U.S. based energy efficiency solutions provider Ecos has become a partner in the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance, which aims to reduce the number of power plants required to meet China's growing electricity consumption with concomitant savings in CO2 emissions.

The China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance is a California-based nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting China in the implementation of demand-side management programs to help them reduce energy use and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Demand-side management, or DSM, refers to a collection of programs and policies that are designed to lower the demand for electricity by end-use customers. If implemented properly, energy efficiency can meet up to half of China's forecast electric load growth by 2014, which is the equivalent of avoiding the construction of more than 500 new power plants over the next decade.

The China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance designed China’s first large-scale energy efficiency incentive program in 2004, in Jiangsu Province. Since then, Jiangsu has seen annual electricity savings of 2 billion kWh and has reduced its CO2 emissions by 1.84 million tons. The success of the Jiangsu project has encouraged the Chinese government to invite the Alliance to develop similar programs for three other regions.

As a partner in the Alliance, Ecos will join a network of key stakeholders in the energy efficiency market in China and the U.S. Ecos recognizes that the Alliance is working on the world's largest opportunity for global carbon reductions by enabling energy efficiency in China. The Alliance brings together resources and experts from the private sector, utilities, government, and research institutes. Its leadership council is composed of foremost experts in the field of energy efficiency and China.

China generates most of its electricity from coal-burning power plants. As its population becomes increasingly urbanized, the demand for electricity has grown exponentially. China today is the fastest-growing energy consumer in the word. In 2007 alone, it added 81GW of new coal power – more than California’s total peak power generation capacity. The International Energy Agency predicts that between now and 2030, China will account for about 40% of the world’s growth in carbon dioxide emissions.