For decades and even centuries, coal has been the major energy source in China. Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China indicates that coal still accounts for 68% of the primary energy consumption in 2010 and 66% in 2013.
This is of course no surprise for a country so rich in coal reserves.
Such a high level of coal consumption has led to many issues, with the environment as one of the major concerns and security of energy supply another. On the other hand, consumption of natural gas has only increased from 3.2% in 1978, slightly to 4.4% in 2010 and 5.8% in 2013 – with a target to increase to 6.3% in 2015. In the report titled “Action Plan of Energy Development Strategy 2014-2020” published by the State Affairs Council in November 2014, it is stated that the consumption of natural gas should increase to 10% of total energy consumption by 2020.
... to continue reading you must be subscribed
