Erik Ackner

China's energy problem: What positive impacts have renewable energies and energy efficiency? Erik Ackner

Scholarly Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, grade: 1,3, Berlin School of Economics and Law (IMB Institute of Management Berlin), language: English, abstract: In March 2011 the communist party (CP) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) enacted their 12th Five-Year Plan for the period between 2011 to 2015. Previous charters were mainly focused on strong economic growth causing severe energy and environmental problems due to very high CO2 emissions. Scientists worldwide agree that the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is the main driver for global warming and climate change. What can be done so limit this development? Can maybe the 12th Five-Year Plan of China act as a good example? The latest plan of the PRC eventually is giving a slight change to its old philosophy by setting on the agenda "three energy related priorities: the diversification of sources and development of clean energies; energy efficiency and energy conservation; and the development of electric vehicles" (Enerdata Ltd., 2013: 5). By publishing these objectives, the CP acknowledges a previous maldevelopment in energy and environmental aspects, which go hand in hand. This paper tries to give answers to the following questions: What is the status quo of China's energy market? Which environmental problems is China facing? What technical challenges exist when turning China's energy market into a more sustainable one? What part can Renewable Energies play to decrease emission? What key role does energy efficiency play in China's energy market? What can be a possible outlook?