A comparative study of energy consumption and efficiency of Japanese and Chinese manufacturing industry

The industrial sector consumes about 50% of the world׳s delivered energy and thus has a large impact on the world׳s energy production and consumption. Japan is one of the leading countries in industrial efficiency while China is the world׳s largest industrial energy consumer. This study analyzes the energy consumption and efficiency of the Japanese and Chinese manufacturing industry. Analysis shows that the energy intensity of both Japanese and Chinese manufacturing industry has decreased significantly. Decomposition analysis shows that the efficiency effect played an important role in reducing energy intensity; improvement of the energy efficiency of both Japanese and Chinese manufacturing industry showed a trend of exponential decay. Structural effect significantly reduced the energy intensity of the Japanese manufacturing industry while having a relatively small influence on the energy intensity of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Our analysis also shows a strong association of industrial energy efficiency improvement with energy policies, highlighting that energy efficiency policies can play an important role in the reduction of industrial energy intensity. The results of this study also underscore the important, yet very challenging, task of achieving structural change to further improve efficiency.     

实现“十一五”节能目标的建筑节能措施分析(2)

为促进我国经济社会的可持续发展,党中央、国务院提出了“十一五”期间单位GDP能耗下降20%左右的宏伟节能目标。但是,该目标如何分解到各部门、各行业,应该分别采取什么措施,目前正处于研究过程中。针对三大终端用能领域之一的建筑用能领域,本文从我国的建筑节能现状、建筑能耗的影响因素、“十一五”期间的建筑节能潜力及实现途径、面临的挑战以及“十一五”期间推动建筑节能工作应该采取的关键政策措施等方面进行了探讨分析。     

The present situation and characteristics of China's energy consumption

China's present energy consumption and its composition in the past decade is introduced in this paper. Energy in China is mainly sourced domestically; coal predominates in the composition of energy consumption (average 72.5%); industrial energy consumption is a large proportion of final energy consumption (average 65.6%); the utilization efficiency of energy is low; serious environment pollution is caused by coal combustion. It is necessary to introduce technology innovation for energy conservation because of the low energy efficiency of equipment and the backwardness of industrial technologies. China must ‘lay equal stress on development and conservation and give priority to conservation in the near future’ while maintaining economic growth.     

Impact of transportation infrastructure on industrial pollution in Chinese cities: A spatial econometric analysis

Transportation infrastructure (TI) plays a critical role in China's economic growth, but its negative impacts on the environment have not been sufficiently addressed by the government. While studies of TI's impact on air pollution exist, there are few studies examining its impact on industrial pollution. This paper fills this gap by using the Spatial Durbin Model and balanced panel data from 280 of China's cities spanning 2003 to 2015. The results show that TI, represented by urban roads, aggravates the cities' industrial SO₂ emissions, industrial soot (dust) emissions, and industrial wastewater over the long run. The channel analysis further shows that TI influences industrial pollution through industrial agglomeration, but not urbanization. TI has no direct effect on the industrial pollution of neighboring cities but does influence neighboring cities' industrial pollution through the spatial spillover effects of industrial agglomeration. Provincial policymakers and city planners should together pay more attention to the role of industrial agglomeration when designing economic policies to manage the negative effects of TI on the environment, and through cross-city cooperation develop means to reduce these effects.     

Home energy use in nine OECD countries, 1960–1980

Government institutions and individuals have responded to fluctuations in energy supply and price with the implementation of policies and the initiation of conservation. While these activities have resulted in noticeable conservation of energy, primarily through behavioural actions, further savings could be achieved through the exchange of information regarding promising policies and technologies. Toward this end, data on residential sector energy use for nine OECD countries (Canada, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the USA) have been collected over the period 1960–1980 and have been analysed using both indicators of energy-use intensity and econometric methods.     

