Energy Efficiency in China: Glorious History, Uncertain Future

China’s energy future presents issues of enormous importance to China and the rest of the world. China’s ability to maintain economic growth depends on controlling energy demand growth, as both the environmental community in China (such as it is) and the investment community knows very well. U.S. and the global community are also profoundly affected by energy demand growth; competition in international oil markets as well as greenhouse gas emissions is critically dependent on China’s energy demand.

This talk will review the history of energy demand in China in an effort to understand factors at play in influencing future energy demand.

Presenter(s)

Mark D. Levine is the Director, Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The Division has a staff of about 400 researchers and support staff. The research is on energy efficiency technology for buildings, indoor air quality, and other key clean energy technologies (advanced batteries and low NOx combustion). The Division is an international leader of key national and energy efficiency policy-related issues.

Dr. Levine leads prominent national and international non-profits in energy and environment. He is Chair (Center for Resource Solutions), Director (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and Center for Clean Air Policy), and Member of Advisory Board (Asian Pacific Energy Research Centre in Tokyo, Beijing Energy Efficiency Center, and Shanghai Pacific Energy Center). He is a delegate to and coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

He has authored more than 100 technical publications, most relating to energy efficiency and methods of reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Dr. Levine was co-leader of the report "Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future" as well as a co-leader of a recent study of energy and carbon futures of China. He was also a lead author of sections on mitigation for the 1995 and 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has led a major international study for the World Energy Council on energy efficiency.

In 1999, he was elected to be a fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology, California's equivalent to the National Academy of Sciences. He graduated summa cum laud from Princeton University, received a Fulbright fellowship and a PhD from UC Berkeley.