BBC News
July 10, 2006

China is building too many power stations, says Paris-based energy think tank International Energy Agency.

China has overtaken Japan as the world’s second-largest electricity consumer and could take the top slot from the US, an energy think tank says. The Paris-based International Energy Agency says that the demand for Chinese goods in the West is creating ever greater power needs in China. . . . “China is wasting too much energy and is a major polluter,” the IEA says in a new report. . . . The IEA points to competitive power markets as the best way to control soaring energy consumption. Coal is still king in the Chinese power industry, and despite being a high-pollution source of energy it is mined domestically and any switch away from it could increase global prices. A shift towards cleaner energy might have an impact on the world economy, with Chinese exports costing more.