INTRODUCTION

This chapter will achieve the following: first, put forward and define the new concept of “agricultural renewable energy”; second, discuss the differences and similarities between “agricultural renewable energy” and “rural renewable energy,” as well as consider the attributes of “agricultural renewable energy substances” as resources; third, analyze foreseeable problems in relation to the utilization and management of agricultural renewable energy in China, as well as efforts by the Chinese government in relation to the development of agricultural renewable energy and related administrative policies, plans, and achievements; and fourth, systematically consider the content of both national and local laws and regulations concerning the management of agricultural renewable energy, analyze current limitations in the management of agricultural renewable energy, including the incompleteness of the current legislative framework, and the lack of understanding of agricultural wastes as having similar attributes to conventional energy resources; and finally, discuss the legal responsibilities and obligations of governments at all levels for the management of agricultural renewable energy in China.

As the global economy continued to develop since the mid-twentieth-century, in tandem with continuous annual growth in global consumption of fossil fuels–based energy, an international energy crisis developed, such that it now impedes the sustainable development of the global economy, and threatens local peace. In the meantime, pollution and environmental harms all over the world, caused by current energy use patterns, which are based on the overconsumption of fossil fuels, are also serious concerns limiting the achievement of sustainable development.