To date, an irrational energy structure with a low utilization rate, and an economic growth mode with serious, hazardous emissions have posed stark challenges for the sustained growth of Chinese economic society.
Faced with such a grave situation in energy saving and emission reduction, Chinese scientific and technological personnel, taking it as their own duty to overcome knotting problems in this regard, will push forward technological innovation in an all-round way, and surmount a batch of hard-nutl technical issues and settle common technical problems.
For a period of time ahead, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will make active, dedicated efforts with other related government departments to press ahead with work in several major fields, so as to provide a strong, technical prop for energy saving and emission reduction in the country.
First of all, actively implementing special national scientific and technological programs for energy saving and emission reduction.
Emphasis is to be placed on special science and technology-related items with regard to general and special key technologies in key trades and important regions, on exhibition items concerning the industrialization of major technological equipment and the cycle economy high-technology. In so doing, a passive situation in China's energy saving and emission reduction technologies, which have formerly been subjected to control by foreign firms or other nations, will be reversed in a fundamental way, and a group of environmental protection firms with their own patent rights shall emerge to facilitate the leap-and-bound development of environment protection.
Second, striving to tackle knotty technical problems relating to renewable energy and non-fossil energy.
Technical problems will be dealt with to tap such "renewable energy" as wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, water energy, biogas, and biological material energy, major breakthrough to be made in the advanced nuclear energy, hydrogen energy and sophisticated fuel cells and other non-fossil energies, and the supply of clean energy will be increased to help reduce the excessive reliance on fossil energy.
Third, stepping up the effort to develop rural cycle economy technologies.
In 2006, energy consumption in China's rural areas amounted to about 900 million tons of standard coal, or one quarter of the total commodity energy consumption in the country, so the task for energy conservation and emission reduction in the Chinese countryside is very grave. At present, the rural areas in China yield more than 4 billion tons of farm throwaways, including 2.6 billion tons of human and livestock excrement and some 700 million tons of straw each year. This means a big source of pollution as well as a great resource of biological materials. So it is imperative for China to step up its effort to develop biogas and other new rural energy sources by making an all-round use of rural throwaways with advanced cycle economy technologies.
Fourth, Surmounting, promoting and spreading energy saving and emission reduction-related technologies.
Tt has been widely acknowledged that the 21st century is a century for urbanization. By 2020, with its urban population expected to exceed 900 million, China is sure to be subjected to an unprecedented challenge as demands of its cities and all varieties of emissions in the country are very great. So, the country should acquire as fast as it can the advanced, appropriate technical-how in such major spheres as urban development and building materials, the all-round use of urban wastes, garbage power generation, public transport and communication, and car exhaust, and the establishment of urban monitoring networks for energy saving and emission reduction should be hastened.
Fifth, vying to scale the heights of frontier technologies with hallmarks for low-carbon economy.
Information, biology, nanometers and other related frontier technologies constitute the core of low-carbon economy, the long-term value for scientific and technologial innovastion in this field, and the height from which to increase China's overall national strength and win future races among nations, as well as the base to pioneer the growth of low carbon economy in the country. Hence, vital breakthroughs should be made in such fields as information, nanometer materials, molecular biology, major epidemics researches, and with respect to advanced manufacturing technologies. And new industrial groups, which have low carbon economy as its typical feature, or are equipped with new and high technologies, or are aimed at modern services, are to spring up.
Sixth, spurring international scientific and technological cooperation and partaking in major international science projects.
China is to take an active part in international cooperation for the control of greenhouse gas emissions and alleviating global climate changes, to implement the major global climate change response technological researches or demonstration items and to invlove itself in drafting global technical standares on resources utlization and minimizing pollution emission.
Moreover, China will also strive to push forward a couple of multilateral international science and technological schemes, in an endeavor to jointly construct a cooperative platform for the sustainable development of energy resources and biological environment for the humankind. It has been resolved to actively spur the Agreement on the Establishment of ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor).
Furthermore, the nation is planning hydrogen roadmap for China as well. As a matter of fact, the international cooperation of hydrogen energy pushed forward by the U.S. is the International Partnership of Hydrogen Economy (IPHE). And it is reported that China will continue to be part of the new Comprehensive Ocean Drilling Program.
By Wan Gang, Chinese minister of Science and Technology, and translated by People's Daily Online
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