Tuesday, August 13, 2013

China Takes a Keen Interest in Water-Energy Connections

China Takes a Keen Interest in Water-Energy Connections - Circle of Blue Keith Schneider | ...While introducing more than a dozen of his colleagues, Zhang Yongsheng, a senior research fellow and the deputy director general of a department in the Development Research Center, explained how the coal sector, which uses a fifth of the country's fresh water, is being buffeted by drying conditions. Zhang said the contest for the two resources was a focus of research and policy development that is steadily elevating in priority in the central government. ... Jia Yangwen, a vice director in the Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, presented conclusions from his new research paper that confirmed our 2011 Choke Point: China data and went several steps further. Jia's paper calculated that by 2030, the water supply for northern China's coal-producing provinces would be short by 100 billion cubic meters of water annually.