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Employment impacts of a ‘green’ energy transition in China

2009; Routledge; Volume: 2; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17538960903083533

1753-8971

Sara Hsu, Shelley Nauss,

Environmental Impact and Sustainability

Abstract Before the US financial crisis that began in 2008, China was the ‘factory’ of the world, utilizing energy intensively for such processes as steelmaking, papermaking and concrete production. As such, energy emissions in China increased dramatically until 2007, with much of the energy being provided by the labor-intensive coal industry. Under the 11th five-year plan, China resolved to increase its energy efficiency, setting out to reduce energy consumption while continuing to increase economic growth, and to increase the usage of ‘green’ technologies to 15% of all energy used by 2020. The Renewable Energy Law of 2007 set a guideline for China's energy reduction goals, to quadruple the national GDP while only doubling the country's electricity usage by the year 2020. Currently, there are virtually no studies on the employment effects of a ‘green’ transition to explore what impact the current energy goals, or potentially ‘greener’ energy goals, would have on China's labor force. This paper seeks to analyze the effects on employment of a ‘green’ transition. Keywords: renewable energycoaloilgashydropowernuclear energywind energythermal energygreen energylaboremployment Notes 1. Provisions for providing assistance to former coal workers were stipulated in the ‘Notice by the Administrative Office under the State Council concerning the work of further closing and rectifying the small coal mines and coal mine safe production’ (2001), the ‘Notice of issuing the implementation methods for the closing and bankrupting state funded enterprises, deregulated enterprises of coal industry and non-ferrous industry’ (Document No. 32, 2000), and the ‘Comments on relevant issues in carrying out the Notice by Administrative Office under the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and the Administrative Office under the State Council concerning the closing and bankrupting of the resources depleted mines’ (Document No. 33, 2000) (ESMAP Citation2004). 2. In this process, two or more boreholes are dug into the coal seam. The plant ignites the coal and pumps oxygen through one of the boreholes to continue combustion, while the pressurized gases are brought into the plant through the other borehole. Because the gases are so concentrated when they reach the surface, the plant can easily capture pollutants, reducing the impact of coal on the environment. In addition, the process itself produces much lower amounts of pollutants including no sulfur oxide or nitrogen oxide, lower levels of mercury and particulates, and the ash that is responsible for most of the health ailments of people in surrounding areas stays underground (Fairley Citation2007). Once the gas has been brought to the surface, China's coal gasification plants mainly use one of two methods to transform the coal into a cleaner alternative, the more common and famous being the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Coal is transformed into a hydrogen-rich gas known as synthesis gas, or ‘syngas’ for short. This syngas can then be further worked with to form a fuel used as a substitute for gasoline and diesel fuels. Because of the ability to create this form, China can use coal not only to clean up its electricity production, but also to reduce its dependency on foreign oil for its ever-increasing fleet of new cars. 3. Another disruption that may have affected the large amount of imports in 2008 was that domestic prices had been capped during the period when global oil prices soared to over $100 a barrel, forcing local refineries to cut or halt production, forcing the country to increase imports (China Daily Citation2009). 4. Other departments believe that this number underestimates what the target needs to be: the State Energy Bureau says that the goal should be 50 GW, the China Electrical Council said 60 GWe, while the National Development and Reform Commission in May 2007 announced that it is shooting for 160 GWe by 2030. 5. A pilot (50 t/yr) reprocessing plant using the Purex process was opened in 2006 at Lanzhou or Jiayuguan. This is capable of expansion to 100 t/yr and was fully operational in 2008. A large commercial reprocessing plant based on indigenous advanced technology is planned to follow and begin operation about 2020. This is likely to be under international safeguards and situated in far western China. In November 2007 Areva and CNNC signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of setting up a reprocessing plant for used fuel and a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in China, representing an investment of e15 billion. In mid-2008 CNNC said that the focus was on Gansu province for an 800 t/yr reprocessing plant operated by Areva from 2025. High-level wastes will be vitrified, encapsulated and put into a geological repository some 500 meters deep. Site selection is focused on six candidate locations and will be completed by 2020. An underground research laboratory will then operate for 20 years and actual disposal is anticipated from 2050. There is already industrial-scale disposal of low and intermediate-level wastes at two sites, in the northwest and at Bailong in Guangxi autonomous region of south China. 6. China is currently the number one producer of the photovoltaic cells creating 1700 megawatts of the panels in 2007, half of the world's total (3800 megawatts), while only a little under 5% stays in the country (Biello 2008). Much of the reasoning behind this comes from China's lack of environmental laws. In other countries that force manufacturers to use pollution reduction equipment, the cost of production for one ton is approximately $84,500. Chinese companies can make the same ton for $21,000 to $56,000 (Cha 2008). That is still, however, too expensive for most Chinese consumers. 7. We look only at energy production, not transmission and distribution. 8. Each nuclear power plant creates 400 to 700 permanent jobs (Department of Energy Citation2008), with each plant worldwide producing an average of 1 GW of power. 9. This excludes the ‘other’ energy category.