CHINA / National
China, India 'could slash energy use'
(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-05-30 09:21
China, India and Brazil could reduce energy use by a quarter with simple
efficiency schemes but banks have been sluggish to lend to such projects,
an international study suggests.
The three-nation report, led by the World Bank and the UN Environment
Program, said many banks had overlooked chances to boost their profits by
lending to help businesses cut energy waste while oil prices hover at
around $US70 a barrel.
"Cutting energy waste is the cheapest, easiest, fastest way to solve many
energy problems, improve the environment and enhance both energy security
and economic development," said Robert Taylor, a World Bank energy
specialist who led the study.
Cost-effective retrofits in buildings and factories could reduce energy
use by at least 25 per cent in China, India and Brazil, it said of the
four-year study. The conclusions were likely also to be true of other
developing nations.
Cutting energy waste would save hundreds of millions of dollars, cut
noxious air pollution and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases released
by burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.
China, India and Brazil are home to almost 2.6 billion people, about 40
per cent of the world's population. Their energy use and emissions from
fossil fuels, widely blamed for global warming, are set to double by 2030.
Many scientists say that rising temperatures could wreak havoc with the
climate, bringing more heatwaves, floods, desertification and a gradual
rise in world sea levels.
Measures to offset waste include retrofits for buildings and factories,
such as higher efficiency lighting or air conditioning systems, better
boilers or waste heat recovery systems.
"The key source of financing is the local banking sector," said Jeremy
Levin, one of the authors from the World Bank, adding that banks have yet
to realise the potential for lending to unglamorous-sounding energy
efficiency schemes.
"Energy efficiency may not have the same sizzle as alternative solutions
such as renewable energy," he told Reuters. Still, cutting waste would be
the most important path to improving energy efficiency until about 2030.
Among successes, a unit of India's Pragati Paper invested $US91,000
($A120,000) in energy efficiency for a pulp plant, giving estimated
annual savings of $US139,000 ($A184,000).
"The payback period was less than one year," Levin said.
In India, five major banks were now lending to help stop energy waste.
Projects in China sometimes faced hurdles because of the state grip on
the banking sector while in Brazil, high interest rates had discouraged
lending.
Apart from curbing energy waste "this is about getting the banks to
realise that this is a profitable business area that they have overlooked
for too long," said Mark Radka, head of UNEP's Paris-based energy branch.
Greater energy efficiency will improve businesses' profits and so make
them more solvent clients for the banks.
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