Developing low-carbon economy should focus on energy saving and traditional low-carbon energy development

The low-carbon economy is a new concept put forward by the international community in response to the global climate-related catastrophic changes caused by the massive consumption of fossil fuels by humans and the large-scale emission of carbon dioxide. Western countries have basically solved the problem of energy efficiency improvement and energy structure optimization. In order to further tap the potential of greenhouse gas emission reduction, we strongly advocate the development of new and renewable energy sources. However, there is still huge potential to be tapped in terms of energy efficiency, development of relatively low-carbon parts of traditional energy sources, and optimization of energy structures.

Therefore, China's current development of a low-carbon economy should give top priority to energy conservation, emphasize low-emission development from the perspective of consistency in energy conservation and emission reduction, and secondly, make efforts to develop relatively low-carbon energy sources such as natural gas, nuclear energy and traditional energy sources. Hydropower, etc., is the main development direction for the recent adjustment of energy structure and emission reduction. For a long period of time in the future, traditional energy industries and traditional energy companies will play an important role in the development of low-carbon economies in China.

Energy efficiency, China's first choice for developing a low-carbon economy

It is impossible to engage in a low-carbon economy under the condition of a lot of wasteful demand. China's first choice for developing a low-carbon economy is energy conservation, and it is necessary to substantially increase energy efficiency.

On August 29, at the Salon of the theme “Traditional Energy in the Low-Carbon Era”, one of the activities of the “First Ultra-Fused Low-Carbon Economic Summit Forum”, Zhou Dadi, vice chairman of the China Energy Research Association, said that from an analysis of the world’s situation, The total contribution rate of energy saving in the process of achieving a low-carbon economy in the future will reach 60%-70%. Then it depends on the adjustment of energy structure and the adoption of costly carbon sequestration technology when there is no other solution. Therefore, in order to develop low-carbon economy in China, we must first pay attention to energy conservation, and we must continue to implement the mandatory control index of 20% reduction in energy consumption per unit of GDP during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.

It is understood that the theme salon of the “traditional energy in the low-carbon era” is one of the series activities of “the first ultra-thin low-carbon economic summit forum” and the series of activities of the “first ultra-super-low carbon economy summit forum” will be held in Beijing on September 17. The forum is the core of the forum. A series of activities such as high-end interviews, theme salons, and online dialogues are organized around the forum. The special media are invited to jointly conduct “low-carbon role model” campaigns.

Cui Dapeng, Secretary General of the Low Carbon Research Group of the China Research Institute for Sustainable Development, also stated that China’s breakthrough in low carbon development is to use the Internet and IoT technologies to build low-carbon smart cities, and to use buildings and appliances that have been too extensively managed in the past. All of them are refined and intelligently managed, which will surely produce huge energy-saving benefits.

Wang Shumao, a senior expert in energy conservation, told us earlier that the analysis of a large number of project data shows that through the reduction of energy efficiency projects, net economic benefits will be about 430 yuan per 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions, and 1 ton of carbon dioxide per one ton of emission reductions from wind power. Need to spend 240 yuan in costs. A research report of the Development Research Center of the State Council also showed that the energy saving capacity of the energy efficiency project of 10,000 yuan investment is about 5 tons of standard coal/year, while the energy saving capacity of wind energy and solar energy project investment is less than 1 ton of standard coal/year. From the perspective of investment results in energy conservation and emission reduction, investment in energy efficiency projects has obvious advantages. Therefore, according to China's national conditions, China's current emission reduction strategy should be to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy at the same time, in order to improve energy efficiency in the near future.

Diversified development of relatively low-carbon traditional energy sources should be an important measure for China's development of a low-carbon economy.

Traditional energy is the main source of carbon emissions, especially coal. Therefore, in addition to vigorously developing energy conservation and promoting energy conservation through energy saving, the transformation of energy structure from high carbon to low carbon is also an important measure for the development of low carbon economy in China.

