Senior officials of China’s Energy Research Institute visited the College to present their China 2050 Pathways calculator model at a Grantham Special Lecture

China's energy future

Downloads

• Yang Yufeng (ERI) slides
• Ajay Gambhir (Grantham) slides
• Coming soon - the full lecture on video

On Tuesday 20^th March the Grantham Institute welcomed Professor Han Wenke, Director General of China’s Energy Research Institute (ERI), as well as ERI members Dr Yang Yufeng and Dr An Qi, to discuss China’s pathway to 2050.

Dr Yang presented insights from the China 2050 Pathways calculator model, which has received development support from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Dr Yang explained that China does not want a future of intensive coal usage, air pollution, traffic congestion, and the damaging effects of climate change. He presented an alternative future scenario which showed low-carbon technologies such as wind, nuclear and CCS employed at large scale in the power sector, energy efficiency in the buildings and industry sectors, and transport measures including increased public transportation and low-carbon vehicle types. Professor Han followed Dr Yang’s presentation by highlighting his desire for continued cooperation between the UK and China.

The evening concluded with a presentation by Ajay Gambhir from the Grantham Institute, discussing the Institute’s own analysis on China’s low-carbon technology options to 2050. Mr Gambhir highlighted the potential benefits of China’s low-carbon pathways in terms of reduced energy demand, reduced air pollution and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Gambhir also highlighted future challenges including land and water resource usage and the need to develop a long-distance, robust electricity grid combining geographically and technically diverse forms of low-carbon power generation.

The Grantham Institute's work on China 2050 was supported by the AVOID programme.