China's energy use up 7%

Energy use in 2011 is at its fastest pace in China since 2007. 

Consumption climbed 7 percent to 3.48 billion metric tons of standard coal equivalent, the National Bureau of Statistics  reported.

Consumption per unit of gross domestic product fell 2.01 percent from 2010, the bureau said.

The data underscore China’s increasing share of world energy demand even as the nation attempts to curb the cost of powering its factories and reduce pollution. The government wants to cut energy use per unit of gross domestic product by 16 percent in the five years through 2015.

“The nation’s energy use has been supported by strong coal demand,” Aochao Wang, head of China research at UOB-Kay Hian, said by telephone from Shanghai. “The increased use of coal constrains the nation’s efforts in improving energy efficiency.”

Total energy use by the world’s second-biggest economy rose to the equivalent of 96.66 thousand trillion British thermal units, according to conversion rates from China’s government and the US Energy Information Administration. The US consumed 97.88 thousand trillion, according to the EIA’s February 7 Short- Term Energy Outlook Report.

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