Investment strategy for sustainable society by development of regional economies and prevention of industrial pollutions in Japanese manufacturing sectors

A balance between industrial pollution prevention and economic growth becomes a world-wide issue to develop a sustainable society in many industrial nations. To discuss the issue, this study proposes a new use of DEA environmental assessment to determine how to effectively allocate capital for developing regional industries. The amount of capital is used to invest for technology innovation for both local economic growth and environmental protection. In this study, the proposed approach separates outputs into desirable and undesirable categories. Inputs are also separated into two categories, one of which indicates an amount of investment on capital assets. The other category is used for production activities. The proposed approach unifies them by two disposability concepts. This study has evaluated the performance of manufacturing industries in 47 prefectures (local government units in Japan) by Unified Efficiency under Natural disposability (UEN), Unified Efficiency under Managerial disposability (UEM) and Unified Efficiency under Natural and Managerial disposability (UENM). The UENM is further separated into its two cases: with and without a possible occurrence on desirable congestion, or technology innovation, on undesirable outputs. This study has empirically confirmed that Japanese manufacturing industries need to make their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution substances by investing in technology innovation. Furthermore, most of economic activities are currently located at metropolitan regions (e.g., Tokyo) in Japan. To develop a sustainable society, Japan needs to allocate capital into regions with a high level of investment effectiveness by shifting the manufacturing industries from the metropolitan regions to much promising local areas identified in this study. Such a shift, along with technology innovation, makes it possible to reduce air pollutions in the entire Japan by balancing economic growth and pollution prevention. This empirical study confirms that the proposed approach is useful in both guiding regional planning and developing a sustainable society. It is easily envisioned that the proposed approach is useful for not only Japan but also the other industrial and developing nations.     

US energy conservation and efficiency policies: Challenges and opportunities

Expanding energy conservation and efficiency in every sector nationwide is one of the most cost-effective instruments for reducing US energy imports, the trade deficit and energy’s environmental impacts. For these reasons, energy conservation and efficiency have been essential elements of US energy policy since the oil embargos and price spikes of the 1970s. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) is the latest federal legislation to expand and strengthen US energy conservation and efficiency policies, programs, and practices. Specifically, EISA and its recent predecessor, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct05), contain almost 200 titles with new provisions for energy conservation and efficiency aimed at improvements in vehicle fuel economy. These provisions include efficiency of appliances and lighting; energy savings in residential, commercial, and government buildings; the efficiency of industrial manufacturing plants; and the efficiency of electric power delivery and end-use. These actions have begun to contribute to new federal, state, and local policies, programs, and practices across the US, and expectations are high for increases in the level of energy savings. This paper summarizes the history of US energy conservation and efficiency policies, outlines EISA’s and EPAct05’s key provisions, and considers prospects for the future.     

实现“十一五”节能目标的建筑节能措施分析(1)

为促进我国经济社会的可持续发展,党中央、国务院提出了“十一五”期间单位GDP能耗下降20%左右的宏伟节能目标。但是,该目标如何分解到各部门、各行业,应该分别采取什么措施,目前正处于研究过程中。针对三大终端用能领域之一的建筑用能领域,本文从我国的建筑节能现状、建筑能耗的影响因素、“十一五”期间的建筑节能潜力及实现途径、面临的挑战以及“十一五”期间推动建筑节能工作应该采取的关键政策措施等方面进行了探讨分析。     

Energy efficiency in the Japanese transport sector

We examine energy efficiency in the Japanese transportation sector since the 1970s. Comparisons with the United States and other developed economies illustrate that Japan primarily stands out due to low activity levels and modal structure rather than modal energy intensity. On-road automobile energy intensity has shown little improvement, albeit from a low base, over the past four decades. We also consider policy measures undertaken by the Japanese government. Political arrangements in Japan after World War II made it attractive for politicians to pursue energy conservation by making transportation, particularly by automobile, expensive for the average Japanese citizen. The revenues raised from various fees and taxes on automobile transportation were redistributed to core supporters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. These political arrangements have come under fire in recent years, calling into question Japan's traditional approach towards transportation sector energy efficiency.     

Measuring energy savings — problems

The contribution of government energy conservation programmes to reducing national energy is an important but largely unresolved issue. This paper discusses estimating the energy-savings impact of US Department of Energy (DOE) conservation programmes. Programme-by-programme estimates of energy savings have been analysed, the results indicating that DOE conservation programmes have reduced US energy use by more than 0.5 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) annually since 1981. Limitations in the available evaluative information, however, preclude reaching unambiguous conclusions.     

