The government yesterday urged the coal industry, the biggest in
the world, to speed up energy-saving and emission-control
measures.
According to a notice from the National Development and Reform
Commission, the top industry watchdog, by 2010, coal firms should
have cut their energy consumption per ton by 20 percent from 2005
levels.
They should increase the use of solid waste, coal mine water and
coal bed methane, the NDRC said, and those who do will be rewarded
with favorable policies.
By 2010, solid waste such as coal gangue and flurry, should be
used in 70 percent of electricity production, the NDRC said, up
from 43 percent in 2005.
Coal companies who produce electricity with coal gangue and
flurry, as well as kerogen, will enjoy preferential access to the
power grids, it said.
The notice also said that 60 percent of coal bed methane should
be utilized in 2010.
Coal producers must get rid of outmoded equipment, while
small-scale mines, washeries and coke plants must save energy and
control their emissions.
New coal washeries must have an annual capacity of at least
300,000 tons a year, according to the notice, and their energy
consumption must not exceed 8 kWh per ton.
The producers have also been told to boost investment in new
equipment and form alliances with universities and research
institutions to develop key technologies for energy saving and
emission control.
Coal production in China climbed 7.1 percent year on year to 1.1
billion tons in the first half of this year, accounting for
one-third of the world's total, according to industry data.
In the same period, almost 9,000 small and unsafe coal mines
were shut down across the country.
The China National Coal Association predicted in March that
full-year production would reach 2.48 billion tons, up 6.5 percent
on 2006.
According to a government plan revealed in January, coal
production in the country will hit 2.6 billion tons in 2010.
(China Daily July 6, 2007)