in the industrialization stage, improving energy efficiency is the most effective way to reduce carbon emissions, and there is a lot of room for improving energy efficiency. For example, building energy efficiency. In developed economies, one third is emissions from buildings, one third from transportation and one third from industry. China now accounts for a large proportion of industrial emissions, while traffic and construction emissions are relatively small. However, with the improvement of living standards, the housing area of residents is getting bigger and bigger, and the quality of housing is getting higher and higher. If we follow the example of zero-emission buildings in Europe, there is great potential in building energy conservation.
there is also great room for improving industrial energy efficiency. As China is a developing country, there are both the most advanced technologies and the most backward technologies. Like the steel industry, China has some leading technologies. For example, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel in large and medium-sized steel joint ventures is relatively low, but small steelmaking and backward technologies have high energy consumption and high emissions. This means accelerating the elimination of backward production capacity. In terms of electricity, China is definitely inseparable from thermal power at this stage, so it is necessary to use supercritical and ultra-supercritical generator sets to minimize the discharge per kilowatt hour. China has invested heavily in steel, cement, chemical industry, machinery and other fields. In the 11th Five-Year Plan, it is proposed to eliminate small thermal power, small cement and small paper making, which have achieved very good results.
in the field of transportation, we also have a lot of work to do. The fuel consumption of air traffic is much higher than that of ground traffic: it is more than twice as high as that of inefficient cars; Compared with large-capacity public transport and high-speed railway, it is at least three times or four times higher. Now the Airbus from Beijing to Shanghai runs once an hour. In the future, if the high-speed railway is built once an hour, there is basically no need for airplanes. The same convenient service, but the emissions are only one quarter and one fifth of the original.
2. Development and utilization of renewable energy
China is rich in renewable energy resources. Although the cost of renewable energy is high, a considerable part of it has been commercialized. For example, solar water heaters and small biogas in rural areas are widely used; Hydropower and some well-developed wind power (such as wind power in Tarim, Xinjiang) are also very competitive; Biomass energy, such as crop stalks, is used in China every year, which is equivalent to about 3 million tons of standard coal. If the total consumption of commodity energy is 3 billion tons every year, biomass energy accounts for 1%. Renewable energy that has been commercialized can be further promoted.
both solar photovoltaic power generation and photothermal power generation technologies are now in operation. Europe has an ambitious project plan to build a large solar thermal power station in the Sahara desert of Africa, and then build a long-distance power transmission and transformation system to transmit electricity to Europe. China has a vast Gobi Desert. If the solar power generation technology is mature, the development prospect of Gobi Desert will be very broad. Now we can invest in R&D and make good preparations.
in the transportation field, cars no longer only burn oil and liquefied natural gas, but now there are hybrid cars and electric cars. The speed of electric vehicles can reach 15 kilometers per hour, and they can run as far as 4 kilometers. If the battery performance is better and the power is stronger, the competitiveness will be even greater. Technologies such as solar cars and hydrogen fuel cells are also under development. If they are mature, our transportation services will achieve little or even zero carbon emissions.
besides the development and utilization of renewable energy, there are many great articles to do, and nuclear energy is also very promising. Britain has long been strongly opposed to nuclear energy. Now, in order to develop a low-carbon economy, it has put the development of nuclear energy on the agenda and prepared to further update and build new nuclear power plants. The United States has also launched a new nuclear energy program. At present, although there are some problems in nuclear waste disposal, it is relatively economical and feasible. From the safety point of view, France, a nuclear power country, has never had a nuclear accident. China is also vigorously developing nuclear power, which used to be in coastal areas, but now it is extended to the mainland. However, there is a problem: China is short of uranium resources for developing nuclear power. Under the background of economic globalization, integration and the world's response to climate change, we can ask countries rich in uranium resources, such as Australia, Canada and Central Asian countries, to provide uranium resources to China through international agreements.
