Energy Consumption Lowered for H1     

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Energy Bureau on August 7th, the energy consumption per unit of GDP in China for H1 of 2008 was down 2.88% year-on-year.
   The energy consumption per unit of GDP for industrial enterprises with the annual sales of over RMB5.0 million was down 5.76% year-on-year. The reduction rate was 6.74% for the coal sector, 4.05% for the iron/steel sector, 3.70% for the nonferrous metal sector, 9.98% for the construction material sector, 1.58% for the petroleum and petrochemical sector, 4.76% for the chemical sector, 9.61% for the textile sector and 3.79% for the power sector.
   China has set a target of the energy consumption per RMB10 000 of GDP down 20% by 2010 compared with that of 2005. In the past two years, the government increased inputs in energy-saving and emission-reducing, eliminated outdated plants and limited production with high pollution and high energy consumption, implemented the assessment of energy-saving object responsibilities.
   Xie Zhenhua, the Deputy Director of NDRC, says recently, "The energy consumption in China was only dropped by 1.79% for 2006 and 3.66% for 2007. The energy consumption per unit of GDP in China should be reduced by more than 5% in the next three years to attain the target of energy-saving defined in the Eleventh Five-year Program (2006-2010)."