The small or middle coal mines with illegal operations in developing countries or regions can cause bad energy waste and environmental disruption. The project of coal-resource integration in Shanxi Province of China gives a new idea or an approach to energy saving and emission reduction. It is a social- and economic-ecological project. The paper shows the targets of energy saving and emission reduction in Shanxi Province, and analyses the aims, significance, design process and implementation of the integration project. Based on that, the paper discusses the challenges and opportunities the project brings. The analysis shows that the project of coal-resource integration in developing countries or regions can effectively improve mining technologies, collect capital and impel international cooperation and exchange. Finally, the paper analyses the concerns about the future, including the possible problems of implementation period, industrial updating, environmental impact and re-employment. However, the successful integration of coal resources can mitigate energy crisis and climate crisis and promote cleaner production effectively.
The energy saving and emission reduction has become a common endeavor in the world to sustain human development. Many countries’ governments and organizations have been taking a series of actions, including techniques, policies, engineering and economic approaches, such as the application of emission allowances and energy system in the production of plants (Zanganeh and Shafeen, 2007 and Ribbenhed et al., 2008), the development of cleaner vehicles and energy efficiency standards (Nakata, 2003 and Mahlia and Yanti, 2010) and the use of improved materials and new fuels (Hekkert et al., 2000, Stehlík, 2009, Wang et al., 2009 and Joelsson and Gustavsson, 2010).
China is the largest developing country in the world. The president of China, Jintao Hu, expounded China's stance on tackling climate change at the 15th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. China’s action in energy saving and emission reduction draws global attention. As one of the largest energy and industrial base in China, Shanxi Province covers only 1/60 of the territory of China but its coal production accounts for 1/4 of China's total, coke production for 2/5 and power generation for 1/17 (Liu, 2009). To achieve Shanxi’s targets of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 25% and emissions of SO2 by 14% and COD by 13% during China’s Tenth 5-Year Plan (2006–2010; Cui, 2007), Shanxi government has been adopting some policies and measurements (Shanxi Provincial People's Government, 2007). According to the provincial statistics from 2005 to 2009 on the official websites of the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China and the National Bureau of Statistics of China, during the first 4 years of China’s Tenth 5-Year Plan, the energy consumption per unit of GDP in Shanxi cumulatively reduced by 19.75%, accounting for 89.77% of the overall target (22%). In addition, the emissions of SO2 and COD were reduced by 16.35% (surpassing the overall target) and 10.98% (accounting for 84.46% of the overall target), respectively (Fig. 1). The achievement benefited from the closure or elimination of low-productivity industries and the control of pollutants' emission. As an effective trial and demonstration, the strong coal-resource integration of Shanxi in 2009 attracts the whole China’s and even global eyes.
