Chinese switch to flashlights, generators amid power cuts

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} People ate breakfast by the light of smartphones and shopkeepers turned on generators as cities across China enforced power cuts Wednesday to meet official conservation targets and ease shortages in some areas. China’s power consumption is growing at almost double its usual rate, while the ruling Communist Party is trying to reduce energy intensity, or the amount used per unit of economic output. The cuts are “largely driven by energy consumption control measures, with power shortages affecting another few provinces,” Lara Dong of IHS Markit said in an email. Due to shortages in some areas, it said, "a relaxation of the government’s energy consumption goals may not immediately alleviate the power crunch.” China is one of the world’s biggest emitters of climate-changing industrial gases and consumes more energy per unit of economic output than developed countries.