The Position of China on Energy and Environmental Sustainability Scale - Essay Example

? The position of China on Energy and Environmental Sustainability Scale The position of China on Energy and Environmental Sustainability Scale The evolution of the world has been accompanied by various developments, thanks to the globalization processes. As far as the global economy is concerned, this view may not be disputed. A test of time has seen the rise and fall of some economies and the view that the state of global economy is dynamic widely accepted. The most documented change in the recent decades has been the miraculous rise of China to even overtake other fully-fledged economies, and the relative decline of the United States and European Union implosion. China has become so popular that it is a subject of discussion in the social, economic and political debates. One of the subjects has pertained to the position of china in regard to sustainability. This paper seeks to evaluate the position of china in regard to energy and environmental sustainability. It had been initially argued that the world was transforming to the positive. Dramatic industrialization, urbanization and strive for economic stability among countries and regions were conspicuously cited as evidences of trending development. However, it was not until the recent decades that these perceptions shifted. This was majorly triggered concerns for the environment. The dominant view has been that sustainable development is never achievable without environmental conservation and management. Indeed, the same view has dominated the energy subject; that countries that are concerned about realizing sustainable development must not only diversify energy resources, but also limit demand and consumption while pursuing green energy. Undoubtedly, this should also be considered as the premise of evaluating China’s economic development. In this evaluation, understanding the state of China’s energy consumption is crucial in understanding how critical the energy situation is. It is also pivotal in offering information about the future trend. The rest of the question only leads in comprehensive determination of the criticality of the energy demand and consumption, especially considering that energy issue cannot be addressed effectively explored when limited within the China’s border. If the situations happen to be critical and China’s policies are well informed by the decisions that reflect the criticality, the inference would be that China is fit to reach great heights of success. The Economic state of China, Energy demand and Consumption China has become so popular that it is a subject of discussion in the social, economic and political debates. It was the center stage of the 2006 Davos Economic Forum discussions. Within that period, as significant as 50 percent of the global leaders visited china (Yin & David, 2006). Even as the West views China as an obstruction environmental sustainability, it may seem that China’s upward economic trend may be limited by the dynamics in the global energy supply and consumption. Accounting for a population of as significant as 1.4 billion people and realizing development at a rate of over 8 percent, as from 1970, the energy demand and consumption for China has been surging. This has been necessitated by the expansion of commercial, as well as industrial sectors. The impact of rising living standards of households on energy demand and consumption can also not be overlooked. In the last decade, China was considered as the second largest energy product consumer, coming after the United States of America. It has now overtaken United States (Swartz & Shai, 2010). The country consumes over 1.7 billions of coal tonnage (Rubin, 2012). China accounted for as significant as 32 percent of the global cola consumption, 11 percent of hydro-electric power consumption, 8 percent of global oil consumption and 1 percent of the global gas consumption, in 2003. This energy consumption is obviously enormous. Even intriguing is the fact that the share of energy consumption that China holds has been increasing drastically, decade-after-decade. For instance, in 1983, the global shares for coal, oil, gas and hydroelectric consumption stood at 20.7, 3.2, 0.7 and 4.6 percent respectively. Energy intensity has also been falling drastically. A comparison of this statistics with the 2003 depicts the clear drastic increase. The rest of the trend is summarized as follows according to House, Baclig and Ranjan (2011). Figure 1 Figure 2 The enormous reliance directed at coal is orchestrated by the fact that China holds abundant domestic coal product stocks. It is also a result of the tight control pertaining to the prices of commodity, as well as the low-price setting of the coal products in the past and limited environmental sensitization about the far-reaching consequences of coal. However, considering the rapid development of the economy and the increasing energy demands, it is arguable that China’s population is becoming environmentally aware and embracing the sustainable development initiatives. Policy makers are increasingly acknowledging the pertinence of resorting to cleaner energy sources such as the hydroelectric energy and the natural gas. In this regard, it is expected that the overreliance of coal would fall drastically as oil and hydro-electric energy increase. Nevertheless, an upsurge in the consumption of energy and the drift the reliance of coal raises questions on whether China would be in the position of sustaining the security in the energy supply chains. As of 2003, China comprised over 110 billions of coal reserve tonnage. This was well over 11 percent of the global recoverable reserves that would sustain the current energy demand state for the country, for