خرید و دانلود نسخه کامل کتاب The Endogenous Energy-Saving Technological Change in China’s Industrial Sector – Original PDF

Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Background and the Question Raised 1.1.1 Research Background Energy is the foundation and guarantee of economic growth and social development. Since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in the late 1970s, China has experienced rapid economic growth, which has lifted large numbers of people out of poverty, but meanwhile has produced tremendous pressure on the energy market and the natural environment. According to statistics provided by British Petroleum (BP), China accounted for 20.3% of the global primary energy consumption in 2010, including 10.6% of oil, 3.4% of natural gas, and 48.2% of coal. In the past 30 years, Chinese industry contributed only 40.1% of GDP, but consumed 67.9% of energy and emitted 83.1% of carbon dioxide nationwide (Shiyi, 2009). With urbanization and industrialization accelerating, China’s reliance on energy will only increase in the future. Owing to the scarcity of energy (especially fossil fuels) and the greenhouse effect caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, energy constraints will have increasing impacts on economic growth, the environment and industrial transformation for an extended period, posing the following challenges. (1) Energy Security Concerns Following the inauguration of the reform and opening up policy, China’s total energy production increased from 627.7 million tonnes of coal equivalent (TCE) in 1979 to 2,969.16 million TCEs in 2010, while its total energy consumption jumped from 571.44 million TCEs to 3,249.32 million TCEs over the same period. According to the China Statistical Yearbook, a gap between energy supply and demand emerged in 1992, which was about 20 million TCEs in that year and increased year by year thereafter. The demand–supply gap not only picked up with years in oil and coal, but also appeared in 2007 in natural gas, which had a small proportion in the energy consumption structure. Table 1.1 shows the supply–demand gaps in China’s total energy and other major fossil fuels in every five years from 1990 to 2010. As shown © Social Sciences Academic Press 2023 X. He, The Endogenous Energy-Saving Technological Change in China’s Industrial Sector, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7485-4_1 1 2 1 Introduction Table 1.1 Energy supply–demand gaps in China from 1990 to 2010 Year Total gap Gap in coal Gap in oil Gap in natural gas 1990 5219 1898.438 3360.482 5.677 1995 −2142 −694.694 −1536.16 90.478 2000 −10,483 −1852.32 −9079.63 444.614 2005 −19,778 700.068 −20,781.1 350.648 2010 −28,023 6479.136 −32,640.6 −1826.84 Source China Statistical Yearbook 2012 Note The figures are obtained by deducting consumption from the production of each energy source in 10,000 tonnes of coal equivalent in the table, while the supply–demand gap in oil is biggest at present, those in raw coal and natural gas are likely to widen with China’s dependence on the availability of energy rising for development. In 2010, the gap between supply and demand in natural gas stood at 18.2684 million TCEs. It is most likely, therefore, that China’s future energy security hinges not only on the stable supply of oil, but also on all other fossil fuels. In addition to energy security concerns, there may arise a situation where China, in order to avoid the risks of geopolitical changes and price fluctuations in the international oil and gas markets, has to live with a coal-based single energy source consumption structure (Yuyan & Qingyou, 2007). (2) Low Energy Efficiency While China’s energy supply depends heavily on imports, the efficiency in energy production and consumption is very low. In the existing literature, energy consump- tion per unit of GDP, i.e., energy intensity, is generally used as a measure of energy efficiency (Chu & Manhong, 2007a, b, 2009). Table 1.2 shows energy intensity in China and other major regions in the world in 2000 and 2010. As shown in the table, at the 2005 exchange rate, China’s energy intensity was 0.79 tonne of oil equivalent (TOE) per thousand US dollars of output in 2000, compared with the global average of about 0.24 TOE, and a figure as low as 0.16 TOE in OECD countries, which means that China’s energy efficiency was only 1/5 of the OECD average. Under the current rate method, China’s energy intensity was higher than that in other parts of the world in 2000, but was only 0.24 TOE calculated by the PPP method, slightly higher than the average levels of OECD countries and Asia, and equal to the world average. In 2010, China’s energy intensity was 0.64 TOE by the current rate method, about 1/5 lower than that in 2000, but much higher than the average of 0.15 TOE in OECD countries. In 2010, China’s energy intensity was 0.27 TOE under the PPP method, a great improvement on that under the current rate method. Nevertheless, it increased over 2000. In the same duration, energy intensity in regions other than China and non-OECD Europe declined in varied degrees. By the PPP method, energy intensity in China was slightly lower than in non-OECD