The Act aims to strengthen energy conservation, particularly for key energy-using entities, promote efficient use of energy and adoption of energy conservation technology. The term "energy" as used in this Law refers to various sources such as coal, oil, natural gas, biomass energy, electricity, heat, and other resources that process or convert into useful energy (Article 2).
There are six substantive chapters to this Law: General Provisions; Energy Conservation Management; Reasonable Use and Energy Conservation (further split into Industrial Energy Conservation, Building Energy Conservation, Transport Energy Conservation, Public Institutions, Key Energy Consumption Units); Conservation Technology Progress; Incentives; and Legal Liability.
Under Article 6, the government's of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities must report annually to the State Council on the performance of their energy-saving target responsibilities. The department responsible for energy conservation within the State Council is responsible for the supervision and management of this Law (see Article 10).
Article 33 states that the construction of coal-fired power generation units, oil-fired power generation units, and coal-fired thermal power units, which "do not comply with national regulations" are prohibited.
There are also provisions requiring relevant authorities to prepare energy efficiency and conservation plans. For example, Article 34 requires construction departments of local government's at or above county levels to formulate building energy conservation plans within their administrative regions. Article 41 also requires the relevant transport department of the State Council to formulate energy conservation plans.
