Chinese Government Orders Mandatory Blackouts

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese steel mills and mobile phone factories are being idled and thousands of homes in one area are doing without electricity as local governments order power cuts to meet energy-saving targets set by Beijing.

Rolling blackouts and enforced power cuts are affecting key industrial areas. The prosperous eastern city of Taizhou turned off street lights and ordered hotels and shopping malls to cut power use. In Anping County southwest of Beijing, an area known as China’s wire-manufacturing capital, thousands of factories and homes have endured daylong blackouts over the past two weeks.

“We can’t meet deadlines for some orders and will have to pay penalties,” said Han Hongmai, general manager of Anping’s Jintai Metal Wire Co. “At home we can’t use the toilet” on blackout days due to lack of power for water pumps, he said.

While the U.S. and Europe struggle with flagging economies, the power outages are symptomatic of China‘s torrid growth and officials’ capricious use of their powers to meet the authoritarian government’s goals.

China’s economic expansion, which hit 10.3 percent in the latest quarter, blew holes in government efforts to curb surging energy demand, pollution and emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Beijing told local leaders to clamp down and stepped up pressure by sending inspectors to see the order was carried out.

“You could say local governments are trying to blackmail the central government: If you order me to do something I can’t deliver, I will pass on the pressure to ordinary people,” said Yang Ailun, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace China.

The Cabinet planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, scolded Anping officials for the household power cuts. The provincial government issued an order to see that all homes have power.

It’s not the first time something like this has happened.

In 2007, gasoline shortages disrupted the economy after refiners cut production in response to price controls. The next year, parts of China shivered through blackouts in bitter winter cold after the government froze power prices, prompting utilities to cut expenses by letting coal stockpiles run low.

This year’s power cuts began after Beijing announced in August that an energy efficiency campaign suffered a setback as a stimulus-fueled building boom drove growth in steel, cement and other heavy industry.

Beijing’s plans call for cutting energy intensity, or energy used per unit of economic output, by 20 percent from 2006 levels by this year. The World Bank says China uses up to twice the energy per unit of output as the United States, Japan and other economies. Chinese officials say energy use is 3.4 times the world average.

Energy intensity fell by 14.4 percent by the end of 2009 after thousands of antiquated steel mills and other factories were forced to close, the government says. But it crept back up by 0.9 percent in the first half of this year.

Beijing reacted by ordering 2,087 steel and cement mills and other factories with poor environmental controls to close. The Cabinet stepped up pressure on local leaders by sending inspectors to 18 of China’s 32 provinces and major regions to enforce efficiency.

“They understand that if they fail to meet this target it could potentially cast doubt not just internationally but domestically about whether China is serious about tackling its emissions,” said Greenpeace’s Yang.

Yang said environmentalists welcome moves to close antiquated factories because that improves overall efficiency. But she said temporary blanket cuts come at a high social cost and the government should be taking more long-term steps such as changing energy pricing to encourage conservation.

“What they are doing now is relying too much on harsh administrative orders,” she said.

In some ways, the power cuts are backfiring. Han, the manager in Anping, said his wire factory coped by purchasing its own generator. So it still uses power — but from a source that might be dirtier and less efficient.

Energy is politically sensitive for Beijing, which is trying to clean up the battered Chinese environment and rein in growing demand for imported oil and gas, which it sees as a strategic weakness.

Booming China passed the United States last year as the world’s top energy consumer, according to the International Energy Agency — a report that Beijing angrily rejected.

China also is the biggest source of climate-changing greenhouse gases. As a developing country it is not bound by U.N. climate treaties but has pledged to curb emissions growth, though it says the United States and other advanced economies should do more.

Some of China’s biggest companies have been hobbled by the campaign, which is cutting production at a time when Beijing needs to create jobs to sustain a rebound from the global crisis.

Baosteel Group, a major steelmaker, announced Sept. 1 it was shutting down a 2 million-ton-a-year blast furnace in Ningbo, a port city south of Shanghai.

“The suspension could last over three months, causing a loss of 180,000 tons of steel a month,” the facility’s deputy director, Huang Ming, said in a company statement.

Zhejiang province, where Ningbo is located, failed to achieve even a 1 percent improvement in energy intensity in the first half of this year, said a provincial government notice. It said this year’s target is a 3.2 percent improvement.

In Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai, factories that make mobile phones, computers and other electronics were ordered to shut down for five days every two weeks, according to Chinese media.

In Hebei province, authorities have imposed energy quotas on factories and threatened violators with fines and a cutoff of power and water supplies, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News said. It said the curbs hit as steelmakers were preparing for a peak production season.

“People in the industry are heartbroken,” the newspaper said.

___

AP researchers Bonnie Cao in Beijing and Ji Chen in Shanghai contributed.

Comments (42)

  • TwoMinuteMan
    Posted on September 13, 2010 at 7:03pm

    Buy more iphones. China needs your money.

    Report Post » TwoMinuteMan  
  • Rick_1004
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:22pm

    I guess my biggest question about this article, and maybe I’m not as well read as I should be, is why is China given “developing nation” status by the UN? Is it not one of the oldest societies in the world? Did it not at one time have one of the most advanced and thriving societies in the world?

    America’s been around what, 235 years (as a soverign nation)? Yet we need to do more to curb our energy consumption, and are given no free rides from the international community? Aren’t we actually one of the youngest nations on the face of the planet?

    Could it be that imperialism and socialism/communism stiffle ingenuity? And isn‘t it ingenuity and the desire to better your and your family’s lifestyle that drive a free market to be successful, inadvertantly helping all of those living in that society? We didn’t put a man on the moon because the government told us to. We did it because free thinker’s looked up and thought it would cool to get a closer look.

    Report Post »  
    • WISEPENNY
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 4:02pm

      SHUT UP! and stop asking such intelligent questions. Our leaders know what’s best for us. Just do as they say, not as they do. Above all, don’t distract us with the facts, please!

      Report Post »  
    • LesterWillox
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 4:09pm

      China is given developing nation status because it is, in fact, a developing nation currently working on rapid industrialization after being held back by communist principles for decades. China used to be a very advanced nation, yes. But so did Persia. That’s ancient history. At the current time, it fits into the definition of a developing nation. And that process is happening rapidly.

      Concerning America, I don‘t think I need to tell you that the age of a country isn’t an indicator on its classification as a developing nation. There are pretty clear guidelines on that, for instance:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_nation

      Communism and Socialism stifle development and ingenuity, we’re on the same boat on that. Imperialism, however, doesn’t: England for example entered its golden age as it became the largest empire known to man.

      And on a side note, it could be argued that we DID put a man on the moon because the government wanted to beat the USSR to the moon, being unable to beat them into space. The NASA is a government agency.

      Report Post »  
  • debak
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:14pm

    Unless you’d like to join the commrades ranks with China by emolating their government, you‘d better be out in Force in November and vote these Dem’s out, because this is where we are heading.

    Report Post »  
    • LesterWillox
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 4:16pm

      I don’t know what else to tell you, but China is doing something right:

      “China’s economy grew at an average rate of 10% per year during the period 1990–2004, the highest growth rate in the world. China’s GDP grew 10.0% in 2003, 10.1%, in 2004, and even faster 10.4% in 2005 despite attempts by the government to cool the economy. China’s total trade in 2006 surpassed $1.76 trillion, making China the world’s third-largest trading nation after the U.S. and Germany. Such high growth is necessary if China is to generate the 15 million jobs needed annually—roughly the size of Ecuador or Cambodia—to employ new entrants into the job market.”

      Their economy is exploding. That’s why they struggle with blackouts: Their energy consumption is growing exponentially.

      I think the main reason for this is that China is, at this time, a communist state in name only. It’s embracing capitalist ideals and is actually closer to the socialist/capitalist states of Europe than a communist nation.

      Report Post »  
  • dimonds2000
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:06pm

    “At home we can’t use the toilet” on blackout days due to lack of power for water pumps, he said.
    This is happening is lots of Latin American countries under dictators – this could easy happen here under the green religion.

    Report Post » dimonds2000  
  • mjbeejr
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 2:18pm

    China’s present economic expansion and energy consumption are the result of excessive labor union demands forced upon on U.S. manufacturers. Union demands have become so so exorbitant and profits so marginalized by those demands, that manufacturing jobs of our once great industrial base have been exported to the pacific rim countries.

