China, a large developing populous country with rich energy resources, has always considered sustainable development an important economic and social development strategy.

It has earnestly carried out its international commitments and has made tremendous efforts to improve the environment and realize economic and social development by upgrading energy efficiency and promoting energy-saving projects.

Traditional energy, including oil, natural gas, coal and hydro-power, have played a big role in China's development.

In recent years, wind and solar power have also proven popular.

Oil and Natural Gas

China's petroleum consumption exceeded 200 million tons or 4.86 million barrels a day last year, ranking it third in the world after the United States of 19.65 million barrels and Japan of 5.42 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy. Meanwhile, the world petroleum consumption reached 76.72 million barrels a day last year.

China will boost the exploration for large oil and gas fields to ensure the security of petroleum supply in the new century.

Tian Fengshan, minister of land resources, said China will select a number of the most prospective areas as target oil exploration regions to push forward the development of petroleum resources.

Tian said that China will focus on the research of key energy bases in the oil-rich Ordos Basin in Northwest China.

"If no effective measures are taken to strengthen petroleum exploration, China will become more dependent on importing petroleum, and the risks to the oil supply will be greatly increased," Tian said.

He said that China will increase investment in geological exploration and modern oil-detection theory research and technology. It will also expand its exploration for oil and natural gas.

Coal and Hydro-power

Technological innovations will give tremendous impetus to the revitalization of China's coal industry in the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05) and will help the sector face challenges following the nation's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

China places great importance on revitalizing its coal industry through science and technology, said Zhang Baoming, former director of the State Administration of Work Safety Supervision.

The beleaguered coal sector is hoping to make a profit this year thanks to a structural reshuffling and strict curbing on the aggregate output, he said.

Nuclear Energy

China has set a goal of expanding the installed generating capacity in nuclear power stations to 20 million kilowatts by 2010.

By 2020, nuclear power generation will account for 5 percent of China's total power output.

But to reach this goal, China needs mammoth investment in nuclear power energy production and infrastructure construction.

China hopes for broader and deeper international co-operation to exploit nuclear energy resources, which would provide a golden opportunity for nuclear power design, manufacturing and customer service providers around the world.

Officials with the China Nuclear Society said that although China's six operating nuclear power stations have a combined installed generating capacity of 8.8 million kilowatts, the amount of electricity only accounts for 1 per cent of the country's total power output.

'Green Energy'

Although the concept of "green energy" is still novel to most Chinese, experts said clean power will be more widely used in the future to fuel the country's giant economic machine.

Green energy, which is partially or completely generated from renewable energy sources such as the wind and the sun, is gaining more attention worldwide because of increasing concerns over the global environment, climate changes and control of carbon dioxide emission, said Yang Jike, vice-chairman of the Committee of Population, Resources and Environment under the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

(China Daily August 26, 2002)