Chinese Economics Thread
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Schumacher
Senior Member
China continues to export high speed rail technology, now to the strategically important South America.
"BEIJING – Argentina and China signed a deal for Beijing to invest $10 billion in the South American nation's railways during a visit by the Argentine president but there was no sign of progress in a dispute over soy imports.
The agreements announced Tuesday during the visit by President Cristina Fernandez come as Beijing expands its role in Latin America through investments in oil and other industries and closer financial ties with the region's governments.
The railway deals include a $2.5 billion project to upgrade the rail system of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, Chinese news reports said. They said projects would include the purchase of Chinese railway technology............"
"BEIJING – Argentina and China signed a deal for Beijing to invest $10 billion in the South American nation's railways during a visit by the Argentine president but there was no sign of progress in a dispute over soy imports.
The agreements announced Tuesday during the visit by President Cristina Fernandez come as Beijing expands its role in Latin America through investments in oil and other industries and closer financial ties with the region's governments.
The railway deals include a $2.5 billion project to upgrade the rail system of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, Chinese news reports said. They said projects would include the purchase of Chinese railway technology............"
But, but, but wait... You're wrong! China is not cooperating with the US in blaming China!:rofl:
Unfortunately, since the US cannot pass legislation on this matter due to right-wing blockage, and since the ultra-high per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the US are largely due to the suburban lifestyle and an economic model that cannot easily be changed, the US is forced to center its climate policy on, well, blaming China.
I don't know what Orthan reads, but while the story that China is "not cooperating" is repeated ad nauseam, there have also been many reports in the US media about China relating to alternate or renewable energy sources (nuclear, wind, solar, hydropower), to cleaner coal tech, to electric cars, high speed rail, etc. In fact, I find it hard to believe Orthan has not noticed Martian's 1001 posts which directly or indirectly deal with this matter.
Martian
Senior Member
China Passes U.S. as World's Biggest Energy Consumer
"* JULY 19, 2010, 1:15 P.M. ET
China Passes U.S. as World's Biggest Energy Consumer
By SPENCER SWARTZ
China is now the world's biggest energy consumer, knocking the U.S. off a perch it held for more than a century, according to new data from the International Energy Agency.
The Paris-based agency, whose forecasts are generally regarded as bellwether indicators for the energy industry, said China devoured 2,252 million tons of oil equivalent last year, or about 4% more than the U.S., which burned through 2,170 million tons of oil equivalent. The oil-equivalent metric represents all forms of energy consumed, including crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources such as hydropower.
The figures reflect, in part, how the global recession hit the U.S. more severely than China and hurt American industrial activity and energy use. Still, China's total energy consumption has clocked annual double-digit growth rates for many years, driven by the country's big industrial base. Highlighting how quickly its energy demand has increased, China's total energy consumption was just half the size of the U.S. 10 years ago.
"The fact that China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer symbolizes the start of a new age in the history of energy," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said in an interview. The U.S. had been the biggest overall energy consumer since the early 1900s, he said. The IEA is an energy adviser to most of the world's biggest economies.
China's voracious energy demand helps explain why the country—which gets most of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil-fuel resources—passed the U.S. in 2007 as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases.
The U.S. is still by far the biggest energy consumer per capita, with the average American burning five times as much energy annually as the average Chinese citizen, said Mr. Birol, who has been in his current role for six years.
The U.S. also is the biggest oil consumer by a wide margin, going through on average roughly 19 million barrels a day—with China at a distant second at about 9.2 million barrels a day. But many oil analysts believe U.S. crude demand has peaked or is unlikely to grow very much in coming years because of improved energy efficiency and more-stringent vehicle fuel-efficiency regulations.
Prior to the recession, China had been expected to become the biggest energy consumer in about five years, but the economic malaise and energy-efficiency programs in the U.S. brought forward the date of that superlative, Mr. Birol said.
The decreased energy "intensity" of the U.S. economy is a key reason investors, such as General Electric Co., have increasingly looked to China as a driver of future growth. Mr. Birol said China requires total energy investments of some $4 trillion over the next 20 years to keep feeding its economy and to avoid power blackouts and fuel shortages.
