Saving energy in China’s industry with a focus on electricity: a review of opportunities, potentials and environmental benefits

Industry is the largest electricity consuming sector in the world. China consumes about 25% of global electricity demand, and 69% of this is used in industries. The high electricity demand in industry is responsible for 45% of CO₂, 25% of SO₂, 34% of NO_x and 14% of PM emissions in China. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap on the potential for electricity savings in China’s industries, thereby providing important implications for the potential of reducing emissions in electricity-intensive industrial subsectors in general. Available studies are reviewed and compared to identify electricity-saving potentials. The findings show that China’s industrial energy system is shifting to higher electricity and relatively lower fossil fuel use due to accelerated end-use electrification. China’s industry can reduce electricity use by 7–24% in 2040, compared to baseline levels, and generate emission reductions of 192–1118 Mt-CO₂, 385–2241 kt-SO₂, 406–2362 kt-NO_x and 92–534 kt-PM_2.5. The iron & steel subsector has the largest contribution to the industrial electricity savings, followed by non-ferrous metals, chemicals, cement and pulp & paper. Policies that combine environmental targets, demand-side efficiency and supply-side retrofits in the power sector should be adopted. Given the different performance of policies in terms of energy savings and emission reduction, sector- and region-specific policies would be preferred.