Industrial and commercial energy users will have to report their
monthly consumption this year, a move to help the city realize its
energy consumption reduction target.
Shanghai's economic planners said at a meeting on Monday they
plan to cut the energy consumption of every 10,000 yuan's
industrial added value by 6.2 percent and every 10,000 yuan's
(US$1,280) commercial added value by 3 percent this year over
2006.
By doing this, they hope to realize the overall energy reduction
goal of 4 percent.
Wang Jian, director of the Shanghai Economic Commission, said at
the meeting enterprises that consume at least 5,000 tons of
standard coal (1 ton of standard coal equals 29,270 megajoules, a
thermal unit) a year should report their energy consumption each
month. If found to be using excess coal, they will face a
differentiated power price.
These enterprises, numbering 800 across the city, are mainly
steel, power, petrochemical and construction material companies,
large shopping malls and hotels. They account for about 70 percent
of the city's total energy consumption.
This kind of "decentralized energy responsibility system" will
help Shanghai's efforts to reduce its energy consumption, said Long
Weiding, a professor from Tongji University.
"The measure reflects the seriousness of the Shanghai government
toward lowering its energy use," Long said. "I hope the monthly
reports can be made known to the public, so that energy guzzlers
will feel the pressure."
Baosteel Group, the city's largest steel maker and energy
consumer, is making efforts to cut down on consumption. It was said
to have consumed 19 percent of the city's total energy consumption
in 2005.
Dai Jian, deputy director of Baosteel's Environment and
Resources Department, told China Daily that Baosteel has
seen a continuous drop in energy consumption per ton of steel. The
per-ton-steel energy consumption dropped by 2.2 percent last year
over the year before, and fresh water consumption per ton of steel
was lowered by 14.6 percent over 2005.
The group has vowed to save nearly 1.3 million tons of standard
coal and reduce its energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan's
industrial value by 40 percent between 2005 and 2010.
But Dai said: "These are very tough goals."
(China Daily March 8, 2007)