By the end of 2006, the total number of families that use biogas reached 21.75 million, with a total annual biogas production of about 8.5 billion cubic meters, an agricultural official revealed today at an international conference on rural energy development in China.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to rural energy development, encourages the development of biogas construction, promotes the use of renewable energy such as like wind power, solar energy and biomass energy," Kou Jianping, director of the Energy and Zoology Division inside the Ministry of Agriculture, said at the International Conference of Rural Energy Development in China, a forum jointly organized by the UNDP and the Office of the State Council Energy Leading Group.

China has rich biomass energy resources. By the end of 2006, China had built biogas pits for 21.75 million households in rural areas, and provided more than 5,200 large and mid-sized biogas projects based around livestock and poultry farms. A typical?eight cubic meters biogas pit is able to provide 80 percent of the necessary cooking energy for a four-member family. This kind of resource will, in total, save about 13.3 million tons of standard coal?for China annually, Kou added.

According to a research report on rural energy consumption, released at the conference, the use of biogas has quickly increased in suburban areas of developed municipalities and provinces like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Jiangsu. In contrast people living in rural areas in Jilin, Shanxi, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces still rely on crop residues and wood to provide energy for cooking and heating.

"The increasing demand for rural energy and the challenge to cope with climate change have brought issues of sustainable energy development to the top of the national policy agenda in China," said Subinay Nandy, UNDP Country Director in China.

"The UNDP is committed to assist the government in integrating sustainable energy solutions into rural planning via technology transfers and policy recommendations," Nandy added.

According to China's energy goals, by 2020, about 300 million rural people will use biogas as their main fuel, while China will use 10 million tons of bio-ethanol and two million tons of bio-diesel to replace the current 10 million tons of annual oil consumption.

Energy specialists from developing countries including Bolivia, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Thailand attended the conference and exchanged information, ideas, and visions toward fostering rural energy security throughout the developing world.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Zhang Yunxing, November 23, 2007)