The State Council issued a notice Tuesday urging nationwide efforts to build a resource-saving society, the latest in a string of calls for more efficient use of energy this week.

It said efforts should focus on major energy consuming iron and steel, nonferrous metal, coal, electricity, oil and petrochemical, chemical and building material industries, and in enterprises consuming more than 10,000 tons of standard coal each a year.

It also stressed conservation in transport and agricultural machinery, newly-built housing and public buildings, and commercial and private facilities, as well as the development and utilization of renewable resources such as hydroelectric, wind, solar and biomass.

The regulation of demand for electricity should be strengthened and the building of an energy-saving technical service system accelerated.

The notice also called for efforts to save water in daily life, irrigation and industrial production; upgrade water-saving technologies and utilize seawater; and strengthen control of underground water resources.

Work should be done to promote the conservation of raw materials, save and make intensive use of land, and enhance the comprehensive use of resources, the document said.

Building a resource-saving society should become an important guideline for formulating the 11th five-year plan for national economic and social development beginning next year, and other special plans, regional planning and city planning.

Regulations on industrial restructuring should also be worked out, and the legal system for resources conservation and related standards improved.

The notice urged ministries and authorities to strengthen leadership and coordination in the national endeavor to save resources and called on governments at all levels to play a leading role in saving resources.

Various activities should be organized throughout the country to create a sound atmosphere for the building of a resource-saving society, it said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2005)