Alternative Paths to Power

By Susan Jakes/Beijing

With oil prices and pollution levels soaring, China is on a mission to reduce its dependence on oil. While the country still relies heavily on industrial-age resources like coal (to produce electricity), alternative energy sources are under development:

o NATURAL GAS

Current percentage of power production: 2.9%

Target for 2010: 5%

MAJOR PROJECTS: Next year the 4,000-km west- east gas pipeline should begin delivering 5,000 cu m of gas annually from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang to Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta.

o NUCLEAR POWER

Current percentage: 1.2%

Target for 2010: 2% to 3%

MAJOR PROJECTS: China is adding capacity faster than any other country in the world and plans to build about two reactors a year for the next 16 years, at a cost of up to $2 billion a reactor.

o HYDROPOWER

Current percentage: 7.7%

Target for 2010: 24% to 29%

MAJOR PROJECTS: The controversial Three Gorges Dam will be the biggest power plant in the world when it is completed in 2009. Another major hydroelectric project, the Longtan hydropower station on the Pearl River, is scheduled for completion in 2009.

o WIND AND OTHER RENEWABLES

Current percentage: 1.5%

Target for 2010: 10%

MAJOR PROJECTS: The nation's biggest wind farm will be built in Fujian province. Most wind farms currently provide electricity for villages in far west Xinjiang, also home to the country's largest solar-power station. When fully operational, the new wind farm will provide electricity for more than 10,000 local farmers. Although scientists say China has the potential to meet a significant portion of its electricity needs through wind power harnessed in the western deserts, making such an enterprise commercially and practically viable is a huge challenge.

o AUTO INNOVATIONS

By 2010 gasoline and diesel are expected to account for nearly half of the country's oil demand. Last month Beijing approved its first fuel-efficiency standards for passenger vehicles, which will begin to take effect in 2005 and will be more stringent than those in the U.S. Toyota plans to manufacture the Prius, its hybrid gasoline-electric car, in China, where it hopes the clean vehicle will find a significant market. Beijing's government, meanwhile, is working to develop electric cars before 2008, and GM is working with the Shanghai Automotive Group on a hybrid-bus design.