10 Jun 2009 03:06:08
China plans to match Europe on renewable energy
China is ready to pump $30 billion (£18.3 billion) into low-carbon projects and expects to match Europe in producing 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, it has been claimed.
According to the Guardian, the country intends to ramp up its use of renewable energy over the next decade.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-chairman of the national development and reform commission of China, told the newspaper that the government expects to easily surpass its current targets for wind and solar power.
Under the country's existing plan, 30GW will be generated from wind turbines by 2020, but Mr Zhang said that this goal could be raised to as much as 100GW.
"Similarly, by 2020 the total installed capacity for solar power will be at least three times that of the original target," he said to the Guardian.
Such an increase could see China producing 9GW of power from solar energy by the end of the next decade.
The nation, which has a population of over 1.3 billion people, also intends to improve its resource efficiency, and has launched a scheme to install 100 million energy-efficient lightbulbs in 2009.
Mr Zhang's comments were made as China announced that it is committed to taking part in the upcoming UN climate change summit, to be held in Copenhagen later this year.
According to US assistant secretary of energy David Sandalow, China's immense economic growth means that it could trigger a 2.7 degrees C rise in global temperatures if it doesn't act, even if every other country on the planet reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/09/china-green-e...
