China’s huge footprint being felt with the rising cost of oil

China has not only become a new heavy addict of the world’s oil teat, it is one of the worst offenders in terms of efficiency.
To generate every $1 of GDP, China uses three times or more as much energy as the global average, 4.7 times more than the U.S., 7.7 times more than Germany and 11.5 times more than Japan.

Unless a “hard landing” produces a Japanese or Korean style bust, Chinese oil consumption and imports are going to keep climbing. And so is the inefficiency of use.

China is well on its way toward replacing a big part of its 1 billion bicycles with cars. Manufacturers produced only 220,000 vehicles in 1999. Last year they produced more than 2 million, an 81 percent increase over just the previous year. With 24 million cars operating in 2003, the People’s Republic is projected to have 60 million private automobiles by 2010 and 130 million by 2020. If those straight-line projections — or anything like them — work out, oil for transportation alone will account for half of the total consumption.

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