China plans to spend 800 million yuan (US$100 million) over the next decade on studying natural gas hydrates, an alternative fuel Beijing hopes might help to limit its growing reliance on oil imports, the government said this week.
Trial exploration of methane hydrate, a crystalline compound of water and natural gas, is expected to become viable between 2010 and 2015, the government planning agency said in a report on its Web site on Wednesday.
But the National Development and Reform Commission said that further technological breakthroughs were necessary before the fuel would be commercially developed.
Methane hydrate reserves, found in abundance in ocean beds, are thought to be equivalent in energy value to at least twice the amount of fossil fuels needed to meet global energy demand for 1,000 years, the report said.
It said the energy generated by each cubic meter of hydrate is equal to that released by up to 180 cubic meters of natural gas, it said.
Competition for such resources could add to friction between countries with conflicting claims to ocean territory, such as those already simmering between Japan, South Korea and China.
The report said that China planned to work with German researchers to sample hydrate deposits in the northern part of the South China Sea within a year.
"China so far has discovered enormous reserves of gas hydrates in offshore areas; those spotted in the northern part of the South China Sea are expected to amount to half the country's onshore oil resources," the report said.
China is the world's second biggest consumer of oil and the third largest importer, bringing in at least 3.5 million barrels of foreign oil per day last year.
Aside from hydrates, China is looking to nuclear energy, wind power, coal-to-fuel and biofuels such as methanol made from corn to help it meet soaring demand.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last