Johannesburg - Smog,
soot and an insatiable thirst for oil: that is one image of
China.
But the Asian colossus was also seen leading the way in the
use of "green" energies as alternatives to fossil fuels, the head of a
leading environmental watchdog said yesterday.
"China is already
big in renewables. In five years' time we see it as a world leader in this
department," Christopher Flavin, the president of the US-based Worldwatch
Institute, said on the sidelines of a global energy conference in
Johannesburg.
"Already, 35 million homes in China get their hot
water from solar collectors. That is more than the rest of the world
combined," he said.
Renewable energy is derived from sources that
are continually replaced, unlike fossil fuels, of which there is a finite
supply.
Most renewables are non-polluting. "There are prospects
for real take-offs in solar and wind power in China, and not just hot
water for homes but in industry. State-owned industries and private
companies there are investing heavily in renewables," Flavin
said.
Sky-high world oil prices have partly been attributed to
surging demand from China and the country's overall record on the
environment has many greens seeing red.
But Flavin said the rapid
growth in oil imports and related costs was making China explore its
options.
The country was grappling with mounting health and social
costs from pollution as well as an energy crisis that had seen rolling
blackouts, he said.
Flavin earlier told the conference that
renewable energy was rapidly growing on a global scale, albeit from a low
base compared with fossil fuels.
He said that wind power had an
annual average growth rate of about 30 percent from 1994 to 2004, while
solar energy had seen yearly growth of close to 25 percent over the same
period.
Flavin also said that the costs from such energy sources
were falling fast, noting that wind power in 1980 cost 46c a kilowatt hour
but now cost less than 6c a kilowatt hour.
But he said that much
of the oil industry was missing the boat and the message it was sending
was that: "Real energy men don't do renewable energy."
Source: Reuters
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