China to subsidise energy-saving products like desktops, air conditioners

BEIJING: China will subsidise use of energy-saving desktop computers and air-conditioners in its latest effort to boost domestic demand and conserve electricity, the government said today.

The country will earmark 14 billion yuan ($2.22 billion) in subsidies to encourage the purchases of six types of energy-saving products, including desktop computers, air-conditioners, fans, water pumps, compressors and transformers, Finance Ministry officials were quoted by the state-run Xinhua news agency as saying.

The subsidy programme will last for one year and is expected to raise the market share of the energy-saving products to more than 40 per cent, they said.

"The move marks the government's effort to combine stabilising economic growth and stoking domestic demand with promoting energy savings and emission reductions," an official with the ministry said.

The subsidies may give a boost to the slowing economy, which grew 7.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year, marking the slowest pace in three years.

The country has currently 130 million desktop computers, which consume 31.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year.

The annual power consumption of air-conditioners reach 350 billion kwh, data showed.

In 2011, the power consumption of fans, pumps, compressors and transformers accounted for 40 per cent of the country's total, but they were only 80 per cent as efficient as those in developed countries.

"The subsidy programme will help save 31.3 billion kwh of electricity every year and drive sales of the energy-saving products by 155.6 billion yuan," the official said.