China's per unit GDP energy consumption down 1.23% in 2006

China's per unit GDP energy consumption fell 1.23 percent in N1P*E {#S:~m6{
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2006, missing the projected target, official figures released Wednesday show.
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    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said energy
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consumption per 10,000 yuan (1,292 U.S. dollars) of gross domestic product (GDP)
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amounted to 1.21 tons of coal equivalent in the year.
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|9`(g!YU&z     The Chinese government set a goal of reducing energy W|y3yM
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consumption per unit GDP by 20 percent in the five-year period from 2006 to
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2010. The goal for 2006 was four percent.
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? a7{:`4w T"]_ ~     This is the first time for China to see an annual &ML2_@;?OP@1X#s

9^/Lxm0\]wl;e.b U0D decline in its energy consumption per unit GDP since 2003, despite a 0.8 percent 3]| qMrz
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rise in the index in the first half of last year.
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    According to preliminary estimates by the NBS, China

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consumed a total of 2.46 billion tons of coal equivalent in 2006, up 9.3 percent )Lo$J~*F sg[j

!\*}x:f/?6GEc9V from a year earlier. The growth is 1.4 percentage points lower than China's GDP
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growth of 10.7 percent in the year.
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h2Or#EU;m*o     China's energy consumption soared 15.3 percent in
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2003 and 16.1percent in 2004, both of which were over five percentage points
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9k,dL](wL     Energy consumption dropped to 10.6 percent in 2005,
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still higher than the year's GDP growth.
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    Zhou Dadi, researcher with the the Energy Research w[d9].R(W7M;c9U

E'jD+]RY5GG/r-J Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the t7_{HT$C
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decline shows that China's efforts in cooling its economy and reducing energy #Y*o(})\N

#?[ DUs consumption have begun to take effect. -f%KLqy\PV
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^ ~6}1m9~mO%]j7C     However, failure to meet the annual goal of the
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government shows that the Chinese economy is still growing in a way that relies @}a%^!cb
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too much on energy and resource consumption, said Zhou. !c!SE@5o(j
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    China saw an increase in its total energy consumption
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in 2006. The consumption included 2.37 billion tons of coal, up 9.6 percent year x-p;?1n-OU*K'B
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@D)P K c| on year; 320 million tons of crude oil, up 7.1 percent; 55.6 billion cubic
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4M?y Hm meters of natural gas, up 19.9 percent; 416.7 billion kilowatt-hours of wD[bd-Wqs_

.LL!Ov8o D hydropower, up 5 percent; and 54.3 billion kilowatt-hours of nuclear power, up
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2.4 percent.
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    The 9.6 percent rise of coal consumption shows that f&?7pV"[.FwP"n;H

,^O.h3YZ#^;\/t China's economic growth still relies too much on coal, which is comparatively 9~-KIr-C`0|

-|J%oXi/Gu.}#NVK dirty and inefficient, said Zhou. aq*}8R4o*T!at_

;ZD5Y!f g%R@7r%{ M     Han Yongwen, secretary-general of the NDRC, said
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earlier during an on-line interview that it would be a time-consuming and
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step-by-step process for China to improve its industrial structure and change e q"KVi"}d)V&ZZ
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the economic growth mode. b
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    Last year, all the provincial governments set their 4Bp%I5w t;`s
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targets of reducing energy consumption in the 11th five-year period. _fpcAr @c

"E2YZ)q$G#AV     The NDRC announced in January this year that China
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zrfGQh8| would close small coal-fired power units with total annual capacity of 50 t
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million kilowatts over the next four years, in a move to reduce the country's
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energy consumption by four percent.
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    Xie Fuzhan, director of the NBS, predicted earlier $J+f"Sl!} t6a+O-a'q

?;T+~"]A4z sv1K this year that as fiscal, tax and price policies came into effect and the
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a8p"R}?Zw industrial restructuring sped up, China would see greater reduction in energy 'r(Yv^l}*P8t

-[ p&X"IyD0BR consumption in the coming years.