Analysis of Different Implementation Methods for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction by Examining the Characteristics of Energy Intensity of Industrial Sectors
中国产业部门的能耗强度特征及节能减排的分类实现路径

In addition to the direct consumption in the production, energy can also be consumed indirectly through intermediate products input. In other words, the intermediate products also consume energy in their production. Therefore, the effect of energy conservation and emission reduction can be limited by the sheer dependence on higher energy efficiency. Moreover, the energy input demand as well as the intermediate products input demand in the production should be considered accordingly. With the input-output method, the direct and indirect energy intensities of 27 different industrial sectors in China in 2002 are analyzed. The results show that in most sectors, the indirect energy intensity is larger than the direct energy intensity, and the large intermediate products input in the production phase results in such large indirect energy intensity. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the control of intermediate products input or materials input. As different sectors are characterized with different direct and indirect energy intensities, all the 27 sectors are classified into four categories according to the four combinations of different direct and indirect energy intensities, which are high/low direct energy intensities and high/low indirect energy intensity. From this point of view, different measures should be adopted for the sectors in different categories, in order to reach the energy conservation and emission reduction target. For the sectors with high direct energy intensity and low indirect energy intensity, it is necessary to improve the energy efficiency. For the sectors with high indirect energy intensity and low direct energy intensity, improving the intermediate input efficiency is prior to improving energy efficiency. For the sectors which are high in both direct and indirect energy intensities, both energy efficiency and intermediate input efficiency should be considered, and the sectors with low direct and indirect energy intensities should improve on the basis of their development. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the "dematerialization" process throughout China, which contributes most to the decrease of indirect energy consumption in the production by using less materials and intermediate products; and this largely depends on the accumulation of human capital and the development of service.