AEI News

A conversation with WVU’s Jerry Fletcher, Director, US-China Energy Center

With its huge population and growing economy, there is no ignoring China. China is increasingly important in global energy matters. Jerald Fletcher, Ph.D., and Director of the US-China Energy Center at WVU recently discussed China’s significance in energy and energy research with AEI.

AEI: You’ve travelled to China for a number of years. What changes have you seen?

Fletcher: “Ten years ago, cities like Beijing were a sea of bikes. Now it’s a big traffic jam. In fact, you couldn’t put all the cars in Beijing on the streets at the same time. They wouldn’t fit!
“In terms of economic development strategies, China has gone through, in 30 to 40 years, what took us a century. In some ways, China is almost two countries. There are some extremely wealthy people, but still a lot of very poor people.

“But things are changing. They now have more than 300 million people classified as middle class. As they move up the ladder economically, they will want the same things that we do—refrigerators, TVs, heating and cooling, and a better environment.

“They are going to be a major global player. What happens in China will affect the world.”

AEI: Including energy?

Fletcher: “Sure. Take coal, for instance. In 2009, China used 46 percent of all the coal used in the world! The U.S. used 16 percent—and we’re considered a big coal user. And China’s coal utilization is growing at 8 percent to 10 percent per year.

“But unlike the US, where most of our coal use is for generating electricity, China uses only 60 percent of its coal to generate electricity. The rest is for a variety of industrial uses such as in cement, chemicals and fertilizers.

“China is putting tremendous resources into research and development in all aspects of energy. For instance, the overall efficiency of the Chinese electricity generation fleet is more efficient than that of the US. They are still building new plants, but now it is to replace older, existing plants. They don’t retrofit—they just take them down. While their newest stuff isn’t as good as our best, they have a lot of it.

“Given how much they’re using and how fast they’re growing, it’s important that they be efficient, particularly regarding carbon management. They don’t have an option not to use fossil energy, so the carbon must be managed. But remember, it’s a world issue. We get as much benefit from controlling or capturing carbon in China as they do.”

AEI: Is it true that WVU has had a long relationship with China?
Fletcher: “WVU has had a reputation in China as a leading coal university for a long time. Maybe that isn’t surprising because we ARE a leading fossil fuel research institution. But our business school also has had long involvement, and we have initiatives with them in industrial safety.

“But with regard to fossil energy, I think it is fair to say that WVU now has become one of the primary conduits of information between our two governments. A lot of information related to coal comes through WVU. The US Department of Energy uses us as a way to get information to the right people informally, rather than government to government.”

AEI: What are some of the key China-related energy activities at WVU?

Fletcher: I’d say there are three key ones. The first is work we started back in 2003 related to coal liquefaction under what’s called Annex II Clean Coal Fuels. China got into this for energy security reasons, not because of economics. Coal-to-liquids technology has been around since the early part of the 20th century and was the primary source of fuel in Germany during the latter part of World War II. The push now is to make it cleaner, more efficient and more cost-effective. China may have the second largest coal reserves in the world (behind the US), so they are interested in changing coal into other fuels.

“The original Annex II (re-signed in 2009) started out looking at environmental and economic effects of direct liquefaction, but expanded to more basic research, including chemical engineering, carbon capture and storage, as well as geology. These are agreed upon activities by the two countries under the fossil energy protocol.
“The second area is the Clean Energy Research Center. The US-China Clean Energy Research Center was announced by President Obama and China President Hu Jintao in November 2009. It is an umbrella organization for the joint activities of the two countries.

“The idea was that the US and China would put together cooperative research plans and execute a special protocol to that end. It focused on clean vehicles, building efficiency and clean coal, including carbon capture and storage. This is the part I am involved with.

“We created the Advanced Coal Technology Consortium. WVU has the lead. We coordinate this effort, but it wouldn’t be successful without the partnership we put together. It’s a big group: the University of Wyoming, University of Kentucky, Wyoming State Geological Survey, Indiana Geological Survey, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S.-China Clean Energy Forum, World Resources Institute, Alstom, Babcock and Wilcox, Duke Energy, Inc., GE, Great Point Energy, LP Amina and Ramgen. The businesses are getting involved because of the size of the energy sector opportunity in China.

“The DOE will provide $12.5 million in federal funding identified to support a five-year effort. Members of the ACTC will provide dollar-for-dollar matching funds, which is key. Chinese government and businesses will also provide a minimum of $25 million, for a total of at least $50 million over five years.

“The third area is a smaller, but important effort that is looking at the specific carbon capture and storage options for the Shenhua Direct Coal Liquefaction plant in Inner Mongolia. It’s not funded through Annex II, but rather by the Department of State through the National Energy Technology Labs. Right now, Tim Carr (WVU Geology and Geography Professor) is leading an effort to evaluate the carbon dioxide storage capacity in geologic formations near the plant.

AEI: In a nutshell, why is the US-China Clean Energy Center so important to America?

*Fletcher: * Well, there are several reasons: the US and China are the world’s biggest consumers and users of energy; China has the largest growth rate (10 percent), so the amount of energy they need is big; and the nature of their government is such that a lot of the research activity we would like to conduct can get done more quickly.

“But I think the most important thing is that we can learn from each other. It is not a one-way street. China may be ahead in clean coal, but we are ahead in CCS. The carbon issue is a global one. We (the US) will benefit as much as China from any solution that is developed.

“Someday there will be sources of energy able to replace fossil fuels. But for the foreseeable future we will still need fossil fuels for a host of things, including heavy diesel and jet fuel.
“It would be nice to be working in an area where we are looking for the ultimate energy answer. We’re not looking for the answer, but we are buying time for people to find it.”