Reviewing tax system and its reform plan for the fuel market in South Korea

After a long period of government intervention in the energy market, the Korean government has realized that the costs of its intervention are greater than the benefit as the economy got more complicated and more integrated into the world economy. The objective of the energy tax reform is to establish a transparent set of taxing principles, in order to internalize externalities from energy consumption. The expected effects of the reform is to motivate energy conservation and to promote R&D on energy conservation technologies which will ultimately result in the strengthening of industrial competitiveness and the reduction of urban air pollution.     

Energy conservation and emission reduction policies for the electric power industry in China

Because of China's increasingly limited energy supplies and serious environmental pollution, much attention has been paid to conserving energy and reducing emissions to help the country's economy achieve sustainable development. As the electric power industry is the largest consumer of coal resources in China and also emits high levels of air pollutants each year, the Chinese government has enacted many technical and economic policies for energy conservation and emission reduction in the last few years. These policies are summarized in this paper, along with relevant laws and medium- and long-term plans, all of which address ideas such as adjusting the power generation mix, promoting demand-side management, introducing energy-efficient scheduling, and installing desulfurization units. The paper also assesses the results of these policies by analyzing several key indicators of energy consumption and emissions. The analysis shows that although some progress has been made in conserving energy and reducing emissions, substantial work is still required for China to catch up with developed countries. Some suggestions for future work are provided.     

Direct rebound effect for urban household in China—an empirical study

Household sector has become one important target sector on which the Chinese government implements its energy-saving and emission reduction policies. Improving energy efficiency is the primary method adopted by the Chinese government for energy conservation. However, its real energy-saving effects would be affected greatly owing to energy rebound effects. In this paper, we set up a Linear Approximation of the Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) model to estimate the direct rebound effect for urban households in China, and real energy conservation effect of improving energy efficiency is also obtained. The assessment of the rebound has a lot of uncertainty, and therefore, exact figures are hard to determine. The results show that energy rebound for Chinese urban household is approximately 66%. In this regard, the Chinese government could not accomplish the energy conservation target through improving energy efficiency only. Policy supplements like energy pricing reform are also needed.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of urban energy conservation and GHG mitigation measures: The case of Xiamen city,China

To assess the effectiveness of urban energy conservation and GHG mitigation measures, a detailed Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) model is developed and applied to analyze the future trends of energy demand and GHG emissions in Xiamen city. Two scenarios have been designed to describe the future energy strategies in relation to the development of Xiamen city. The ‘Business as Usual’ scenario assumes that the government will do nothing to influence the long-term trends of urban energy demand. An ‘Integrated’ scenario, on the other hand, is generated to assess the cumulative impact of a series of available reduction measures: clean energy substitution, industrial energy conservation, combined heat and power generation, energy conservation in building, motor vehicle control, and new and renewable energy development and utilization. The reduction potentials in energy consumption and GHG emissions are estimated for a time span of 2007–2020 under these different scenarios. The calculation results in Xiamen show that the clean energy substitution measure is the most effective in terms of energy saving and GHG emissions mitigation, while the industrial sector has the largest abatement potential.     

Reform of refined oil product pricing mechanism and energy rebound effect for passenger transportation in China

Improving energy efficiency is the primary method adopted by the Chinese government in an effort to achieve energy conservation target in the transport sector. However, the offsetting effect of energy rebound would greatly reduce its real energy-saving potentials. We set up a Linear Approximation of the Almost Ideal Demand System Model (LA-AIDS model) to estimate the rebound effect for passenger transportation in China. Real energy conservation effect of improving energy efficiency can also be obtained in the process. The result shows that the rebound effect is approximately 107.2%. This figure signifies the existence of ‘backfire effect’, indicating that efficiency improvement in practice does not always lead to energy-saving. We conclude that one important factor leading to the rebound effect, is the refined oil pricing mechanism. China's refined oil pricing mechanism has been subjected to criticism in recent years. The results of simulation analysis show that the rebound could be reduced to approximately 90.7% if the refined oil pricing mechanism is reformed. In this regard, we suggest further reforms in the current refined oil pricing mechanism.     

