-------China must go to sustainable energy and cannot follow the US approach to using energy

→An Academic with Policy Influence
LI JUNFENG
CREIA

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  With the push towards alternative energy being placed high on the national agenda,the role of tireless renewable energy official Li Junfeng will be increasingly important during 2006.Coming from a rural area in Shandong Province..Li has personally witnessed the problems resulting from the lack of energy infrastructure and equipment ,in particular for generating electricity in poor regions not connected to the power grid.
  Li Junfeng was born in Shandong province in 1956 and graduated from Shandong Mining Institute in 1982, receiving a BA in power engineering. He joined the Energy Research Institute of State Planning Commission in 1982 as deputy division chief and senior research fellow heading division activities on renewable energy. Li enrolled in training programs in statistic in University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and in environmental economics in Clemson University in 1993. In 1992, He served for two years as a consultant and energy economist for the World Bank Group in China.
From 1994 to 2003, he worked as director and research professor leading the Center for Renewable Energy Development (CRED).
  Li was appointed secretary general of the China Renewable Energy Industrial Association (CREIA) in 2003.With more than twenty years of experience working in China,India and the United States, Li took the position to develop and suppot international initiatives in renewable energy and energy efficiency. He also expects to assist China in developing a policy framework that will facilitate sustainable energy. "That energy can be produced and made renewable in a similar way to food,' says Li, outlining his key concept.
  For the longer term ,Li plans to do more at the national level and his strategy is to develop strong awareness of renewable energy and energy efficiency in China through lobbying the government to implement renewable energy laws. Though this approach takes time ( it took about two years of  lobbying for the china Renewable Lae to be approved).Li pursues his mission in developing renewable energy technologies as a tool to ensure energy efficiency and as a possible economic incentive to get the private sector more involved. The idea is to promote the development of Chinese renewable energy enterprised and market their products overseas while at the same time attracting foreign direct investment into the Chinese renewable sector.The main challenge he has to overcome to achieve this , however, is the lack of  awareness about renewable energy and the high cost of technologies.
  CREAI was created in 2000 and became legally registered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2002. The association aims to accelerate the development of renewable energy in China and has already attracted over too corporate members throughout the country .It provides a range of services .including policy analysis and increasing international cooperation and public awareness.
  Li believes strongly that renewable energy and energy ande energy efficiency will have a major impact on China in that they will become important factors in ensuring future energy security and maintaining economic growth while reducing energy use ."China must go to sustainable energy and cannot follow the US approach to using energy," says Li.A central target he has for China is for the country to become a role model in using renewable energy technologies and to adopt sustainable ways and mechanisms .According to him, it is inevitable that China must take this path.

selected from CHINA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS