Natural gas plays a major role in a country’s economy so when the ability to extract a sufficient amount decreases, so does the country’s economy. China has recently run into a serious natural gas drought and it has crippled the economy. The amount of natural gas collected has fallen extremely short based on previous expectations so the Chinese government has recognized the issue and addressed it. Wu Xinxion, the director of the natural energy administration in China, has predicted that the amount of shale gas and coal field gas would each supply one percent of China’s electricity generation needs in 2020. Due to the fact that the economy keeps growing and the amount of energy used is also increasing, sustaining the energy supply in china will be difficult. This issue is such a pressing matter that China has agreed to buy gas from Russia under a 30 year, $400 billion deal. They are hoping deals like this will allow them to cut down on coal based power plants which are a major factor in contributing to air pollution and global warming. China plans to look into alternate methods in an attempt to increase the amount of natural gas being collected in the country. They plan on doing this in an effort to strengthen the economy and also have a sufficient amount of natural gas to supply the country with the power it needs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/business/energy-environment/chinas-effort-to-produce-natural-gas-falls-far-short.html?ref=economy
I believe it goes without saying that China's population is huge, and thus the consumption of energy is extremely high. Natural gas is most often used for heating homes first and foremost, there are certainly alternatives but natural gas is extremely convenient... Much like other fossil fuels.
ReplyDeleteIf I understand the specific numbers in the article correctly, by 2020 china estimates that it will be roughly half as efficient as they had planned to be from previous estimates.
I'm glad China is casually being environmentally conscious but I have to wonder if that money would be better spent on developing alternate energy systems instead of purchasing more fossil fuels from an outside entity.
I also have to wonder if the inability to easily collect natural gas impacts the countries around China more but without receiving as much media attention.