Abstract
At the early stage of development, China has a monotonous energy consumption structure dominated by coal, which damages the environment and has adverse impacts on the economy and sustainable development of the country. It is urgent to change the existing energy structure to reach the goal of sustainable development and improve people’s living standard. The U.S., as the world’s strongest power, has been where China is now, so it is feasible to draw lessons from the U.S in its energy consumption structure. In this study, massive data about the changes in the energy consumption structure are collected and processed, and the types of energy in China and the U.S. are compared. In 2030, China will become the largest consumer of petroleum, and the problems in China’s energy consumption such as supply-demand imbalance, low utilization of energy, and overdependence on imports, will rear their ugly heads. Thus, through theoretical analysis and data analysis, we analyze China’s current structure of energy consumption, its similarity with and difference from that in the U.S., and propose suggestions to improve China’s energy consumption structure.
Highlights
Energy is the basis of national development, and the capacity to control energy manifests a country’s comprehensive national strength
Coal plays a dominating role in China’s energy consumption structure, and since 1993, China has been a net exporter of oil, and since 2009, China has shifted from a net exporter of coal to a net importer of coal
China has enjoyed a more diversified energy structure, grown from a “self-sufficient energy supplier” to a big energy importer, and the stable supply pattern has shifted to a pattern subject to prices and the climate
Summary
Energy is the basis of national development, and the capacity to control energy manifests a country’s comprehensive national strength. An important indicator of a country’s technical strength and standard of life is its development of energy, its effective utilization of energy and the energy consumption per capita. Due to the limits in natural reserves, coal takes up over 60% of all energy consumption in China. Coal plays a dominating role in China’s energy consumption structure, and since 1993, China has been a net exporter of oil, and since 2009, China has shifted from a net exporter of coal to a net importer of coal. China has enjoyed a more diversified energy structure, grown from a “self-sufficient energy supplier” to a big energy importer, and the stable supply pattern has shifted to a pattern subject to prices and the climate
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