On The Study Of Our Government's Functions In The Development Of Geothermal Industry

To implement the low-carbon economy and take a low-carbon development path, there are two critical elements:first, energy-saving and cost-reduction; second, making, vigorous efforts to develop and utilize new energy and renewable energy.Geothermal energy is among the most competitive energy in the family of new energy with a series of advantages including sustainable and stable energy supply, engineering occupying little space, direct and versatile utilization, low operating costs and high efficiency of energy generation. At present. many countries in the world. especially some developed countries in the west are making great efforts to promote the development and utilization of geothermal resources and have achieved considerable success. which shows the advantage of the geothermal industry and enhances its competitiveness.China is rich in geothermal resources. For a long time. China has been continuously developing and utilizing the geothermal resources. Thus, it has been enlarging their scope of utilization and has owned a corresponding number of teams of professional experts and professional industrial base as well as some advanced science and technology. The industrialization and large-scale of the development and utilization of the geothermal resources are also going toward completion. However, under the influence of the implementation of extensive economic growth mode over a long period. China has been vigorously developing such conventional energy as coal, petroleum and has provided insufficient policy support of the development of renewable energy, particularly the geothermal energy which is a special type of industry of energy. In addition. due to the lack of knowledge of the attributes of geothermal resources and awareness of the importance of the geothermal industry in the development of the national economy and society. it is not made clear what role the government should play and what function it should performance. Consequently. a series of problems arise in the implementation and utilization of geothermal resources. For instance, due to the low degree of evaluation of the investigation of geothermal resources, their amount is not made clear; due to the low level of geothermal resources'development and utilization. their waste is very serious; blind construction and excessive exploration in some areas leads to the potential crisis of geothermal resources'destruction and environmental problems; the imperfect and chaotic national regulatory system, the absence of legislation and the unsound market mechanism; the gaps existing in the development and utilization of the engineering thermal system. These problems have seriously affected the development and advancement of the geothermal industry in China and therefore, its national competitiveness does not improve and its competitive advantage is not obvious.On the basis of Porter's Diamond model theory and relevant modern government theories and by drawing upon the theoretical analysis, the illustration method and the comparative method, this thesis is to explore, analyze, combine and integrate our government's functions in the development of the geothermal industry. Based primarily on the Diamond model theory, this thesis will discuss the functions our government should assume, including the policy guidance function, the overall planning function, the information service function and the function of the supervision of law enforcement and analyze their relation with the four key elements in the Diamond model. Then, by referring to relevant data and examples, this thesis will illustrate the achievements and contribution our government has made and the shortcomings and defects still existing while it is carrying out these functions. Finally, relevant suggestions will be put forward which our government can borrow from and refer to so as to better carry out its management in the development of the geothermal industry.The whole thesis consists of five chapters. Chapterl is introduction. Based on the frequent occurrence of the energy crisis worldwide and the climate warming as well as the analysis of the development and utilization of the geothermal resources in China and the world, this thesis briefly introduces the background and the significance of this topic. Through consulting relevant books, periodicals and data, this thesis analyzes, studies and reviews the researches that domestic and foreign experts and scholars have done on the government's functions in the development of the geothermal industry, this thesis briefly summarizes the achievements these scholars have made while carrying out these researches and the existing shortcomings of these researches and expounds the direction of development and the trend of relevant academic researches in the future. Chapter 2 comes the theoretical basis. Although government intervention in the economy now has become an indisputable fact, as to how the government should intervene in the economy, scholars of different theoretical schools have different views. This chapter briefly describes the modern government interventionism, limited government functions and the contingency theory of the government functions and briefly analyzes and summarizes the significance of these theories in the thesis. Michael Porter's Diamond Model builds an effective and intuitive model for cultivating the national competitive advantage of the industry and is an advanced theory for the industrial development and upgrading at the present time. Focusing on Michael Porter's Diamond Model and by referring to the analysis of theories of modern government functions, this thesis explains the leading role and value of the Diamond Model and provides the theoretical basis for further illustration of our government's functions. Chapter 3 is about the government's functions in the development of geothermal energy based on the Diamond Model. On the basis of the Diamond Model and relevant theories of government's functions as well as the real situation of the development of geothermal industry in China, the thesis concludes that our government should assume the policy guidance function, the overall planning function, the information service function and the law enforcement supervision function. Then, it goes on to analyze and illustrate the four functions above respectively with reference to the theoretical analysis. Meanwhile, it briefly summarizes the achievements and contribution currently our government has made while performing these functions by drawing upon relevant facts. Chapter 4 introduces the current status of our government's functions in the development of the geothermal industry. Through analyzing the problems existing in the development of the geothermal industry in China, the thesis points out that the government's policy guidance is not in place, its information service lags behind, its overall planning is not in place and its supervision of law enforcement is imperfect. Meanwhile, it analyzes the problems existing in our government's functions by referring to relevant data and facts. Then, this thesis further explores and summarizes the essential reasons leading to these problems. Chapter 5 comes the specific suggestions for our government's functions in the development of the geothermal industry in China. Starting with the intensification of the instruction of the knowledge of geothermal energy, it is suggested that our government improve its policy guidance in the industry, its supervision system of the development and utilization of geothermal resources, intensify its information service function and formulate overall development plans of the geothermal industry so as to accomplish the optimized combination status of the diamond system, which finally enables the government to build a healthy, ordered and energetic development environment for the geothermal industry and thus promotes its sustainable, steady and rapid growth.Government's functions do not exist in isolation, nor do they work in separation. They have to be combined together so as to play their due roles. Government's functions are not static. They must develop with the industry. Different stages of the industry have different functions of the government. Even at the same stage of different industries, the functions of the government should have different focuses. In the development of the geothermal industry, our government should intensify its functions in policy guidance, overall planning, information service and supervision of law enforcement, handle the relationship among them and adjusts its functions with the development of the geothermal industry.