3. Guiding consumer behavior
It is very important to accelerate the process of low-carbon economy construction by raising consumers' awareness of energy conservation. To this end, we must formulate corresponding policies and measures.
firstly, carbon dioxide has a negative effect on climate change, and it has an environmental cost. In that case, we should tax it. Carbon tax is not the same as energy tax. Imposing energy tax may suppress renewable energy, but if we distinguish it and only tax carbon, it will only suppress high-carbon energy. If the comparative income of high-carbon energy is reduced, the comparative cost of zero-carbon or low-carbon energy will be reduced, and the market competitiveness will be enhanced.
The conditions for China to levy a carbon tax now should be ripe. There are two main reasons why we say the conditions are not mature. First, as a developing country, China has not made any commitment to reduce emissions internationally. If we levy a carbon tax at home, it seems to be in contradiction with international policy. But in fact, we can completely avoid this point. We can call it exhaustible resource tax instead of carbon tax. Because we already have a resource tax, and fossil energy is an exhaustible resource, then levying an exhaustible resource tax is essentially equivalent to a carbon tax. The second reason is that we need the corresponding technology, information and statistical data to levy a carbon tax. It is generally believed that we do not have such statistical conditions at present. In fact, this problem is not difficult to solve. Because carbon is only found in coal, oil and natural gas, these three energy sources have entered the market, and the statistics should be very simple. It doesn't matter whether we collect it at the production end or at the consumption end. Therefore, it is not infeasible in principle to levy a carbon tax, but a technical operation problem.
second, we should have corresponding policy subsidies. The research, development and application of all technologies will go through the transformation process from high cost to low cost. If we give subsidies, the process of reducing costs will be accelerated. Subsidizing some energy sources and technologies that are not commercially competitive for the time being and have relatively low social costs will enable them to grow faster and compete in the market.
third, we should increase investment in research and development. Many low-carbon energy technologies and products need further research and development, and the government's public and financial investment and the enterprise's commercialization investment can be combined.
fourthly, there should be corresponding economic policies and measures to limit extravagance and waste in consumer behavior. A few years ago, I put forward an idea called a progressive tax system for energy consumption (or a progressive tax system for carbon emissions). Our carbon emission space is limited, and everyone's basic consumption demand is also limited, so we can give everyone a certain amount of carbon emissions, and after exceeding it, we have to pay taxes. The more we exceed it, the higher the tax rate will be, just like our income tax. This not only takes into account the satisfaction of basic needs, but also makes consumer behavior more rational and reduces the extravagance and waste. It should be emphasized that the energy consumption tax should be a progressive tax rate, not a uniform tax rate. A uniform tax rate will only suppress the poor and encourage the rich to spend.
fifth, we should control public consumption. China's public consumption is particularly wasteful, and most of the cars running on the expressway are buses; In the office building, there is also a lot of waste in air conditioning and electricity. In some developed countries, the low-carbon consumption of public transportation is very important, and ministers also take public transportation. Therefore, the government can set an example.
Sixth, there are many advanced experiences in low-carbon communities and cities abroad, which we can learn from and carry out international cooperation.
in addition to the above three aspects, there are other areas for developing low-carbon economy. Such as carbon capture and storage technology, although it is not economically feasible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions-because it consumes a lot of energy, as a technical choice, we can continue to research and develop it to make it commercially feasible in the future, which is a strategic investment. Moreover, carbon capture and storage technology is commercially feasible and profitable in some fields, such as using it to improve oil recovery. Some developed countries collect and liquefy carbon dioxide during tertiary oil recovery, and inject it into the ground to drive out the oil. Daqing and Shengli oil fields in China also involve secondary and tertiary oil recovery, so this method can be completely adopted.
we can also use international trade to develop a low-carbon economy. Every country has different resource endowments, the proportion and cost of clean energy. We can export products with relatively high carbon productivity and import products with low carbon productivity. Like ore, China imports from Australia, which is much lower than the cost of domestic mining.
in a word, low-carbon economy is not a fashionable concept, and it can be put into practice. Through the transformation of economic development mode, consumption mode, energy structure and energy efficiency, China will move towards a low-carbon economy and a low-carbon society-only a low-carbon society can be a sustainable society.