    Obviously, American organized labor cannot compete in an open marketplace and the only way they can exist is with taxpayer bailouts. In fact, the labor unions in the U.S. are indirectly responsible for the environmental devastation that is ongoing in these developing countries.

    Organized labor has demonstrated that when it comes down to dealing with the major issues of the day; jobs, the economy, and the environment, the self serving union leadership has pledged allegiance to only one cause – organized labor.

    Report Post » mjbeejr  
  • Reagan was Right
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:57pm

    There is a new web site for the Conservative Right.

    http://rightnetwork.com/

    Check it out.

    Report Post » Reagan was Right  
  • GLENN V. FOOD
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:55pm

    Now if Beijing had a NFL team, they could just force people to go to games and voila no more blackouts.
    Maybe the Glaziers could sell the Bucs to the chinese. Then i could lounge around on Sundays and see the games instead of stream it on illicit p2p websites.

    Report Post »  
  • JJMinor
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:52pm

    Cape and Trade, please! Because we all know China will follow those hysterical Green rules. And India to.

    Report Post »  
  • Waiting4George
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:51pm

    Chavez handles these things so much better–rolling blackouts and Good Life food ration cards.

    Report Post »  
  • GulfCoastGirl
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:50pm

    I agree, Libertarian Infidel….China owns us. What better way to break America than to call in all her debts. People all over this country lost their homes when they couldn’t pay their debts, imagine losing our country.

    Report Post »  
  • Hydejustice
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:48pm

    An envirocommies wet dream

    Report Post »  
  • Uber
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:55am

    I find the comment about the US land being given as collateral to china for our debt very disturbing. I googled it and get conflicting reports. Does anyone have further information on this.

    Report Post » Uber  
    • Libertarian Infidel
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 12:29pm

      China owns us. If China ever demanded payment back, I’m sure this could be a possibility…much like a bank seizing the assets of “customers” that owe it money.

      Report Post » Libertarian Infidel  
    • LesterWillox
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:44pm

      How would they “call in their debt”? They have no power to do so. All that would happen would be the Chinese government demanding their money back and the USA answering with a swift “No”. The Chinese are well aware that the debt they buy will never be repaid.

      So all is well right?

      Wrong. They could completely and totally screw us by refusing to buy further debt. Because just like they cannot force us to repay, we cannot force them to loan more.

      I’ll give a short and very much simplified explanation which will have to do for the sake of this argument:

      Let’s see it realistically: The US economy is being propped up by Chinese money and has been for a good decade. Should they refuse to buy more debt, foreign countries would limit their trade with us, the American credit rating (yes, countries have that too) would drop and the economic downturn we’re currently experiencing will start looking like a nice vacation on Hawaii. I’m talking total economic devastation here.

      So yeah.

      Report Post »  
    • Venom
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 3:34pm

      It would be all out war if they tried to take our land…legal garbage or not.

      Report Post » Venom  
    • Imdaman
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 5:31pm

      “How would they “call in their debt”? They have no power to do so. All that would happen would be the Chinese government demanding their money back and the USA answering with a swift “No”.“ Are we so sure any more that our government would say ”No” and say it swiftly? I mean this is Obama who wants to appease everyone out there in the global community. He’s bowed to several leaders already. I could see it if China said, “Pay up”. Obama would bow, ask how quickly, and probably try to deliver it himself along with his resume.

      Report Post »  
    • LesterWillox
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 5:40pm

      Luckily, repaying this debt (if it was ever requested which I find unlikely enough to border on the impossible) wouldn‘t be any one man’s call to make. Obama couldn’t just go and decide something like this.

      Also, China demanding repayment of this debt would ruin our economy and we’re more valuable to China as a market that buys their products than as a dying and starving husk of a nation. Another thing the Chinese government is aware of.

      Report Post »  
  • Libertarian Infidel
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:41am

    …and to think, we could have been currently enjoying the same accommodations if only Gore would have won.

    Report Post » Libertarian Infidel  
  • Skwerl
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:27am

    Gaze upon the future my friends: sitting in the dark, mired in our own excrement! I weep for the future.

