China grows by "a Germany" in electricity consumption this year
Work on Xiluodu, China's second-largest hydroelectric power station after the Three Gorges Dam, is expected to be completed in 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)
Last year, China consumed 4,190 Terawatt-hours of electricity. Electricity consumption growth for this year is 12%, which means China's projected total 2011 electricity consumption is 4,693 Terawatt-hours.
The growth in China's 2011 electricity consumption will be 503 Terawatt-hours, which is nearly the total amount of electricity consumed in Germany or India for an entire year!
China will consume as much electricity this year as the United States and India combined!
[Note: Caption credit --
. Xinhua photo of Xiluodu dam (shown above) is from March 22, 2009.
In a previous post, I noted CNN reported China's Three Gorges Dam (84.7 billion kilowatt-hours) produces the electricity of 21 Hoover Dams (4 billion kilowatt-hours). (See
)
China's new Xiluodu dam is expected to generate 64 Terawatt-hours (TWh), which is equivalent to 16 Hoover Dams. (See right-hand-side chart at
)]
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"
China's power consumption up 12.2 pct in first seven months of 2011
English.news.cn 2011-08-14 11:25:28
BEIJING, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's National Energy Administration (NEA) announced Sunday that the country's total electric power consumption rose 12.2 percent from a year earlier to 2.69 trillion kilowatt-hours (kwh) during the first seven months of this year. (article continues)"
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From my post earlier this year:
China overtakes United States as world's-largest electricity consumer
In 2010, China became the first country in the world to exceed the 4,000 terawatt-hours threshold.
China consumed 4,190 terawatt-hours of electricity. The United States fell into second place by consuming only 3,876 terawatt-hours of electricity. All hail the new king!
"China's power consumption up 14.56 pct in 2010 -Xinhua
Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:18am GMT
BEIJING Jan 17 (Reuters) -
China's total power consumption in 2010 rose 14.56 percent year on year to more than 4.19 trillion kilowatt-hours, official news agency Xinhua said, citing data from the China Electricity Council."
"2011 Electricity Demand To Fall Slightly On More Normal Temps - EIA
JANUARY 11, 2011, 2:16 P.M. ET
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Electricity demand consumed across the U.S. is expected to fall in 2011 after surging higher last year on extreme hot and cold temperatures, according to the Department of Energy's short-term energy outlook released Tuesday.
Electricity consumption closely tracks growth in economic activity. But last year unusually hot and cold weather caused demand to rebound sharply as households cranked up their air conditioners and heaters, depending on the season. This activity snapped a rare two-year decline in power demand, caused by the housing crisis that deepened into the worst economic downturn seen in the U.S. in decades.
Total U.S. energy consumption, which rose 4% last year to 10.62 billion kilowatt hours a day, is now expected to significantly lag economic activity amid the return to "more normal temperatures," according to the Energy Information Administration's monthly short-term energy outlook."
[Calculation: 10.62 terawatt-hours a day * 365 days per year = 3,876 terawatt-hours of electricity consumed by U.S. in 2010]
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From my post last year:
Is China's Real Economy Already the Size of the U.S.?
Electricity is a good reflection of the real size of an economy. According to Lester Thurow (a famous economist and former dean at the MIT Sloan School of Management), electricity is a fundamental component of economic activity. The measurement of electricity consumption does not suffer from monetary exchange rate distortions caused by currency traders.
In 2009, China consumed almost as much electricity as the United States (i.e. 3,643 vs. 3,741 terawatt-hours). Using electricity consumption as the measurement standard, China's economy is already approximately the size of the U.S. economy.
Why do we think that China's economy will keep booming for the next ten years? China has been busy signing Free Trade Agreements (i.e. FTAs) with Southeast Asia and Latin America that come into effect this month. (See
and
)
Based on new information, I amended the data in the following table on estimated Chinese power consumption.
Rank.....Country.............Value (kW-hours)............Date of Info
1..........
United States....3,741,485,000,000.......2009 (actual, see below)
2..........
China................3,643,000,000,000.......2009 (actual, see below)
3..........European Union....2,884,000,000,000..........2007 est.
4..........Russia................1,023,000,000,000 ..........2007 est.
5..........Japan.................1,007,000,000,000 ..........2007 est.
6..........India.....................568,000,000,0 00...........2007 est.
7..........Germany................547,300,000,000. ..........2007 est.
8..........Canada..................536,100,000,000 ...........2007 est.
9..........France...................447,200,000,00 0...........2007 est.
10........Brazil.....................404,300,000,0 00...........2007 est.
References:
United States:
China:
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[video=dailymotion;xjtk3y]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjtk3y_power-consumption-grows_news[/video]
