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nanotimes Reports

11-04 :: April/May 2011

LBL China Energy Group: China’s Energy and Carbon Emissions Outlook to 2050

Publisher: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Date: 2011 http://china.lbl.gov/publications/2050-outlook

Well before mid-century, according to a new study by Berkeley Lab’s China Energy Group, that nation’s en- ergy use will level off, even as its population edges past 1.4 billion. “I think this is very good news,’’ says Mark Levine, co-author of the report, “China’s Energy and Carbon Emissions Outlook to 2050,” and director of the group. “There’s been a perception that China’s rising prosperity means runaway growth in energy consumpti- on. Our study shows this won’t be the case.”

Along with China’s rise as a world economic power have come a rapid climb in energy use and a related boost in man-made carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, China overtook the United States in 2007 as the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases.

Yet according to this new forecast, the steeply rising curve of energy demand in China will begin to moderate between 2030 and 2035 and flatten thereafter. There will come a time—within the next two decades—when the number of people in China acquiring cars, larger homes, and other accouterments of industrialized soci- eties will peak. It’s a phenomenon known as saturation. “Once nearly every household owns a refrigerator, a washing machine, air conditioners and other appliances, and once housing area per capita has stabilized, per household electricity growth will slow,’’ Levine explains.

Similarly, China will reach saturation in road and rail construction before the 2030-2035 time frame, resul- ting in very large decreases in iron and steel demand. Additionally, other energy-intensive industries will see demand for their products flatten.

Under the more aggressive scenario, energy consumption begins to flatten in 2025, just 14 years from now. The more conservative scenario sees energy consumption rates beginning to taper in 2030. By the mid-century mark, energy consumption under the “accelerated improvement scenario” will be 20% below that of the other.