    Report Post »  
  • MrButcher
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:16am

    is it considered a “green job” to be the guy who flips the power switch on a city’s electricity for the blackouts and then turns them back on when it is time to do so? do they have a union yet?

    Report Post » MrButcher  
  • wciappetta
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:06am

    The typical solution of the environmental types government intervention:

    Yang said environmentalists welcome moves to close antiquated factories because that improves overall efficiency. But she said temporary blanket cuts come at a high social cost and the government should be taking more long-term steps such as changing energy pricing to encourage conservation.

    Yeah lets make that high social cost permanent…..

    perhaps building more powerplants dare I say Nuclear would be a better option?

    Report Post »  
  • GUT_CHECK
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:43am

    HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, CHINA IS DUE FOR REGIME CHANGE OR AT LEAST MAJOR POLITICAL TURMOIL. CERTAINLY, THIS CRISIS WILL ADD FUEL TO THE FIRE. A “FIRE SALE” MAY ENSUE AFTER SUCH TURMOIL, AND A HIGHLY MALIABLE CHINA WILL BE EASILY MOULDED BY UNCLE SAM. (OR AT LEAST, THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS FOR ABOUT THE PAST YEAR OR SO)

    Report Post »  
    • MrButcher
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:12am

      i wouldn’t hold my breath on that one, slick.

      Report Post » MrButcher  
    • GUT_CHECK
      Posted on September 9, 2010 at 12:41am

      THANK YOU MRBUTCHER, I NEVER MENTIONED I WAS HOLDING MY BREATH. SOMETHING AS CATASTROPHIC AS REGIME CHANGE IN CHINA CAN TAKE A GENERATION TO MATERIALISE. I DON‘T EXPECT YOU’LL SEE IT IN THE DAYS YOU HAVE REMAINING MRBUTCHER, BUT I DO EXPECT TO SEE IT.

      REGARDS, SLICK

      Report Post »  
  • Joseph
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:41am

    Welcome to the world of being an industrial power, and not looking forward. I think they should take Obama and he can fix this proble with his Hope and Change, and tell them “Yes We Can”!

    Report Post »  
  • GarbyBarengar
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:41am

    And thus begins the generic falsehoods lavished in the comments.

    Report Post » Stupid Windmill  
  • Mike777
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:26am

    Yikes and this is what Obama wants emulate ?

    Report Post » Mike777  
  • SMITH1960
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:20am

    Does this mean we can’t barrow money from them? Just asking!

    Report Post » SMITH1960  
    • BQI
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:44am

      Possibly. More likely though that, notwithstanding these issues, they’ll just buy us and integrate us into their system. (just like a corporate merger)

      Report Post » BQI  
    • elysummers
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:20am

      China is already asking the US govt to put up its federal land to guarantee loans. Truly. Here in Northeast Nevada there is a large tract of land that was open to hunting and grazing for decades. Now there is fence around and a guard posted at the entrance. The guard will tell all that try to pass that the land “belongs” to China right now. What the US govt doesn’t tell us WILL hurt us.

      Report Post »  
    • VegasGuy
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 1:10pm

      ELYSUMMERS, your statement sounds like an all too frequent email hoax. Unless you have a legitimate source I’d say someone is trying to dupe you.

      Report Post » VegasGuy  
    • LesterWillox
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 2:15pm

      Of course it’s a hoax.

      http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/domain.asp

      Report Post »  
  • SPKnarr
    Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:17am

    Americans…see what we have to look forward to…?

    Report Post » SPKnarr  
    • DanB
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:39am

      Which part? The mandatory blackouts? Or the federal government stepping on local governments and exerting totalitarian control over our lives?

      Report Post »  
    • Mike in PA
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 11:04am

      Look forward to? Some of it has already arrived. The fed govt is already dictating how to live our lives and what we are aloud to keep for ourselves from what we have earned. Just a couple of years ago the there were rolling blackouts on the east coast because the current power suppliers could not keep up with demand int he summer time.

      Report Post »  
    • smartypoop
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 9:26pm

      Both!

      Report Post »  
    • Augustus Cicero
      Posted on September 8, 2010 at 10:50pm

      Ahhhh, good old fashion Marxist Socialism at its best. See what the Progressive have in store for us? DANB, Both…..

      Report Post »  

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