China's Coal Dependency

According to government authorities, Beijing will close its four remaining coal-fired power plants before the start of 2015, replacing them with four new natural gas-fired power plants at a total investment cost of $7.8 billion. When completed, these four power plants using natural gas from Shaanxi province will have a total generating capacity of 2.7 gigawatts. In the near term, efforts to reduce coal usage will probably be limited to Beijing and a few other top-tier cities, such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, where the Party is most keen to quell social discontent by improving the quality of life, in part by decreasing pollution.

The rest of China's economy will almost certainly continue to rely on coal for two-thirds or more of its energy and electricity needs throughout the next decade; national coal consumption is set to rise from 3.66 billion metric tons in 2012 to well over 4 billion metric tons in the next few years, despite the government's intent to cap consumption under 4 billion metric tons.

Nonetheless, given the scale of China's energy demands, even a relatively minor shift in its energy consumption patterns will have major implications for global markets -- not only for coal but also for the natural gas that will partly replace it. This will have important implications for national economies that depend on coal, natural gas and other fossil fuels exports, particularly since the changes occurring in China will take place mostly in the coastal provinces, which are China's largest consumers of energy from overseas.

Comments

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif

Search This Blog