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BEIJING (Reuters) - To Bejing opera singer and law-maker Liu Changyu, the bright lights that Premier Wen Jiabao wants to dim are a sign of China's progress, and need to stay on.

More serious opposition to Wen's plan to reform the country's energy-guzzling ways will likely come from local officials and entrenched economic interests in affected sectors from steel smelting to real estate.

But Liu's reservations are a reminder of the complex obstacles facing leaders who are trying to back away from a mantra they have been promoting for nearly three decades -- of economic growth at almost any cost.

"The night-time skylines of some cities are very beautiful, and they should not become pitch dark just for the sake of saving energy," said Liu, representing China's well-lit capital at the annual 10-day session of parliament.

"Some consumption is necessary, or we would have to go back to the days when we relied on oil-lamps," she added, in a room illuminated by hundreds of light bulbs.

Beijing has pledged to rein in growth of energy-thirsty industries, develop cleaner sectors such as services, design more efficient housing and use pricing schemes to rein in consumption.

But Wen will need to change attitudes as well as the economy if he wants to meet the goal laid out for this year at the opening of parliament: a 4 percent cut in the energy used to generate each dollar of national income.

There is no question that there is room to slash energy use. China currently uses more than four times as much to generate a unit of output than the average Group of Seven developed country, the Asian Development Bank says.

"From an engineering perspective, the targets are very easy to hit. There is nothing technologically preventing it," said Robert Watson, director of the international energy program at the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

More challenging will be giving all of China, from officials to builders, real incentives to sacrifice profits for efficiency.

Policy makers acknowledge they have set themselves a tough target, but they are driven by worries that a growing reliance on imported oil makes the country's economy vulnerable, while burning domestic coal reserves is devastating its environment.    Continued ...

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