Energy Development and Efficiency in China

Abstract

China is the most populous country in the world. By the end of 2010, China’s total population (not including the populations of Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions, and Taiwan Province, see below) had reached 1.34 billion, making up about 20 % of the world total. Of China’s total population, 50.1 % is rural, yet there is a world of difference in the quantity and quality of energy consumed by China’s urban and rural residents. China’s per capita rural household energy and electricity consumption is much lower than it is in urban households; for example, it was 206 kgce and 318 kWh in 2010, only 80 and 83 % of the total China average. Since the reform and opening up in 1978, the Chinese economy has been developing rapidly. In 2010, China’s GDP reached 40.12 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world in terms of the official exchange rate, but China’s per capita GDP still ranks below the 100th in the world. In 2001, China’s per capita GDP exceeded US$ 1000 and the country was starting to enter the stage of rapid industrialisation. Rapid economic development, especially the high-speed growth of the high-energy intensity sectors, has fuelled the rapid growth of energy consumption.