Energy industry in China
The energy industry in China is huge and rapidly growing as the country moves to industrialize. Combined with the increased wealth which has seen a lot of people increase their standard of living which almost always means an increase in the amount of energy that they use, the country is now using a lot more power than in the past. China is now the second largest energy user in the world and the industry is tightly controlled by the government.
Although the energy industry in China is dominated by several private companies they are not all that private in reality. In all cases the government is one of the largest share holders and largely control the operation of the company. In part this is business as usual in China as most industries work on this model. However in the case of the energy industry it is done to ensure that the government is able to maintain control. They are well aware of the importance of energy for the nations development so they have taken steps to make sure not only that they have adequate energy supplies but also that the energy is being used in a way that will help the economy.
One of the issues with energy in China is the uneven way that it is distributed. While there has been a huge amount of development in China over the last few years it has been very uneven. As a result there are some areas that are quite wealthy and others that remain very poor. In large part energy distribution is the cause and the effect of this. The areas that have the best access to energy are the ones that have had the best economic growth. This has encouraged the government to provide these areas with even more energy resources which has created a situation where the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.
Currently the majority of energy in China is produced by coal power. The main reason for this is that it is one of the few resources that China has a lot of. The country is self sufficient in coal production and have the capacity to produce more if necessary. In recent years however a great deal of effort has been made to increase both hydroelectric and nuclear power as the country tries to diversify its energy production. Over the last five years China has doubled its capacity to produce electricity.
For the most part China is in fairly good shape when it comes to energy with one notable exception, oil. Currently China is a major importer of oil and this situation is likely to get worse in the future. As more and more people move into the middle class and start buying cars the need for oil will increase. This will not only be a problem for China but the world in general as oil prices will likely soar.