China Increasing Focus on Green Energy
and in Particular Unconventional Gas Drilling and
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Use As a Transportation Fuel

China is one of the two largest users of energy.  It is also along with the U.S. one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases.  China’s energy use is on the rise as is the rest of the developing world.  The International Energy Agency forecasts a 40 percent increase in energy demand by 2030, driven almost entirely by growth in developing and emerging countries.  China recognizes the challenge and has devoted key parts of its last three five-year plans to developing a green growth strategy for energy, agriculture and infrastructure, investing over $51 billion in new renewable energy projects in 2010 alone, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.  In the news, we hear about China’s efforts to contract longterm oil deals in the Middle East, Latin America and elsewhere.  What we hear less about is China’s efforts to produce Green Energy within China and the fact that Green Energy may ultimately be a major component of China’s complete Energy portfolio.   To learn more about China’s green energy efforts, recently I travelled to Anyang China to meet with the Zhenyuan group of companies.  Zhenyuan is an impressive group of companies led by Mr. Pian Yunlai.  Mr. Pian is a pioneer in China business but particularly in the Green Energy field.    Among the Zhenyuan Groups list of firsts are: The first private enterprise in Anyang city that accepted an invitation from the government to provide public utilities. The first private real estate company in Anyang city. The first property management company in Anyang city. The first private enterprise in China that possesses a special railway line for inflammable and explosive materials, and possesses the largest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) turnover center in Henan province and the neighboring regions. The owner of the first LPG taxi company in Henan province. The first LPG gas filling station in Henan province. It is the first private company in Anyang city that cooperates with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and thus breaks the monopoly position of Sinopec in Anyang. It expands the oil product depot to 40,000 cubic meters, and becomes the North Henan transfer center for the project of “oil transmission from North to South”. It is the first to develop vehicle-use biogas in a demonstration project with the annual capacity of 4 million cubic meters.  This is the largest biogas production facility in Northern China. It successfully organized the “first China International Gas Energy Summit (IGE) 2011-International Forum on Biogas Industry” The first private enterprise that breaks the family organization structure, and sets up the “three-three-five” long-term management mode in Anyang city. It owns the first new-style shopping mall in Anyang city: Jiahe Shopping Mall, and thus became at that time the business rising star in Anyang city with its unique operation philosophy —“love, closeness and care for customers”. It is the first private real estate company that invests in public roads in Anyang city. It is the first Third-Tier city in China that becomes a franchisee of American CENTURY 21®, and sets up the CENTURY 21® Anyang branch company. As can be seen from the above, the Zhenyuan Group of companies has two subjects of focus - green energy and the development of the city of Anyang.  Both of these are large portions of their business but green energy is currently the faster growing of the two.  In green energy Zhenyuan focuses on methane for transportation use and produces fuel both from coal bed methane and also from biogas - essentially from a mix of human sewage, animal manure and dried plant waste like corn stover, wheat straw, etc.  The group also produces Dimethyl ether (DME), a very clean fuel and precursor and additive in many other products, from methane as a source plus has large and growing storage, shipping, and retail transportation gas filling stations.