China marks $774M for energy conservation

BEIJING, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Chinese government Monday announced plans to spend $774 million on energy conservation projects to be launched this year, China Daily reported.

"The special funds will support 10 major energy-saving projects, such as reducing the use of petroleum and developing petroleum substitutes and green-lighting technology," Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of National Development and Reform Commission, told the China Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Forum 2007, the report said.

"Incentives have been devised to encourage enterprises to save energy. Enterprises will receive financial aid according to the energy they can save while reducing emissions," he said.

The minister said the government has also set aside about $260 million more to compensate local governments and enterprises for eliminating excess production capacity.

China had planned to reduce energy consumption as a unit of GDP by 20 percent between 2006 and 2010, but as yet it is far from meeting that target.

"If we cannot reverse this situation in a timely manner, it will be difficult to meet this year's energy-saving target, which could have an unfavorable effect on the energy-saving and emissions-reduction targets in the 11th Five-Year Plan," Xie said.