China Reject International Energy Agency

International Energy Agency assess that country as the world’s largest energy consumer. China’s government rejected the assessment of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which assess the country has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer. China says, the data from the IEA can not be trusted.

The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal quoted an official from the IEA, stated that the Asian giant has taken over the U.S. position as the largest energy users in 2009.

According to the IEA, in 2009, China consumed 2.252 billion tons of fuel and energy sources such as coal, nuclear energy, natural gas, and hydroelectric. The higher usage rate of four percent from the U.S..

However, an official with China National Energy Administration said that the report is flawed. “The IEA data on China’s energy use is not trustworthy,” said Xian Zhou Xinhua news agency quoted, Tuesday, July 20, 2010.

Quoting the IEA economist, Fatih Birol, The Financial Times wrote, in 2000, U.S. energy consumption are two times greater than China’s, China now eat more than the U.S..

China, Birol said, still uses more energy per capita, but China is less efficient in energy use. The IEA admits, these data are still preliminary data but the trend is clearly visible.