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

Hui Yue; Ernst Worrell; Wina Crijns-Graus; Wen Liu; Shaohui Zhang

doi:10.1007/s12053-021-09979-4

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

Hui Yue^*, Ernst Worrell, Wina Crijns-Graus, Wen Liu, Shaohui Zhang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Article number	60
Pages (from-to)	1-28
Number of pages	28
Journal	Energy Efficiency
Volume	14
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-021-09979-4
Publication status	Published - 28 Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201607040082) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (71904007).

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Prof. Sheng Zhou (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University) and Prof. Qi Zhang (SEPA Key Lab on Eco-industry at Northeastern University) for the valuable comments and input data. The authors gratefully acknowledge Kangyin Dong (School of Business Administration at China University of Petroleum-Beijing), Nan Li (Institute of Nuclear and New Technology at Tsinghua University), Runying An (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology), Xuewei Liu (State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse at Nanjing University) for the data input in various sectors to this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Funding

This study was supported by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201607040082) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (71904007). We would like to thank Prof. Sheng Zhou (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University) and Prof. Qi Zhang (SEPA Key Lab on Eco-industry at Northeastern University) for the valuable comments and input data. The authors gratefully acknowledge Kangyin Dong (School of Business Administration at China University of Petroleum-Beijing), Nan Li (Institute of Nuclear and New Technology at Tsinghua University), Runying An (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology), Xuewei Liu (State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse at Nanjing University) for the data input in various sectors to this study.

Keywords

Air pollutants
Carbon emissions
China
Electricity saving
Energy efficiency
Industry

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

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Yue2021_Article_SavingEnergyInChinaSIndustryWiFinal published version, 1.35 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Saving energy in China{\textquoteright}s industry with a focus on electricity: a review of opportunities, potentials and environmental benefits",

abstract = "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 NOx and 14% of PM emissions in China. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap on the potential for electricity savings in China{\textquoteright}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{\textquoteright}s industrial energy system is shifting to higher electricity and relatively lower fossil fuel use due to accelerated end-use electrification. China{\textquoteright}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-NOx and 92–534 kt-PM2.5. 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.",

keywords = "Air pollutants, Carbon emissions, China, Electricity saving, Energy efficiency, Industry",

author = "Hui Yue and Ernst Worrell and Wina Crijns-Graus and Wen Liu and Shaohui Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: This study was supported by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201607040082) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (71904007). Funding Information: We would like to thank Prof. Sheng Zhou (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University) and Prof. Qi Zhang (SEPA Key Lab on Eco-industry at Northeastern University) for the valuable comments and input data. The authors gratefully acknowledge Kangyin Dong (School of Business Administration at China University of Petroleum-Beijing), Nan Li (Institute of Nuclear and New Technology at Tsinghua University), Runying An (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology), Xuewei Liu (State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse at Nanjing University) for the data input in various sectors to this study. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

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AU - Crijns-Graus, Wina

AU - Liu, Wen

AU - Zhang, Shaohui

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201607040082) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (71904007). Funding Information: We would like to thank Prof. Sheng Zhou (Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University) and Prof. Qi Zhang (SEPA Key Lab on Eco-industry at Northeastern University) for the valuable comments and input data. The authors gratefully acknowledge Kangyin Dong (School of Business Administration at China University of Petroleum-Beijing), Nan Li (Institute of Nuclear and New Technology at Tsinghua University), Runying An (Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Beijing Institute of Technology), Xuewei Liu (State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse at Nanjing University) for the data input in various sectors to this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

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N2 - 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 NOx 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-NOx and 92–534 kt-PM2.5. 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.

AB - 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 NOx 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-NOx and 92–534 kt-PM2.5. 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.

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JO - Energy Efficiency

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ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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