China Cuts National Energy Intensity by Nearly 5% in 2014

Continuing a drive to reduce its energy intensity 16% between 2010 and 2015, China’s State Council announced on Jan. 20 that the country had managed a 4.8% reduction in 2014, beating the target of 3.9%.

Energy intensity is a measure of a nation’s efficiency in using energy to drive growth in gross domestic product (GDP). A high intensity represents low energy efficiency, since it requires large amounts of energy to increase economic output.

Though China has the second-largest installed generating capacity in the world after the U.S., it lags far behind Western nations in energy intensity. Ranked by Btu consumed per dollar of GDP, China’s energy intensity in 2011 was more than three times that of the U.S., according to statistics from the Energy Information Administration.

China is now the world’s largest polluter, and an epidemic of air pollution has caused increasing social concern, as well as unrest in some areas. The central government has set ambitious goals for cleaning things up, and a significant boost in energy efficiency is one component of the initiative. China has also committed to cut its carbon dioxide emissions, and major efficiency improvements will be necessary to meet the goals.

China had missed its targets in each of the previous three years, and the National Development and Reform Commission said in December that a 3.9% cut would be necessary to remain on track for its 2015 goal. It beat that target by nearly a percentage point even though China’s GDP growth for 2014 fell to its lowest level since 1990.

—Thomas W. Overton, JD is a POWER associate editor (@thomas_overton, @POWERmagazine).