Leapfrogging into hydrogen technology: China's 1990-2000 energy balance

Ying Zhu

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Innovation and Organization from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: As a country beginning its motorization process, China must confront the problems attached to an oil-based car society. In adopting conventional automobile technology, the country would aggravate an already unstable oil balance while pushing up carbon dioxide levels. Not only would domestic problems emerge, but international concerns regarding oil shortage, global pollution, and the energy security balance would also result from erecting a traditional automotive infrastructure. One viable alternative the country can consider is a leapfrog towards hydrogen technology. By using hydrogen as the fuel source and investing in a hydrogen-based car society, China could overstep the problems created by an oil-based infrastructure. When examining China's potential for undertaking this technology leapfrog, China's energy past and future must be considered. China's energy balance and energy resources play a crucial role in determining the country's leapfrogging possibility. This paper analyzes one facet in China's energy balance by scrutinizing energy expenditures between 1990-2000. By looking at data compiled from major international and academic sources, an overview of China's past energy consumption and production activities is presented. Patterns and discrepancies in Chinese coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear production are unveiled and the trends considered in relation to the country's energy balance. Each energy sector is analyzed separately for consumption and production trends. Because implementation of hydrogen technology is governed by energy resource availability and energy use patterns, such an energy analysis provides an appropriate background from which China's leapfrogging potential can be evaluated.

Date: 2003
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