CHINA
ETIP scholars are working primarily on two issues in China: advanced-vehicle and advanced-coal technologies — seeking in each case to promote more rapid deployment of these options in China, and eventually to find mechanisms for China to "leapfrog" to the relevant advanced energy technologies. We have established partnerships on both issues with and through China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST). Other partners in China include the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC), Tsinghua University, and the Chinese Academy of Science's Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.
Passenger cars
In recent years, the growth in sales of passenger cars in China has been astonishing: 20–40 percent annually. At that rate, the number of cars on the road in China can double every two or three years. Not surprisingly, many of the side-effects of having so many vehicles on the road are starting to emerge: traffic jams are rampant in Beijing, Chongqing, and Shanghai, motor vehicles have become the largest source of urban air pollution in many Chinese cities, motor vehicles currently drive the rapid growth in China’s oil imports, and the transportation sector is one of the fastest-growing sources of greenhouse-gas emissions. On the other hand, the automotive sector has also emerged as one of the leading sectors in the Chinese economy, and it is now considered a “pillar” industry. The automobile industry provides millions of good jobs and is a strong source of demand for other primary products such as steel, rubber, and glass. It is not surprising that the Chinese government and foreign investors are anxious to make this industry thrive.
The clean vehicle group is working in five main areas:
(1) The role of foreign direct investment in transferring advanced vehicle technologies to China
(2) China's domestic innovation system for clean vehicle development and deployment
(3) Data collection on fuel quality and emissions in-use vehicles in Tianjin, Shanghai, and Beijing
(4) Policy mechanisms for reducing pollution from passenger cars
(5) Policy mechanisms for improving fuel efficiency of passenger cars
Products:
- China Shifts Gears: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development by Kelly Sims Gallagher
- “Barriers and Incentives for Hybrid Vehicles in China"
- "Reducing China's Thirst for Foreign Oil: Moving Towards a Less Oil-Dependent Road Transport System," by Hongyan He Oliver
- "Limits to leapfrogging in energy technologies? Evidence from the Chinese automobile industry," by Kelly Sims Gallagher
- "Providing Low-Sulfur Fuels for Transportation Use: Policy Options and Financing Strategies in the Chinese Context," by Kelly Gallagher and Hongyan He Oliver
- EPA/SEPA Agreement
- Zhao/Sims Gallagher article on clean air vehicle development in China
- Kelly Sims Gallagher is co-moderator of a list-serve on energy and environmental issues related to transportation in China. To join this group, click here
- Kelly Sims Gallagher article on "Foreign Technology in China’s Automobile Industry: Implications for Energy, Economic Development, and Environment"
Advanced Coal Technologies
China and the United States are the two major coal-consuming nations in the world. Each consumes about 1000 million tons of coal every year — together, about 45 percent of the world's total. By 2020, China's coal use is expected to be triple the current level. This huge increase is driven by rapid population growth and economic expansion, and based on assumptions that much of the increased energy demand will be met by coal, especially in the industrial and electricity industry sectors.
Use of coal has caused severe damage to the environment, at both local and global levels. Ambient air pollution levels of major pollutants in most of Chinese cities exceed the standards by a very large margin, especially in those cities relying on coal for energy. One third of China's territory is suffering from acid rain. China's carbon dioxide (CO2)emissions are now second only to those of the United States. Coal use in China contributed to three-quarters of China's CO2 emissions.
In the near term, advanced coal technologies can significantly improve the energy efficiency of China's industries, especially energy intensive industries and power generation. More importantly, clean coal technologies can bring enormous benefits to the public health and to the environment. Over the longer term, advanced coal technologies could effectively ameliorate, at competitive costs, most of the environmental concerns (including CO2 emissions, if coupled with carbon capture and storage technologies) associated with the use of coal for producing electricity, transportation fuels, and low-carbon cooking fuel for rural households.
The advanced coal group is working in several areas:
(1) Advanced coal technology assessment
(2) Institutional assessment of China's energy innovation system for clean coal technologies
(3) Comparative costs and economic barriers to advanced coal technologies
(4) Understanding carbon storage potential in China
(5) Regulations to promote deployment of advanced coal and CCS technologies
Products:
- "Technical, Environmental, and Economic Assessment of Deploying Advanced Coal Power Technologies in the Chinese Context," by Lifeng Zhao, Yunhan Xiao, Kelly Sims Gallagher, Bo Wang, and Xiang Xu.
- "Research, Development, Demonstration, and Early Deployment Policies for Advanced-Coal Technology in China," by Lifeng Zhao and Kelly Sims Gallagher.
- Workshop report "Joint Workshop on IGCC & Co-Production and CO2 Capture & Storage"
- Workshop report "Advanced Coal Technologies in a Sustainable Energy System: Preparing and Preserving the Appropriate Technological Options for China"
- Powerpoint presentation from "An Introduction to China's Science and Technology Policy", STPP Senior Fellow and Chinese Vice Minister for Science and Technology SHANG Yong's ETIP seminar
- Event Report for Workshop on the Cooperation in Clean-Coal Technologies Between the United States and China (see picture below of workshop participants)
