Energy research and development should not be fickle in favor of the new[Reprinted from Wen Hui Bao]

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Energy research and development should not be fickle. The Copenhagen Conference, hailed as \"the last chance to save humanity,\" focused on reducing carbon emissions. Efficient use and reduction of traditional fossil fuels, along with a gradual increase in the use of new clean energy sources, are considered to be the two main approaches to reducing emissions. New energy has now become an extremely hot topic in China. 　　But many energy experts want to “bring some cool air”. In interviews with journalists, they reiterated time and again that we should focus our efforts on basic research in new energy, striving for continuous breakthroughs ； One should not blindly follow foreign trends and rush to develop new energy products using immature technologies. In particular, one must be wary of those who try to lure investment into large-scale projects – \"otherwise, it’s like a chicken farmer who focuses only on the eggs without taking proper care of the chickens; not only will high-performance eggs not be produced, but even the quality of ordinary eggs will suffer!\" ” 　　Another harsh remark from the experts is: don’t be too quick to reject the old in favor of the new! Efficient and clean utilization of traditional energy sources must be a focus of research and development. 　　Both new energy and traditional energy sources should be given equal attention. “New energy, which is attracting increasing attention, is certainly the direction in which we should pursue strategic development, but one should not assume that it will become the dominant energy source in the short term.” ”Professor Huang Zhen, director of the Institute of New Energy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said, “The key area of research in the near future remains improving the efficiency of traditional energy sources.” As for various types of new energy, it is necessary to strengthen fundamental research, achieve technological innovation, and thereby make breakthroughs in their application. ” 　　Regarding new energy, according to the research findings of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, its integration into human life will go through four stages: supplementation, substitution, mainstream adoption, and dominance. By 2010, it served as a supplementary source, accounting for around 2% of total energy consumption ； It can reach up to 10% in 2020, entering the substitution phase ； It is expected to reach mainstream status by 2030 ； By 2050, when new energy accounts for around 30% of energy consumption, it will then become one of the dominant energy sources. It is therefore clear that at this stage we still need to focus on improving the efficiency of using traditional energy sources, while also finding ways to utilize them in a cleaner manner. 　　Huang Zhen said that solar energy is a promising new energy source. At present, we are keen to discuss the production volume and capacity of solar energy-related products in China, but what really matters is whether there can be continuous progress in the fundamental research and development of solar energy materials. The energy conversion efficiency of silicon-based thin-film solar cells is currently 8%, while that of polycrystalline silicon solar cells is around 16%. Major new breakthroughs are necessary in terms of materials; only by continuously improving the conversion efficiency can there be significant progress in the utilization of solar energy. 　　An expert who wished to remain anonymous shared Huang Zhen’s view, but from a different perspective: precisely because existing solar materials are not yet good enough, the production and use of practical products should be confined to the experimental and demonstration stages ； Yet across the country, people are rushing to set up factories and production lines, showing great enthusiasm for doing so – how much resource waste will this cause? 　　Similar situations are not uncommon in other fields of new energy research and development as well. 　　For example, cars. From a technical perspective, conventional cars still have room to reduce their energy consumption by 30%, and new energy vehicles cannot replace conventional vehicles on a large scale in the short term ； Yet our public opinion is overwhelmingly focused on new energy vehicles. Experts say that General Motors, which ranks first in the world in terms of research and development in battery-powered vehicles, focuses on new energy vehicles, but it invests much more in research to improve traditional internal combustion engines. 　　More attention should be paid to actual production. “The research and development of new energy sources and emission reduction technologies are certainly strategic priorities, but this doesn’t mean that we have to pursue whatever is popular abroad.” Based on China’s actual conditions and addressing real-world problems should be the main focus of research institutions. ”Professor Wang Fuchen, a key scientist of the 973 Program at East China University of Science and Technology, expressed his views in this way. 　　He gave an example: a small enterprise in Henan has been using hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to produce nitrogen fertilizers; this can also be considered a way of making use of carbon dioxide and turning waste into a useful resource. However, the energy consumption during this synthesis process is very high, resulting in carbon dioxide emissions that far exceed the amount of carbon dioxide used in the synthesis. For a long time, no dedicated researchers thought of addressing this issue. Through its own efforts, this company managed to overcome the problem of high energy consumption, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and also produced the clean energy source methanol as a byproduct. This achievement won the science and technology invention award at the ** level last year. During the expert evaluation, it was found that the new approach developed by the company relied on principles familiar to those working in chemical research; however, little attention is paid to such practical production issues. 　　Another energy expert also said that we should delve deeper into the production sector and conduct problem-oriented research. He did some calculations for the journalists: China’s annual coal consumption is 2.7 billion tons; by saving 100 million tons, it would be possible to reduce coal usage by 3% and carbon dioxide emissions by 200 million tons. “It can be seen how significant it is to solve practical problems! We need to focus more attention on the field of production applications, rather than researching whatever is trendy at the moment; we must not either ‘make up stories’ in order to secure funding for personal gain.