The use of renewable energy resources plays a key strategic role in maintaining balance between energy supply and demand in China; and the Chinese Government has therefore consistently promoted renewable energy. At present, traditional, noncommercial renewables (e.g. fuel wood) provide China with energy of over 300 million tons of standard coal equivalent (tce) annually, hydropower installations provide 328 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of power annually, accounting for 17% of China's total electricity output. Adding in other renewable resource applications, but excluding traditional non-commercial renewables applications, China's total annual use of renewables surpassed 130 million tce accounting for 7% of the nation's total energy use in 2004. Comparison of these figures with those of other nations shows that China has climbed to the top position globally both in total application of renewables and in proportion of renewables in overall energy use (Figure 1-1).
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