How much energy is too much?

• Source: Global Times
• [00:54 July 21 2010]
• Comments

China has overtaken the United States to become the largest energy consumer in the world.

No one is excited about this news, including China itself.

Foreign countries get more nervous about the rising power's industrial expansion and increasing thirst for more energy and resources around the globe.

China fears outside worries may fuel the "China threat" theory and turn the world hostile against the country.

That may explain why Beijing's energy authority hastily announced yesterday that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has overestimated China's appetite.

Debating the accuracy of the statistics holds no significance. It is only a matter of time before China becomes one of the world's biggest energy consumers as the country is set to pass Japan to become the world's second largest economy.

The questions are: Is China going to repeat the Western powers' path of industrialization through burning excessive amounts of oil and coal? Can China make its energy-purchasing strategy more open to quell speculation and fears?

If what IEA said is true, that China consumed 4 percent more power than the United States did last year, China's energy use is embarrassing.

The similar amount of energy only generated a GDP of about $5,000 billion for China last year, compared with more than $14,000 billion for the US.

Europeans and Japanese are doing a better job, as the Americans are notorious in the West for their extravagant lifestyles.

According to the experiences of earlier industrial powers such as Britain, Germany, the US and Japan, it is natural that an emerging power go through a path where its energy consumption per unit of GDP peaked at certain points of time.

It is also true that the later a country's industrialization occurred, the lower the energy consumption was, thanks to the latest technology that advanced with time.

Based on China's energy policies and way of life, the Chinese will never consume energy as lavishly as the Americans do. The West should not only look at the country's total energy consumption, but also the per capita data, which is only one-fifth of that of the United States.

Signs are showing that China has been taking advantage of the latest technology by building the world's largest number of hydro, solar, wind and nuclear power plants.

China does not need to waste too much energy to care about "China threat" ravings in Western media.

The country should change its practice of keeping all its overseas investment low profile. Just tell the world how much energy it will need, how it will obtain those resources, and go ahead with its emission-cutting plans.

This will not only give China greater bargaining power in the world energy markets, but also help rebuild its international image, which will help with foreign diplomacy.