China's energy structure is dominated by coal, and the supply and consumption of coal accounts for about 70% of the total energy supply and demand, and it is increasing every year. Zhou Dadi believes that to reduce the proportion of coal in the total energy and reduce coal consumption, China needs urgently to develop relatively low-carbon traditional energy sources such as natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropower, which are both traditional and low-carbon energy sources and can supply large quantities of energy. Do a good job fast. For renewable energy sources such as wind power, solar energy, and biomass energy, which have relatively high costs and large-scale energy supply, it is necessary to do a good job in scientific research and pre-industrialization so as to create necessary conditions for large-scale use in the future. Zhou Dadi said that he would like to completely use solar energy and wind energy to make up for the energy supply gap caused by reducing the use of coal. From the current situation in China, it is still more difficult.

Relevant research shows that it is difficult for China to find a single alternative energy source for coal, and it must take a diversified development path. Zhou Dadi said: First of all, we must develop high-speed natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and other relatively low-carbon energy sources. Second, we must increase the supply of oil to increase supply faster than coal. Third, we must overcome technical problems in wind power and solar power generation. Progress and innovation drive its development. Only with the joint efforts of several low-carbon energy sources, China's energy structure may be adjusted to a relatively reasonable state in which coal accounts for 30% and other 70%.

The Social Responsibility of Traditional Energy Companies and the Third Force to Promote Low Carbon Development

Traditional energy is not only the key industry for low-carbon development in China in the future, because the energy structure dominated by traditional energy sources in China will not change for a long time to come. According to the plan, the proportion of new energy (including renewable energy) in China's total energy consumption will be 15% in 2020, and the proportion of non-renewable traditional energy such as oil and coal will still reach 85%. The resource structure determines that China's key industries for low-carbon development are traditional energy sources.

Zhou Dadi said that some energy and energy companies have emerged at the moment, involving all kinds of symbolic renewable energy, regardless of cost and large amount of investment, but they are not paying enough attention to improving the efficiency of traditional energy sources, such as power generation efficiency and power transmission efficiency. It is worth paying attention.

Jin Leqin, an associate professor at the School of Economics at Renmin University of China, believes that the development of a low-carbon economy, market and government guidance, propaganda, and legal regulation are all very important. However, in addition to these two forces, the social responsibility of traditional energy companies is also an important driving force.

As a kind of moral responsibility, social responsibility plays a very important role in supplementing the development of the company. Once an enterprise has established a responsibility for low-carbon social development, low-carbon development will become a conscious action, and it will be linked to the entire corporate culture and every economic activity. Therefore, corporate social responsibility is a moral force that will permeate for a long time. This self-discipline constraint will be a very important supplement to the role of the market and the government.

It is understood that China's traditional energy companies, including PetroChina, Sinopec, including large-scale state-owned enterprises, issued a corporate responsibility report from 2004, on the responsibility of low-carbon, energy, environmental protection to the whole society announced for social supervision. In addition, at present, companies have begun to integrate the concept of low-carbon development in consideration of their own development strategies. For example, some oil companies collected carbon dioxide released during the previous development of natural gas containing carbon dioxide and used it to displace oil.

Jin Leqin said that in our country, the formation of a low-carbon concept in enterprises still requires a long-term effort. It requires the government's inspiration, the legal norms, and the attention of the entire society. The consciousness of the enterprise itself is the result of the interaction between the whole society and the conscious development of the enterprise. Under the trend of low-carbon development, China's traditional energy companies should bravely and consciously assume the social responsibility of this era.

In addition to making profits for profits, businesses also have a social role. It is a member of society and a main body of society. Therefore, in addition to taking responsibility for the economy, it also has to bear social responsibilities. Social responsibility is not only social, but also environmental and economic.

In the era of low-carbon economy, the environmental responsibility of traditional energy companies is mainly focused on how to comply with the requirements of low-carbon development. It not only provides qualified, quality-assured traditional energy sources such as oil and coal, but also the entire process. In the process of producing coal, as well as the transportation and use of energy, how to achieve low carbon. This involves not only a slogan, a propaganda and corporate image, but how companies can combine social responsibility with their own competitiveness under a new trend.

These traditional energy companies, while undertaking social responsibilities, form corporate culture through social responsibility, and improve their production, processes, and energy efficiency through technological innovation. From this perspective, it is not inconsistent to assume social responsibility and its own development. It can be said that it is a win-win situation.