Mr. Birol, previously an economist at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said China is expected to build over the next 15 years some 1,000 gigawatts of new power-generation capacity. That is about the total amount of electricity-generation capacity in the U.S. currently, and the construction of all those gigawatts occurred over several decades. "This demonstrates the major growth we are talking about" in energy demand and capacity growth in China, Mr. Birol said.
Write to Spencer Swartz at [email protected]"
You can watch the Wall Street Journal video here at:
"* JULY 19, 2010, 1:15 P.M. ET
China Passes U.S. as World's Biggest Energy Consumer
By SPENCER SWARTZ
China is now the world's biggest energy consumer, knocking the U.S. off a perch it held for more than a century, according to new data from the International Energy Agency.
The Paris-based agency, whose forecasts are generally regarded as bellwether indicators for the energy industry, said China devoured 2,252 million tons of oil equivalent last year, or about 4% more than the U.S., which burned through 2,170 million tons of oil equivalent. The oil-equivalent metric represents all forms of energy consumed, including crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources such as hydropower.
The figures reflect, in part, how the global recession hit the U.S. more severely than China and hurt American industrial activity and energy use. Still, China's total energy consumption has clocked annual double-digit growth rates for many years, driven by the country's big industrial base. Highlighting how quickly its energy demand has increased, China's total energy consumption was just half the size of the U.S. 10 years ago.
"The fact that China overtook the U.S. as the world's largest energy consumer symbolizes the start of a new age in the history of energy," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol said in an interview. The U.S. had been the biggest overall energy consumer since the early 1900s, he said. The IEA is an energy adviser to most of the world's biggest economies.
China's voracious energy demand helps explain why the country—which gets most of its electricity from coal, the dirtiest of fossil-fuel resources—passed the U.S. in 2007 as the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases.
The U.S. is still by far the biggest energy consumer per capita, with the average American burning five times as much energy annually as the average Chinese citizen, said Mr. Birol, who has been in his current role for six years.
The U.S. also is the biggest oil consumer by a wide margin, going through on average roughly 19 million barrels a day—with China at a distant second at about 9.2 million barrels a day. But many oil analysts believe U.S. crude demand has peaked or is unlikely to grow very much in coming years because of improved energy efficiency and more-stringent vehicle fuel-efficiency regulations.
Prior to the recession, China had been expected to become the biggest energy consumer in about five years, but the economic malaise and energy-efficiency programs in the U.S. brought forward the date of that superlative, Mr. Birol said.
The decreased energy "intensity" of the U.S. economy is a key reason investors, such as General Electric Co., have increasingly looked to China as a driver of future growth. Mr. Birol said China requires total energy investments of some $4 trillion over the next 20 years to keep feeding its economy and to avoid power blackouts and fuel shortages.
Mr. Birol, previously an economist at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said China is expected to build over the next 15 years some 1,000 gigawatts of new power-generation capacity. That is about the total amount of electricity-generation capacity in the U.S. currently, and the construction of all those gigawatts occurred over several decades. "This demonstrates the major growth we are talking about" in energy demand and capacity growth in China, Mr. Birol said.
Write to Spencer Swartz at [email protected]"
You can watch the Wall Street Journal video here at:
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Martian
Senior Member
China's Sinopec reports 16.74% rise in refining in H1
Sinopec Fujian Integrated Refining & Ethylene Joint Venture Project in QUANZHOU, FUJIAN PROVINCE, China
Sinopec Quanzhou facility to mainly process Saudi Arabian crude. [China Daily]
"China's Sinopec reports 16.74% rise in refining in H1
English.news.cn 2010-07-20 19:49:44
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), the nation's largest oil refiner, said Tuesday that it processed 101.45 million tonnes of crude oil in the first half of 2010, up 16.74 percent year on year due to strong growth of the Chinese economy.
The company, also a leading oil producer, said in a preliminary report that its natural gas output rose strongly by 40.73 percent from the same period last year to 200.56 billion cubic meters despite crude oil output only rising 0.05 percent to 149.19 million barrels.
Sinopec saw diesel output rise by 13.33 percent to 36.72 million tonnes in the first half from a year earlier, while kerosene was up 29.96 percent, the company said.
