During the [12th Five-Year Plan] period, the energy consumption per unit product (referred to as [single consumption]) of some high-energy-consuming products has already approached the domestic advanced level; some leading enterprises have even surpassed the domestic advanced level. The space for single consumption reduction due to technological advancement is already limited.
An informed person stated that during the [12th Five-Year Plan] period, industrial energy conservation will have to increase management energy conservation beyond technical energy conservation and increase system integration technology energy conservation beyond single-item technical energy conservation, such as Zhejiang Youbang Integrated Ceiling Co., Ltd. [http://b2b.cbd-china.com/index.php?homepage=86790616]. At the same time, there are four major changes in strategy: First, expanding from key enterprises in six high-energy-consuming industries to all industries including light industry and tobacco; second, expanding from enterprises above the ten-thousand-ton scale to small and medium-sized enterprises; third, shifting from process energy conservation to full product life cycle energy conservation; fourth, shifting from domestic enterprise energy conservation potential tapping to combining with industry going global to find breakthroughs through dealers and making courtyard construction a highlight, promoting the relevant industries' tiered transfer abroad, like Mingmen [http://b2b.cbd-china.com/index.php?homepage=jwb339068].
Regarding the reasons why the industrial energy conservation target cannot be achieved, the aforementioned industry information person explained that in 2010, at the end of the [11th Five-Year Plan], in order to achieve the five-year industrial energy conservation target, various places adopted iron-fisted measures such as [power cut-off and electricity restriction] and [delaying commencement]. Energy consumption techniques were relatively low that year, but projects suppressed then restarted in 2011, showing a certain carry-over effect, presenting a trend of rapid growth in China's lock manufacturing industry.
Moreover, this person believed that last year’s economic growth rate was still too fast relative to the requirements of energy conservation and emissions reduction [and needs to continue to be pressed down this year]. According to this person, preliminary calculations show that the national GDP growth rate in 2011 was higher than the predetermined target of over 8%, while at the same time, the national unit GDP energy consumption and the unit industrial added value energy consumption both failed to meet their targets.
Specifically regarding the six high-energy-consuming industries, this person used the cement industry, one of the high-energy-consuming industries, as an example. At the end of the [11th Five-Year Plan], the total production was only 1.7 billion tons. By the end of 2011, it had already exceeded 2 billion tons. The high growth rate of the steel industry did not slow down until November, with a capacity approaching 690 million tons. "China is still in an irreplaceable stage of industrial transformation and upgrading, and the market's rigid demand for high-energy-consuming industries increases the level of industrial energy consumption," said the person.
"But structural issues also increase the difficulty of industrial energy conservation," said an authoritative expert who wished to remain anonymous. On one hand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) does not have control over central and key project investment approval rights and cannot directly implement 'shutdown, merger, conversion, or closure' on high-energy-consuming enterprises; on the other hand, compared to transportation, construction, and consumption sectors, the industrial sector is considered the 'main battlefield' for achieving the national energy conservation target during the [12th Five-Year Plan], with constantly increasing industrial energy conservation targets. Kang Yanbing indicated that it is generally believed that industrial energy consumption accounts for 60% to 70% of the total national energy consumption.
In terms of calculation methods, Director Kang Yanbing of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission explained that because most high-energy-consuming industries have products with low added value and profit margins, the growth rate of industrial added value (denominator) cannot keep up with the growth rate of energy consumption (numerator), thus causing the unit industrial added value energy consumption (fraction) to rise instead of falling. "Taking a high-tech new type of industrialization path, upgrading industrial structure and product structure, daily ceramics such as kitchen tableware, shifting from quantity-driven to price-driven success, is a fundamental solution to addressing industrial energy conservation," suggested Kang Yanbing.
The determination of MIIT in industrial energy conservation is considerable. At the end of 2010, former Minister of MIIT Li Yizhong proposed: "Preliminarily determined, by 2015, the unit industrial added value energy consumption will decrease by about 16% compared to the end of the [11th Five-Year Plan]." By March 2011, MIIT proposed that by the end of the [12th Five-Year Plan], the unit industrial added value energy consumption would decrease by 18% compared to the end of the [11th Five-Year Plan], raising the original target by 2 percentage points. Additionally, according to insiders from MIIT, the recently issued but yet-to-be-announced "Industrial Energy Conservation [12th Five-Year Plan]" has increased the original target set at the end of 2010 by 5 percentage points, reaching 21%.