Government and Policy

Non-fossil fuels to take up 11.4% of China's energy use

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-04 13:47

BEIJING - China aims to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels in overall primary energy use to 11.4 percent by 2015, Zhang Guobao, former head of the country's National Energy Administration, said Friday.

"In the next 10 years, China will commit to adjusting its current energy mix which now mainly relies on coal," Zhang, a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

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The target has been included in the 12th Five-Year Plan draft and is mandatory, he said, adding that it will keep China on course to achieve its goal of 15 percent by 2020. Currently non-fossil fuels account for 8 percent of China's total energy consumption.

The draft plan will be reviewed and is expected to be approved by deputies to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, which opens its annual session Saturday in Beijing.

China has grown to be the world's top energy producer and user, according to the China Energy Research Society. Its annual energy consumption totaled 3.25 billion tonnes of coal equivalent last year, up 5.9 percent from a year earlier, government data showed Monday.

Coal accounts for around 70 percent of China's energy mix, 30 percentage points higher than the world average level. The heavy reliance on coal has put China under great pressure in dealing with climate change and protecting the environment, he said.

The country should try to trim that dependency by promoting the use of cleaner fuels, he said.

"With determination, the goal can be achieved," Zhang said, adding that the development of clean energy needs to be further explored, such as nuclear power and wind, solar and biomass energy forms.