually to increase its consumption of stainless steel to two lakhs tonne a year and get new coaches and wagons made up of the alloy....
2008-09-12 11:29:12
Maithan Alloys to invest Rs 275 cr in ferro alloys unit
Kolkota-based Maithan Alloys today said its board has approved its proposal to invest in its subsidiary company for setting up ferro alloys manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh with a project cost of...
2008-09-10 04:16:06
San Jose requires dentists to keep mercury-alloy from fillings out of bay
A new San Jose policy aimed at keeping the city's wastewater treatment plant in compliance with a state mandate would require local dentists to install amalgam separators to remove the silvery fil...
2008-09-06 00:03:09
Carpenter Technology updates Q4 profit to reflect higher litigation reserve - Update
Specialty alloys producer Carpenter Technology Corp. CRS on Monday revised downward its fourth-quarter profit announced on July 31 to reflect an increase in special litigation reserve as a result of a...
2008-08-25 13:29:15
How the Soviets Drilled the Deepest Hole in the World
&ltimg src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/08/gallery_kola_borehole/main4_t.jpg'>: &ltp&gtIn the Cold War '60s, as the space race heated up, another race began: ...
2008-08-25 05:00:00
Arms export controls to expand
Japan intends to tighten international security by adding 32 more items to the list of products subject to arms export controls, trade ministry officials said Thursday. The items will include nickel ...
2008-08-22 01:16:36
Adhunik to set up iron ore unit
&ltp>&ltfont size="2">&ltstrong&gtBY OUR CORRESPONDENT&ltp&gtMumbai&ltp&gtAug. 19: Leading alloy steel producer Adhunik Metaliks Ltd is planning to rais...
2008-08-20 13:04:56
Alloy exports to be taxed
CHINA, the world's largest aluminum producer, is to impose a tax on exports of the metal's alloys and on some coal products to curb over-investment in energy-intensive industries. Duties on ex...
2008-08-16 00:00:00
New process to yield plentiful biofuel from waste unraveled
Washington, August 14 ANI: Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University have come up with a new idea to derive ethanol from waste material like grass, wood pulp, animal waste, and garbage into ethanol. Their hunch is that combining the process of gasification-which turns carbon-based feedstocks under high temperature and pressure in an oxygen-controlled atmosphere into synthesis gas syngas-with high-tech nanoscale porous catalysts may make it possible to create ethanol from a wide range of biomass. Syngas is made up primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and smaller quantities of carbon dioxide and methane. The researchers describe gasification as the same technique that was used to extract the gas from coal that fueled gas light fixtures prior to the advent of the electric light bulb. According to them, the advantage of gasification compared to fermentation technologies is that it can be used in a variety of applications, including process heat, electric power generation, and synthesis of commodity chemicals and fuels. "There was some interest in converting syngas into ethanol during the first oil crisis back in the 70s. The problem was that catalysis technology at that time didn't allow selectivity in the by-products. They could produce ethanol, but you'd also get methane, aldehydes and a number of other undesirable products," said Ames Lab chemist and Chemical and Biological Science Program Director Victor Lin.Studying the chemical reactions in syngas conversion, Lin found that the carbon monoxide molecules that yielded ethanol could be "activated" in the presence of a catalyst with a unique structural feature."If we can increase this 'activated' CO adsorption on the surface of the catalyst, it improves the opportunity for the formation of ethanol molecules. And if we can increase the amount of surface area for the catalyst, we can increase the amount of ethanol produced," Lin said. Lin and his colleagues looked at using a metal alloy as the catalyst. For increasing the surface area, the researchers used nano-scale catalyst particles dispersed widely within the structure of mesoporous nanospheres, tiny sponge-like balls with thousands of channels running through them. The total surface area of the dispersed catalyst nanoparticles was roughly 100 times greater than the surface area one could get with the same quantity of catalyst material in larger, macro-scale particles.Robert Brown, the director of ISU's Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies CSET, said: "Gasification to ethanol has received increasing attention as an attractive approach to reaching the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard of 36 billion gallons of biofuel." Lin added: "The great thing about using syngas to produce ethanol is that it expands the kinds of materials that can be converted into fuels. You can use the waste product from the distilling process or any number of other sources of biomass, such as switchgrass or wood pulp. Basically any carbon-based material can be converted into syngas. And once we have syngas, we can turn that into ethanol." ANI
2008-08-14 04:00:00