Strong domestic economic growth in the first half had contributed to the increases in its rising output.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 11.1 percent year on year in the first half, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Gasoline output rose by 4.59 percent year on year in the first half,said the company.
Ethylene went up by 41.34 percent, synthetic resins by 28.51 percent, synthetic fibers by 7.47 percent and synthetic rubbers by 18.58 percent.
Domestic sales of refined oil products rose sharply by 18.09 percent year on year to 68.15 million tonnes in the first half.
Sinopec reported its net profit in the first quarter rose 39.93 percent year on year to 15.785 billion yuan (about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars).
Listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai, Sinopec is the listed subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group).
The company share price in the mainland A-share market gained 3.58 percent to 8.38 yuan on Tuesday and climbed 0.832 percent in the Hong Kong market to 6.06 Hong Kong dollars."
Sinopec Fujian Integrated Refining & Ethylene Joint Venture Project in QUANZHOU, FUJIAN PROVINCE, China
Sinopec Quanzhou facility to mainly process Saudi Arabian crude. [China Daily]
"China's Sinopec reports 16.74% rise in refining in H1
English.news.cn 2010-07-20 19:49:44
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), the nation's largest oil refiner, said Tuesday that it processed 101.45 million tonnes of crude oil in the first half of 2010, up 16.74 percent year on year due to strong growth of the Chinese economy.
The company, also a leading oil producer, said in a preliminary report that its natural gas output rose strongly by 40.73 percent from the same period last year to 200.56 billion cubic meters despite crude oil output only rising 0.05 percent to 149.19 million barrels.
Sinopec saw diesel output rise by 13.33 percent to 36.72 million tonnes in the first half from a year earlier, while kerosene was up 29.96 percent, the company said.
Strong domestic economic growth in the first half had contributed to the increases in its rising output.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 11.1 percent year on year in the first half, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Gasoline output rose by 4.59 percent year on year in the first half,said the company.
Ethylene went up by 41.34 percent, synthetic resins by 28.51 percent, synthetic fibers by 7.47 percent and synthetic rubbers by 18.58 percent.
Domestic sales of refined oil products rose sharply by 18.09 percent year on year to 68.15 million tonnes in the first half.
Sinopec reported its net profit in the first quarter rose 39.93 percent year on year to 15.785 billion yuan (about 2.3 billion U.S. dollars).
Listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai, Sinopec is the listed subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group).
The company share price in the mainland A-share market gained 3.58 percent to 8.38 yuan on Tuesday and climbed 0.832 percent in the Hong Kong market to 6.06 Hong Kong dollars."
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
All these cherry picked pilot projects that Martian has posted gives us some indication of what is to come when implemented nationwide, however what Im concerned with , is whats happening downstream involving the the end user Eg A few years ago one of NZ's iconic companys "Skellerup" relocated to China, and in an interview with a TV reporter, one of the company engineers said that factories were supposed to have scrubbers installed, to reduce emissions, but they were rarely turned on, or for a financial consideration, they could qualify for exemptions.
Sadly very little has changed in that area. According to "Rebecca Macfie" who recently had gone on a investigative tour to see whether China had really become "The Cleantech Capital of the World" she noted that many of the coal plants that were required to have scrubbers installed to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, never bothered to turn them on , or only did so when told a day, before the inspector was going to turn up. . In her article " The Greening of the Monster" for the NZ Listerner (A general interest magazine) she states that that the old Chinese saying of "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away" is of ten used to explain why general edits from Peking are often ignored.
She enlightens us with a long list of enviromental sins, which IM sure most forum members are aware off, however the water one is rather scary with about 50% of Chinas water unsafe to drink and 20% unfit for any purpose what. so ever. This water problem, if nothing else would cause problems for Chinas economic growth -or stability.
Her article essentially concentrates on the views of the Greenpeace org. in Peking. One of the members suggests there is nothing wrong with Chinas enviroment laws ...." the problem is enforcement". They also offered the view that the enviroment would only get worse before getting better, as the majority of Chinese cities are just starting out on their rapid expansion phase. Or that China did not have the luxury of "pollute first and clean up after model" as Western countries did during their Industrial revolution as already, local polution problems were threatening social stability with over half of Chinas incidents of local unrest related to enviromental causes.
