{"id":1625,"date":"2010-07-27T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=1625"},"modified":"2017-12-22T08:56:31","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T12:56:31","slug":"china-is-1-or-are-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/china-is-1-or-are-they\/","title":{"rendered":"China is #1 (Or Are They?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report<\/a> that labeled China as the new #1 in the world in terms of \u80fd\u6e90 (n\u00e9ng yu\u00e1n – energy) consumption, putting them ahead of the United States.\u00a0 Using data from 2009, the IEA’s report claimed that during the year, China consumed energy equivalent to 2.252 billion tons of oil.\u00a0 In contrast, the US burned through 2.17 billion tons of oil equivalent, giving China the championship belt of energy consumption by roughly 4%.\u00a0 Although it has been expected for quite some time that China would eventually surpass the US in energy use, the move has come much sooner than \u9884\u8a00 (y\u00f9 y\u00e1n – predicted).\u00a0 According to the findings of the IEA, this is because the US has, for the past 10 years, jumped far ahead of China in terms of energy efficiency.<\/p>\n

With a population almost 5 times that of the US, it should come as no surprise that China, which is developing at break-neck speed, has taken the top spot.\u00a0 It should be noted that the findings of the IEA also stated that the US still uses more energy on a per capita basis.\u00a0 So, basically, while the US has started to improve in terms of how efficiently it uses energy, its citizens still consume more energy than their Chinese counterparts on a daily basis.\u00a0 This comes as no surprise to me.\u00a0 As a citizen of the US living in China, I can clearly see how the Chinese are far more stingy with their energy use than the folks on the other side of the world.\u00a0 In the midst of a scorching hot summer here in Beijing, I still find that most locals are hesitant to turn on the \u7a7a\u8c03 (k\u00f2ng ti\u00e1o – air conditioning), while it’s not uncommon in the US to leave your fully air conditioned home only to take a spin in your air conditioned car.\u00a0 At the same time, China is putting more and more \u8f66\u5728\u8def\u4e0a (ch\u0113 z\u00e0i l\u00f9 sh\u00e0ng – cars on the road), and they are far and away the world’s largest consumer of \u7164 (m\u00e9i – coal), going from a net exporter of coal to the biggest importer of it in just \u4e09\u5e74 (s\u0101n ni\u00e1n – three years).<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mpUCecLMxIc<\/a><\/p>\n

An interesting short report about China’s energy use and reforms.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, China has rejected these findings, with the Xinhua News Agency claiming, “IEA’s data on China’s energy use is unreliable.”\u00a0 China’s National Energy Administration has been quick to point out that China has also surpassed the US as the world’s largest producer of \u53ef\u518d\u751f\u80fd\u6e90 (k\u011b z\u00e0i sh\u0113ng n\u00e9ng yu\u00e1n – renewable energy).<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aoJEye9v07s<\/a><\/p>\n

Typical FOX News commentary – “Like em or hate em (China), you might as well make some money off em.”<\/em><\/p>\n

So… what does all of this mean for us \u8001\u767e\u59d3 (l\u01ceo b\u01cei x\u00ecng – everyday people)?\u00a0 Well, there is a lot of debate out there on this topic.\u00a0 Some feel that China’s new status as the #1 consumer of energy will affect everything from the price of \u539f\u6cb9 (yu\u00e1n y\u00f3u – crude oil) to the types of cars that are produced.\u00a0 Only time will tell exactly what the implications are, if any.\u00a0 One thing is certain though – the future of the world’s energy consumption and energy policies will be heavily shaped by the actions (or non-actions) of China and the United States, \u4e0d\u7ba1\u4ed6\u4eec\u559c\u6b22\u4e0e\u5426 (b\u00f9 gu\u01cen t\u0101 men x\u01d0 huan y\u01d4 f\u01d2u – whether they like it or not).<\/p>\n