20100721 China rejects title of world’s No. 1 energy consumer

China rejects title of world’s No. 1 energy consumer

AFP , BEIJING
Wednesday, Jul 21, 2010, Page 1

“In the year 2000, the US consumed twice as much energy as China; now, China consumes more than the US.”— Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency chief economist

China yesterday rejected an assessment from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that it had surpassed the US to become the world’s top energy consumer, calling the data “unreliable.”

The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal cited a top IEA official as saying the Asian giant had taken over the top spot last year, earlier than expected.

According to the IEA, China consumed 2.252 billion tonnes of oil equivalent of energy last year, from sources that included coal, nuclear power, natural gas and hydroelectric power — about 4 percent more than the US.

However, an official with China’s National Energy Administration told reporters the report was flawed.

“The IEA’s data on China’s energy use is unreliable,” the official, Zhou Xian, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

The Financial Times quoted IEA chief economist Fatih Birol as saying: “In the year 2000, the US consumed twice as much energy as China; now, China consumes more than the US.”

The US still uses far more energy than China on a per capita basis, but China is less energy-efficient, the report said.

The IEA, the energy strategy branch of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said the data was still preliminary, but that the trend was clear, the newspaper reported.

China has embarked in recent years on an aggressive campaign to secure overseas energy supplies and satisfy sky-­rocketing demand fueled by its fast-­expanding economy and citizens’ increasing consumerism.