China is biggest energy user

PARIS – China has overtaken the United States as the world’s largest energy consumer, the International Energy Agency said yesterday. China immediately questioned the report, claiming its calculations were “unreliable”.The Paris-based agency said China’s 2009 consumption of energy sources ranging from oil and coal to wind and solar power was equal to 2.265 billion tons of oil, compared to 2.169 billion tons used that year by the United States.The shift is historic, coming years ahead of forecasts. In climate change talks, China has long pointed fingers at the energy consumption patterns of developed nations and is sure to feel uncomfortable with the mantle of consuming more energy than any other nation.According to the IEA statistics, China’s energy consumption has more than doubled in less than a decade, from 1.107 billion tons in 2000 – driven by its burgeoning population and economic growth that hit 11.9 per cent in the first quarter of this year.Per capita, the United States still consumes five times more energy than China, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told The Associated Press in an interview. (AP)