6
L. Ma et al.
needs of high quality growth and supply-side reform; a need for transition from
mainly centralized energy supply to moderately-sized distributed energy supply; a
need for transition from an extensive mode of energy consumption featuring industrial use, especially that of energy intensive industries to a high-quality mode with
residential and service usage as the mainstay. These critical issues merit high attention and good solutions during the low-carbon energy transition. The key lies in the
collaboration of multiple energy sources and the smooth switch from the old to the
new production capacity, which puts higher demand on the level and workload of
energy system integration.
In addition to the aforementioned challenges, bigger challenges for China to accelerate the low-carbon transition comes from the “path lock-in” effect caused by the
huge energy in-use stocks. For example: (1) Technology and economic lock-in. There
is tremendous inertia for the type of energy economy relying on coal and other high
energy-intensive sectors. The scale economy of traditional energy technologies and
the long-term learning-by-doing development model make for their low cost and
high performance, in contrast to new energy technologies that are unable to compete
in the short-term (Klitkou et al. 2015). This undermines the motivation of enterprises
to pursue low-carbon transition; (2) Social and cognitive lock-in. Stereotypes and
living habits make people “selectively blind” to topics such as climate change that
seem to bear little impact on their daily life (Nelson 2018). Moreover, user practices
and lifestyle have been built upon traditional energy technologies and conventional
way of supply and consumption. Triggering a switch would imply a change in the
way of living, which faces problems of public acceptance and user participation.
1.2.4 Summary
The battle against global climate change calls for stronger efforts in low-carbon
transition of energy systems in all countries. But the transition is facing multiple
“energy dilemmas” including other energy challenges such as energy equity and
energy security. China, in particular, is constrained by multifaceted and intertwined
energy challenges: (1) vast and rising energy demand, with acute energy security and
energy equity issue, heavy conventional environmental pollution from energy use and
huge and surging greenhouse gas emissions; (2) the necessity to enable multi-energy
synergism and smooth switch between old and new production capacity in the entire
value chain of energy production and utilization, putting forward higher requirements
for integrating energy systems; (3) the difficult elimination of the “path lock-in”
effect from the huge social stocks of coal and high energy-intensive industries. To
conclude, China is in an urgent need of exploring a path towards sustainable lowcarbon transition based on the reality of its unique energy system.
L. Ma et al.
needs of high quality growth and supply-side reform; a need for transition from
mainly centralized energy supply to moderately-sized distributed energy supply; a
need for transition from an extensive mode of energy consumption featuring industrial use, especially that of energy intensive industries to a high-quality mode with
residential and service usage as the mainstay. These critical issues merit high attention and good solutions during the low-carbon energy transition. The key lies in the
collaboration of multiple energy sources and the smooth switch from the old to the
new production capacity, which puts higher demand on the level and workload of
energy system integration.
In addition to the aforementioned challenges, bigger challenges for China to accelerate the low-carbon transition comes from the “path lock-in” effect caused by the
huge energy in-use stocks. For example: (1) Technology and economic lock-in. There
is tremendous inertia for the type of energy economy relying on coal and other high
energy-intensive sectors. The scale economy of traditional energy technologies and
the long-term learning-by-doing development model make for their low cost and
high performance, in contrast to new energy technologies that are unable to compete
in the short-term (Klitkou et al. 2015). This undermines the motivation of enterprises
to pursue low-carbon transition; (2) Social and cognitive lock-in. Stereotypes and
living habits make people “selectively blind” to topics such as climate change that
seem to bear little impact on their daily life (Nelson 2018). Moreover, user practices
and lifestyle have been built upon traditional energy technologies and conventional
way of supply and consumption. Triggering a switch would imply a change in the
way of living, which faces problems of public acceptance and user participation.
1.2.4 Summary
The battle against global climate change calls for stronger efforts in low-carbon
transition of energy systems in all countries. But the transition is facing multiple
“energy dilemmas” including other energy challenges such as energy equity and
energy security. China, in particular, is constrained by multifaceted and intertwined
energy challenges: (1) vast and rising energy demand, with acute energy security and
energy equity issue, heavy conventional environmental pollution from energy use and
huge and surging greenhouse gas emissions; (2) the necessity to enable multi-energy
synergism and smooth switch between old and new production capacity in the entire
value chain of energy production and utilization, putting forward higher requirements
for integrating energy systems; (3) the difficult elimination of the “path lock-in”
effect from the huge social stocks of coal and high energy-intensive industries. To
conclude, China is in an urgent need of exploring a path towards sustainable lowcarbon transition based on the reality of its unique energy system.