about seven decades (House, Baclig & Ranjan, 2011). Most of the reserves contain steaming coal, which is suitable for the generation of electricity. However, the production of alternative forms of energy is not economically sustainable. The China’s oil import has gone beyond 140 million tones, and this accounts for the 47 percent of the local oil consumption, and this comes as China struggles to keep abreast the increasing demand (Botkin, 1990). Although the country is particularly reliant on the imports, it is intriguingly the fifth largest producer of oil. In the past, China has been relentless in prospecting oil reserves in the Tarin Basin and the South China Sea offshore. Whereas gas is highly advocated the alternative energy, it high costs places in a difficult situation in outcompeting coal. Hydro-electric energy has been the only sustainable energy that remains to be explored. However, its exploitation continues to be subject to certain inherent challenges. Moreover, China is now seeking to join the world in realizing sustainable development. For instance, rather than over-rely on fossil fuel, China is investing in technology to resolve to cut down on energy demand and consumption. For instance, as far as the transport sector is concerned, policy makers are concerned that there is the high possibility for electric cars to significantly address fuel problems as long as the marketing processes are successful. Of course, sustainable technologies are relatively expensive, implying that there is the need for government incentives to make the transition affordable. Subsidies would make the sustainable buses affordable for all individuals interested in buying them. The state of Global Energy According to Hirst (2012), the demand of energy is continuously growing. Even as the UK looks to tapping energy from the gas and wind, its demand for energy continues to soar. The demand for energy does not only imply electricity, but also power required to run transport industry, heating and running the factories. Hirst further proposes the need to come up with an energy policy. Such a policy should give considerations to the supply security, environmental conservation and management initiatives and economically viable. Even as the energy policies are formulated, the vision should be bounded by the desire to foster economic development, enhance resource accessibility and deliver substantial energy. One of the appropriate approaches is to look to technological interventions. The following figure summarizes the trend of the global energy consumption. Figure 3: global energy consumption trend (Hirst, 2012) Sustainability Implications One of the well consequences that can be inferred from the discussions is that China would only have to keep relying on reliable non-green energy such as coal and other fossil fuels. China would be compelled to exploit all forms of available energy resources. The implication of this is that the increased environmental pollution and continued frustration of the globe to achieve sustainable development. Over 90 percent of the green houses gases emitted result from fossil fuel combustion. Fossil fuel combustion is often accompanied by emission of pollutant substances such as sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxides, heavy metals as well as organic compounds are considered volatile. Electricity sector is argued to be the largest contributor to environmental pollution compared to other industrial sectors. The generation of electricity emits sulfur, carbon and nitrogen oxides, which are attributable to the formation of acid rain and smog. According to Rubin (2009), no country in the globe would be spared. Clearly, this worries sustainability. Conclusion In conclusion, a debate rages on whether China would be in the position of sustaining its development. The criticality of energy demand, supply and consumption may be one of the factors that may work against the China’s success. China’s energy demand has continued to rise drastically. At the same time, the global energy demand and supply is also following the same trend. As China scrambles for development, it seems energy supply is not keeping abreast. The energy intensity is falling. Whereas the country is adopting other mechanism, these do not keep abreast the changes in the energy demand. China would be compelled to explore all options available to satisfy its demand. This means increased environmental pollution and frustration of the globe’s dedication to achieve green economy. Secondly, its demand would increase energy prices while incapacitating other countries, especially the developing countries. Nevertheless, since the environment is deterministic, China development would be limited as the energy resources are depleted in the long run. References Adams, W. & Jeanrenaud, J. (2008). Transitions to Sustainability: Towards the Humane and Diverse Globe. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Botkin, D. (1990). Discordant in Harmonies: The New Ecology for the 21st century. New York: Oxford University Press. Hirst, D. (2012). What Next? Trends in Energy Production. Ainsty Risk Consulting Ltd House, K., Baclig, A. and Ranjan, M.(2011). "Economic and energetic analysis of Carbon dioxide from ambient air". Proceeding in the National Sciences Academy 108 (51): 20428–33. Rubin, J. (2009). Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization. Canada: Random House Digital Inc. Rubin, J. (2012). The End Of Growth. Canada: Random House Digital Inc. Swartz, S. & Shai, O. (2010). China Tops U.S. in Energy Use. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720504575376712353150310. Html Yin, J. & David, F. (2006). Elasticity of Energy Demand and Challenges for China’s Energy Industry. China and World Economy, 14(4), 75-92. Read More