Futhermore the American analyst "Elizabeth Economy" had a few yrs earler written a exhaustively reserched book :"The River Runs Black" which charts the toxic burden of China's rampant growth. "Economy" who visits China several times a year is rereleasing a revised edition of the book , , ominously it's still called "The River Runs Black" She said that if she should ever change the title to "The River Runs Blue", then she would probably have a different view.-
FriedRiceNSpice
Captain
Thank you so much for sharing you're unbiased cherry picked stories/tidbits on only the most negative aspects of what occurs in China. You are no closer at presenting an overall view of the practices in China than Martian.
Couldn't have said it better. This is a case of black hole calling the kettle black.
Martian
Senior Member
Watch out Suntech! World #3 Taiwan is hot on your heels.
China's Suntech BIPV. Suntech Power Holdings Co. is the world's largest maker of polysilicon solar-power modules.
"A Solar Surge in Oft-Overlooked Taiwan
Published July 22, 2010
Germany and China, as two of the world's solar energy powerhouses, draw considerable media attention in the growing industry.
Taiwan, another major solar manufacturing center, is often overlooked. It may gain more notice now, because its key solar companies saw revenues double during the second quarter of 2010 as demand surged.
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council says Taiwan's solar cell industry is the third-largest in the world. Second-quarter sales rose 95 percent to the equivalent of $1.1 billion, according to monthly reports that companies file with Taiwan stock exchange authorities.
PHOTO CREDIT: SOLAR HOME & BUSINESS JOURNAL
A ground-level view of a portion of Taiwan's spectacular solar-topped
Kaohsiung Stadium.
Taiwan’s solar cell makers include Motech, Gintech, E-Ton Solar Tech, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. Sinonar Corp. and Green Energy Technology. Motech and Gintech are among the world’s 10 largest suppliers by revenues, the trade council said in a news release.
India, the council said, is among many nations that have recently ramped up power generation from solar cells. India is building solar generation capacity that is expected to power nearly 1 million homes by 2013. Taiwan’s Motech has an agreement to supply cells to India’s Solar Semiconductor.
New uses for solar cells are expanding in places where power generation from fossil fuels is impractical or harmful to the environment, the trade council reported. Mobile phone base stations are increasingly solar-powered, according to market research firm Pike Research.
“Energy is one of the top expense items for mobile network operators,” Pike Research Managing Director Clint Wheelock said in a recent report. 'As solar and wind equipment become more cost-effective in the next few years, renewable energy will be an increasingly attractive option for base station power.'”
China's Suntech BIPV. Suntech Power Holdings Co. is the world's largest maker of polysilicon solar-power modules.
"A Solar Surge in Oft-Overlooked Taiwan
Published July 22, 2010
Germany and China, as two of the world's solar energy powerhouses, draw considerable media attention in the growing industry.
Taiwan, another major solar manufacturing center, is often overlooked. It may gain more notice now, because its key solar companies saw revenues double during the second quarter of 2010 as demand surged.
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council says Taiwan's solar cell industry is the third-largest in the world. Second-quarter sales rose 95 percent to the equivalent of $1.1 billion, according to monthly reports that companies file with Taiwan stock exchange authorities.
PHOTO CREDIT: SOLAR HOME & BUSINESS JOURNAL
A ground-level view of a portion of Taiwan's spectacular solar-topped
Kaohsiung Stadium.
Taiwan’s solar cell makers include Motech, Gintech, E-Ton Solar Tech, Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. Sinonar Corp. and Green Energy Technology. Motech and Gintech are among the world’s 10 largest suppliers by revenues, the trade council said in a news release.
India, the council said, is among many nations that have recently ramped up power generation from solar cells. India is building solar generation capacity that is expected to power nearly 1 million homes by 2013. Taiwan’s Motech has an agreement to supply cells to India’s Solar Semiconductor.
New uses for solar cells are expanding in places where power generation from fossil fuels is impractical or harmful to the environment, the trade council reported. Mobile phone base stations are increasingly solar-powered, according to market research firm Pike Research.
“Energy is one of the top expense items for mobile network operators,” Pike Research Managing Director Clint Wheelock said in a recent report. 'As solar and wind equipment become more cost-effective in the next few years, renewable energy will be an increasingly attractive option for base station power.'”