China's near-term energy future

When I read this... 'Wow' came quickly to mind. 38 GWe NEW nuclear, 140 GWe NEW hydro, and 90 GWe NEW wind (divide this by 3 to compare to the others in terms of likely generation).

... anyway, all of this by 2015! Nearly doubling their current non-fossil fuel energy supply from 8% of total energy demand today to 15%... in less than 5 years!

They also mention that energy intensity per unit GDP is dropping, currently down 20% from 2005 - an indication of increased efficiency. This is to drop by an additional 17% or so by 2015.

Seems like they're doing it all right; an example for the world...

Then I see China's thermal generation capacity (coal, oil and gas) will rise by 260 to 270 GWe over the same period. A single metric, looming over all others.

The clear bottom line; with all that they are doing, pursuing every option and investing a LOT of money to decarbonise, it is still far from enough.

in reference to: China power sector to boom as oil sector goes slower Reuters (view on Google Sidewiki)