Industrial and commercial energy users will have to report their monthly consumption this year, a move to help the city realize its energy consumption reduction target.

 

Shanghai's economic planners said at a meeting on Monday they plan to cut the energy consumption of every 10,000 yuan's industrial added value by 6.2 percent and every 10,000 yuan's (US$1,280) commercial added value by 3 percent this year over 2006.

 

By doing this, they hope to realize the overall energy reduction goal of 4 percent.

 

Wang Jian, director of the Shanghai Economic Commission, said at the meeting enterprises that consume at least 5,000 tons of standard coal (1 ton of standard coal equals 29,270 megajoules, a thermal unit) a year should report their energy consumption each month. If found to be using excess coal, they will face a differentiated power price.

 

These enterprises, numbering 800 across the city, are mainly steel, power, petrochemical and construction material companies, large shopping malls and hotels. They account for about 70 percent of the city's total energy consumption.

 

This kind of "decentralized energy responsibility system" will help Shanghai's efforts to reduce its energy consumption, said Long Weiding, a professor from Tongji University.

 

"The measure reflects the seriousness of the Shanghai government toward lowering its energy use," Long said. "I hope the monthly reports can be made known to the public, so that energy guzzlers will feel the pressure."

 

Baosteel Group, the city's largest steel maker and energy consumer, is making efforts to cut down on consumption. It was said to have consumed 19 percent of the city's total energy consumption in 2005.

 

Dai Jian, deputy director of Baosteel's Environment and Resources Department, told China Daily that Baosteel has seen a continuous drop in energy consumption per ton of steel. The per-ton-steel energy consumption dropped by 2.2 percent last year over the year before, and fresh water consumption per ton of steel was lowered by 14.6 percent over 2005.

 

The group has vowed to save nearly 1.3 million tons of standard coal and reduce its energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan's industrial value by 40 percent between 2005 and 2010.

 

But Dai said: "These are very tough goals."

 

(China Daily March 8, 2007)