A survey of China s renewable energy economy 2010 Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Essay

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Pages: 35

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14 (2010) 438–445

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

A survey of China’s renewable energy economy
Hengyun Ma a,b,*, Les Oxley b, John Gibson c, Wen Li d,1 a College of Economics and Management, Henan Agricultural University, 95 Wenhua Road, Zhengzhou 450002, China
Department of Economics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand c Department of Economics, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand d College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, 95 Wenhua Road, Zhengzhou 450002, China b A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 18 May 2009
Accepted 13 July 2009

This paper surveys China’s renewable energy economy, focusing particularly on renewable energy laws and programs, the lessons that can be learnt from the current literature, and the implications of that literature. Gaps in the literature on China’s renewable energy economy include the need for more comprehensive econometric studies. The literature may also benefit from more collaboration between renewable energy economists and agricultural economists. ß 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

JEL classification:
D24
O33
Q41
Keywords:
China
Biofuel
Biomass
Renewable energy

Contents
1.
2.
3.

4.

5.

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Motivation for reviewing China’s renewable energy economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Renewable energy laws and policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.1.
Unfavorable energy situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.
Renewable energy laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3.
Renewable energy development policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A review of studies of China’s renewable energy economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.
Themes in the existing literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.1.
Reviewing the situation of China’s renewable energy development .
4.1.2.
Assessing China’s potential for renewable energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.3.
Providing some China’s renewable case studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.4.
Interactions with environment and food security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.
The implications drawn from existing studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.
Missing issues in existing studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Areas for future research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.
Assessing the potential of grain-based biofuel production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.
Assessing the economy-wide effects of biofuel production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.
Undertake surveys of biomass utilization in rural China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.
Estimate the substitution possibilities of biofuel and fossil fuels. . . . . . . . . . .

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