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Energy-Strapped Asian Countries Forced to Become More Efficient
March 03, 2006 — By Michael Casey, Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand — G Steel, one of Thailand's leading steel firms, recycles
all its waste water and has cut its electricity use by 38 percent over the
past five years.
In China, the government has threatened contractors with hefty fines if they
violate building codes for saving energy.
South Korea has launched a campaign to convince consumers to toss out their
old, less efficient appliances, while Japan's Environment Ministry last week
turned off its heating to save fuel.
Across Asia, soaring oil prices and unrelenting demand for energy are forcing
companies and countries to become more energy efficient.
Governments are rolling out tougher standards for automobiles, appliances and
new construction while offering tax incentives for energy-conscious employers.
Companies are scrambling to save energy to protect their bottom lines, as well
as attract Western partners and bolster their environmental credentials.
Some companies are finding savings by tossing out old boilers or reusing old
tires, waste oil or saw dust for fuel.
Others are investing in more efficient plants. The Anhui Tiandu Paper Co. in
China, for example, built a plant that produces heat and power together and is
30 percent more efficient than traditional power systems.
"If you spend all the gas, all the electricity, you know it is not very good
for the country," said Dr. Somsak Leeswadtrkul, the founder of G-Steel Public
Co. Ltd., which is investing $2.2 million to cut natural gas use by 15
percent.
While solar power, wind power and other kinds of renewable energy offer hope
for the future, they won't be viable on a large scale for decades to come.
So governments are looking to squeeze more out of their economies -- clamping
down on everything from leaky office buildings to wasteful coal-fired power
plants, which provide two-thirds of Asia's electricity.
Such conservation measures could help Asian countries cut their energy use by
as much as a quarter in the next 15 years and reduce carbon dioxide emissions,
experts say.
While alternative forms of energy are being developed, "the absolute reduction
in energy consumption and greenhouse gases will come through energy
efficiency," said Sophie Punte, who is overseeing a U.N. program promoting
energy efficiency among 40 companies in Asia. The program is set to be
expanded in Africa and Latin America.
Since the 1970s, energy efficiency measures such as minimum energy performance
standards for appliances have become commonplace in the United States and
Europe.
But in Asia, energy efficiency has largely been limited to South Korea, Japan,
Singapore and Australia.
China is one of the region's most wasteful economies. Its 1950s era power
plants and outdated, state-owned factories use 11 times more energy than
neighboring Japan and three times more than the global average, according to
Douglas Ogden, of the China Sustainable Energy Program.
China's rapid growth has only made things worse, forcing it to spend billions
of dollars in recent years constructing scores of polluting, coal-fired power
plants, which waste two-thirds of their coal, Ogden says. Coal is used to
generate 79 percent of the nation's electricity, according to the
International Energy Agency, based in Paris.
China has been trying to reduce its dependence on coal, but the electricity
system itself so far has largely eluded reform, Ogden says. Signaling a shift
to more energy-efficient nuclear power plants, China said last month it plans
to add 40 new nuclear generators by 2020.
Still, energy demand is outstripping supply, resulting in power blackouts --
and prompting Chinese leaders to champion energy efficiency. Last year,
Beijing put in place new fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and
implemented a five-year plan that calls for improving energy efficiency 20
percent by 2010.
The government, working with the California-based Natural Resource Defense
Council, said this month it will implement stricter building codes to save
energy, such as using lightweight concrete that is a better insulator and
double-paned windows to hold heat.
Developers that ignore the rules could be fined $62,000 or lose their
licenses.
"If you don't meet the energy-efficient standards, you will lose your job,"
said Construction Ministry Vice Minister Qiu Baoxing.
Thailand and the Philippines mandate efficiency standards for appliances and
offer tax incentives for companies investing in efficiency projects, the Asian
Development Bank said.
South Korea spent $680 million last year to replace factories with energy
efficient facilities, officials said.
Japan, a leader in the field, has promoted a "Cool Biz" campaign to persuade
companies to reduce their air conditioning and heating use by having workers
dress more casually. Last week, Japan's Environment Ministry had a "Warm Biz"
campaign during which it turned off its heat in an effort to save energy.
"I think you will see energy efficiency growing throughout Asia and it may
well overtake the West," said David Crossley, an Australian-based energy
adviser with The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership.
Still, many Asian companies say there remain significant barriers to energy
efficiency, including a lack of financial incentives, opposition from
management worried about the cost and weak environmental laws, according to a
U.N. survey last year.
And in the region's poorest countries like Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam as well
as vast swaths of India and China, the challenge is simply providing
electricity, never mind making it efficient.
"There are still a lot of people who don't have access to energy," said Gerald
Doucet, secretary general of the World Energy Council in London. "The per
capita consumption of energy is very low when you take in the entire
population. The focus in countries like Vietnam is to get more electricity."
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Kana Inagaki from Tokyo and Yu-sup Lee from Seoul contributed to this story.
Source: Associated Press
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