Energy and environmental efficiency measurement of China's industrial sectors: A DEA model with non-homogeneous inputs and outputs

Environmental problems brought by industry are attracting extensive attention so a comprehensive analysis of industrial environmental performance is increasingly important. However, the comparison of industrial sector efficiencies is complicated by the fact that the natural resources consumed and/or the pollutants discharged by each sector may differ. In this paper, we extend the DEA model to consider two-sided non-homogeneous problems, handling DMU sets that have non-homogeneity in both inputs and outputs. This is different from the previous researches which generally focus on regional data to avoid non-homogeneity. Today environmental reform and energy conservation in various industrial sectors are both parts of the basic state policy of China. The empirical results show that: (1) Sectors' efficiencies are still low and unbalanced. The Recycling and Disposal of Waste department achieves the best energy saving and emission reduction efficiency. (2) 38 sectors can be clustered into four groups and set new benchmark in each group. (3) The overall efficiency of 38 industrial sectors in China maintained a rising trend in five years. With this more realistic analysis of environmental efficiency, the Chinese government can make more informed decisions to realize sustainable industrial development.     

Government regulation as an impetus for innovation: Evidence from energy performance regulation in the Dutch residential building sector

The recent implementation of energy performance policy as a way to tackle energy consumption in the building sector in Europe draws attention to the effect it has on the development and diffusion of energy-saving innovations. According to innovation system literature, government regulation through norms and standards is one of the factors stimulating innovation. This paper concentrates on the role of stricter government regulation as an incentive to innovation in the Dutch residential building sector. Innovation in this sector is predominantly a process of applying incremental modifications to comply with new and stricter government regulations and standards. Energy performance policy in its current shape will therefore not contribute to the diffusion of really new innovation in energy techniques for residential buildings in the Netherlands. If diffusion of really new innovation is an explicit aim of energy performance policy then the European wide introduction of this scheme needs reconsideration.     

An investigation into the present situation and characteristics of china's energy consumption

The present situation of China's energy consumption and its composition in the past decade is introduced in this paper. The characteristics of energy consumption in China are: energy sources are mainly supplied domestically; coal predominates in the composition of energy consumption (average 725%); industrial energy consumption takes the largest proportion of the final energy consumption (average 65.6%); the utilization efficiency of energy is low; serious environmental pollution is caused by coal combustion. It is necessary to conduct technology innovation for energy conservation because of the low efficiency utilization of energy by appliances and the backwardness of industrial technologies. China must carry out continuously the principle ‘lay equal stress on development and conservation and give priority to conservation in the near future’ with the idea that the economy will have a high growth rate.     

South Korea's national pursuit for fuel cell electric vehicle development: The role of government R&D programs over 30 years (1989–2021)

This paper explains the role of the Korean government's National R&D Program over three decades for fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) development. The R&D programs had started far before FCEV was considered feasible. We call this as a national pursuit, since the R&D programs has been participated by not only car manufacturers but also various research institutions, including universities, in Korea's national innovation system. The Korean government has implemented a series of National R&D Programs throughout many stages, from selection of technology, building infrastructure and legislations, demonstration, and subsidizing mass-produced FCEVs. The authors analyzed all the government R&D programs from 1989 to 2021 to show the evolutionary changes in contexts and contents of the programs that have reflected varying expectations, government's industrial strategy, and the maturity of technologies through periods. This paper claims that Korea's FCEV development has been regarded as a long-run national industrial strategy, and the development has been persistently pursued in a national innovation systemic manner, such as combining public R&D sector with industries and strong institutional and organizational supports by government.     

储运系统节能途径分析

据中科院一项调查显示,中国是世界上能源消耗最大的国家之一,能源浪费非常严重,在59个受调查的国家中排名第56。中国的能源使用率仅为美国的26.9%,日本的11.5%,工业生产占了总能耗的一半。不断改进用能技术,优化用能结构,提高能源效率是工业企业迫在眉捷的一项工作。中国石化茂名分公司炼油分部是一个始建于20世纪60年代的老厂,随着加工能力的不断扩大,能源消耗越来越多,所以通过技术改造优化能源使用、降低能源消耗,是现在炼油分部的一项十分重要的工作。通过对炼油分部储运系统能耗结构的分析,阐述了储运系统能耗存在的问题和现状,通过装置热联合技术改造、装置低温余热的利用、蒸汽优化使用等手段,大大降低储运系统的能耗。从2007年开始,先后实施了渣油加氢等4套装置的热联合,由于风险控制措施到位,装置均实现平稳生产。实施热联合后,可停开风冷或水冷装置,罐区可停开原料输送泵及伴热加温蒸汽,节能效果非常明显。