China to cut energy consumption

BEIJING - In 2013 China will try to cut energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission for per unit industrial value added by over 5 percent, an energy official said.

The consumption of water for per unit industrial value added will be lowered by 7 percent, while the comprehensive utilization of solid waste will be raised by two percentage points, said Zhou Changyi, director of the energy saving department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Zhou told a conference held this week on industrial energy saving and comprehensive utilization of resources that in 2013 China will give a strong push to recycling economy and the comprehensive utilization of resources. One or two industries will be chosen as pilots for comprehensively utilizing large-scale solid waste.

At the same time, efforts will be made to reinforce the management of admittance to resources regeneration industry, set up nonferrous metal regeneration demonstrating projects, and organize demonstrating projects for reproducing gas engines, machine tools and electric machines.

Statistics show that between 2008 and 2012, China's large enterprises managed to cut per unit energy consumption by some 30 percent and raise the utilization of solid waste by 9.2 percentage points. Between 2008 and 2011, the industrial chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia-nitrogen emission were lowered by over 30 percent and 17 percent, respectively.