The National Guideline on Medium and Long-term Programme for Science and Technology Development (2006-20) issued by the State Council last week outlines the nation's R&D strategy for improving the efficiency of energy and natural resources consumption to ensure more sustainable economic and social development.

R&D should not only be used to produce theoretical achievements and technology that is inaccessible.

Accomplishments in R&D of this area should be applied to saving energy and natural resources and protecting the environment.

Energy is the material foundation of social and economic development. Although progress in developing renewable energy technologies is being made overseas, coal, oil and natural gas will remain China's primary sources of energy for at least 20 or 30 years.

The country's consumption of fossil fuels ranks second in the world. If new sources of supply are not tapped and consumption reduced, China would have to import 55 per cent of its oil and 25 to 40 per cent of its natural gas needs by 2020. That would mean paying more for energy, or being saddled with a shortage.

The Guideline declares that the industrial sector must save energy, coal will be used in a clean and efficient way, and renewable energy will be exploited and used at low cost on a large scale.

China will exploit large oil and gas fields and build new nuclear power plants, which have been put on the list of the 16 key projects in the Guideline.

We used to believe energy could be tapped without limit. To plan energy technology, based on the notion that energy is exhaustible, deserves loud applause.

Efficient vehicles and the technology to exploit renewable energy will give us all a new lease of life. Most important of all, it helps foster awareness of energy efficiency.

To raise efficiency in terms of energy consumption, policies in the Guideline are expected to alter the nation's approach to GDP growth, which currently requires the consumption of huge amounts of resources.

The National Bureau of Statistics will monitor economy-wide energy efficiency, pursuing the goal of using less oil, coal and gas for each unit of production as national income surges.

The Guideline also stresses the importance of using natural resources such as water and land more efficiently. High technologies from biology and agriculture are encouraged to be used in crop irrigation which will help consume much less water. Since land is also an exhaustible resource, grain yield per unit of area should be increased by cultivating crops of a better quality and higher output.

As one of the eight frontline areas  laid out in the Guideline that require heavy input in R&D, advanced technologies in geological systems will also be applied to ensure energy and resources are better utilized, the environment better protected and natural disasters more accurately forecasted and better coped with.

The Guideline provides a well-defined path we should follow to improve and apply R&D by efficiently using energy and natural resources to ensure more sustainable growth. The policy should be maintained in the country's R&D programme in the years beyond 2020.