China to limit energy consumption by 2015

The Deputy Director of China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), Wu Yin, said that the country will limit energy consumption to 4.1 billion tons of standard coal by 2015. Wu announced the government’s plan at the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Conference held in Beijing in early March. He also said that China will limit electric consumption to 6,400 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2015. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country’s energy consumption in 2011 reached 3.46 billion tons of standard coal; while electricity production reached a total of 4,700 TWh last year. The NEA is now drafting a policy that will curtail nationwide energy consumption, which will be released within the first half of this year. (March 8, 2012)