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It is highly important to clarify the determinants of China's energy consumption for the smooth implementation of energy conservation. For this purpose, this paper discusses the contribution of China's different economic sectors to decoupling progress. Then, it uses an extended logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method to decompose China's energy consumption into seven factors. The major findings indicate that during the 2000–2016 period, (1) the decoupling status between China's economy and energy consumption were determined largely by the secondary industry; (2) the positive contribution of three sectors to the decoupling process was ranked as follows: primary industry>tertiary industry>secondary industry; (3) China's energy consumption showed a growing trend, and the expansion of per capita fixed asset investment was the main factor responsible for the energy consumption increase, especially in some provinces whose investment structure was skewed towards energy-intensive industries. Additionally, population growth had mild positive impacts on the energy consumption increase; (4) declines in energy intensity and investment efficiency were two major contributors to energy-saving. However, economic structure, energy structure, and spatial structure adjustment failed to reduce energy consumption but had overall positive impacts on the energy consumption increase. Finally, several policy recommendations related to reducing energy consumption are proposed. • The empirical analysis was conducted at both national and provincial levels. • Decoupling status was determined largely by the secondary industry. • Per capita fixed asset investment was dominant for energy consumption increase. • The decline in energy intensity and investment efficiency contributed to energy-saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In March 2011, China’s central government set a new challenging target of reducing its energy intensity by 16% during 2011–2015, after it had achieved a reduction of 19.1% during 2006–2010. And this new target was assigned to provincial authorities in August 2011. However, China’s provincial energy-economic developments are unbalanced and different provinces have different key sectors for energy conservation. Most previous studies focused on provincial energy efficiency at the aggregate level, or the three-industry level (or one-digit level). However, whether for policy decision or academic research, it is necessary to further subdivide the sectors. In this paper, we use three indicators (Gini Coefficient, energy consumption share and energy intensity) to compare provincial energy conservation potentials at the two-digit sector level. To our knowledge, this paper is the first one to identify the keys for energy conversation across the 31 provinces×65 sectors. And the results are shown in visualized maps and matrix tables to help identify the key province×sectors for energy conservation easier. This also helps the central and provincial governments to distinguish key sectors when they monitor the energy conservation progress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

For many years, China has invested effort into achieving resource conservation and environmentally friendly economic development. The measures implemented include promoting technological innovation, market-oriented reform and industrial structure adjustment. But there are open questions: What have the effects of these measures been? Have they helped China achieve win-win development in terms of its resources, environment, and economy? This paper aims to answer these questions by using a newly proposed global three-hierarchy meta-frontier Luenberger index that can quantify the effects of promoting technological innovation, industrial restructuring, etc., on economic growth, energy conservation and emissions reduction. The results show that (1) during 2001–2016, China's energy efficiency, economic efficiency, and emissions efficiency improved, indicating that China's efforts have brought about the win-win development of resources, the environment, and the economy; (2) the implemented measures have heterogeneous effects on economic growth, energy conservation, and emissions reduction. The implemented measures are generally beneficial to energy conservation and emissions reduction but potentially harmful to the economy; (3) the effects of these measures on economic growth, energy conservation and emissions reduction across China's regions and provinces are also quite different, indicating that local provincial governments should have a clear understanding of their own characteristics before implementing the relevant policies and measures. • A global three-hierarchy meta-frontier Luenberger index was proposed for the study. • It can quantify the effects of China's efforts on economy, energy, and emissions. • Results show that China's efforts have brought about a win-win development. • There are the heterogeneities of China's pathways to economic growth, energy conservations and emissions reductions. • The future strategies for China's win-win development should take the heterogeneities into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's energy conservation has received extensive attention. As the most important sector of the economy, the manufacturing industry plays a vital role in China's energy issues. Conserving energy in China's manufacturing industry (CMI) is of great significance for both China and the world. In this paper, the co-integration method is applied to test the long-term equilibrium relationship among energy consumption and three explanatory variables during the period 1980–2013. Furthermore, we use scenarios analysis method to forecast the energy demand of CMI. The results show that if the government does not properly manage the economy, the energy demand of CMI will reach 2558.97 Mtce in 2020 and 2594.18 Mtce in 2030. On the contrary, if the government attaches importance to energy conservation and takes necessary actions, energy demand in the industry will reduce to 1113.79 Mtce by 2030, which implies a large energy conservation potential for CMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the driving factors behind energy consumption changes provides insights about consumption patterns and can inform targeted energy saving polices. This paper applies a joint decomposition approach, introducing an index decomposition analysis (IDA) method into a production theoretical decomposition analysis (PDA). This integrated approach decomposed energy consumption changes into eight drivers. A subsequent empirical study of China resulted in three key findings. First, regardless of the geographic area considered, potential economic development was the largest factor driving energy consumption growth. Second, the technological change effects associated with economic development and energy savings both played significant roles in reducing energy consumption. Third, the efficiency change effects of energy use and economic development were generally unable to relieve the pressure of increases in energy consumption, especially in the eastern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following several decades of rapid economic growth, China has become the largest energy consumer and the greatest emitter of CO 2 in the world. Given the complex development situation faced by contemporary China, Chinese policymakers now confront the dual challenge of reducing energy use while continuing to foster economic growth. This study posits that a better understanding of the relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions is necessary, in order for the Chinese government to develop the energy saving and emission reduction strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change. This paper investigates the cointegrating, temporally dynamic, and casual relationships that exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions in China, using data for the period 1990–2012. The study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework in order to perform this analysis. The results of cointegration tests suggest the existence of long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, albeit with short dynamic adjustment mechanisms, indicating that the proportion of disequilibrium errors that can be adjusted in the next period will account for only a fraction of the changes. Further, impulse response analysis (which describes the reaction of any variable as a function of time in response to external shocks) found that the impact of a shock in CO 2 emissions on economic growth or energy consumption was only marginally significant. Finally, Granger casual relationships were found to exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions; specifically, a bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was identified, and a unidirectional causal relationship was found to exist from energy consumption to CO 2 emissions. The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners, warning of the need to develop and implement long-term energy and economic policies in order to effectively address greenhouse effects in China, thereby setting the nation on a low-carbon growth path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently experiencing rapid economic growth as a result of industrialization and urbanization. In the next 20 years, China's energy demand will increase substantially, and energy conservation will become imperative for the country's low carbon economic transformation. Since 1998, China's chemical fiber production has ranked first in the world. In 2011, China's chemical fiber production accounted for about 70% of the world's total output. Therefore, energy saving is important for China's chemical fiber industry, and can provide immense benefits, and hence the need for thorough and intense research. In this paper, the co-integration method is used to test the relationship between energy consumption and its influencing factors such as GDP, energy prices, population and R&D expenditures. The results show that there is a long-term relationship between the variables. Based on this, we estimate energy demand and predict the energy-saving potential for the industry under different scenarios. We apply the Monte Carlo simulation method to verify the reliability of the prediction. Scenario analysis is adopted to predict energy demand and energy saving in the industry under different scenarios. Finally, we propose some policy suggestions on energy saving based on the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: At present, the global energy consumption of transport sectors is about one third of the total energy consumption of the world, such a proportion in China accounts for about 20%. Over the past decades, with the continuous development of China's economy, China's energy consumption increases rapidly, China became the world's biggest energy consumer in the year of 2009. Meanwhile, China's transport energy consumption grows greatly, and the proportion of the transport terminal energy consumption is expanding considerably. Recently, a number of theoretical methods and technical schemes focusing on China's transport energy consumption and saving were reported. In this paper, by reviewing the existing reports, we discuss and analyze the current status of China's transport energy consumption including four different transport sectors: road, railway, waterway and civil aviation, and outline the trend of China's transport energy consumption and the four sectors. In addition, the technology status of China's energy saving in road, railway and waterway transport as well as civil aviation and their development direction are also presented. Here by analyzing the major development barriers of the technology and policy of China's transport energy saving, some related policy suggestions are proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Economic growth in China needs lots of energy to support, but how to obtain a sufficient energy supply is now a problem. Meanwhile, environmental pollution caused by energy consumption is a problem that urgently needs to be solved. In order to adapt China’s fast developing economy, and on the basis of current policies, paying more attention to energy saving and environmental protection is more important. Therefore, to reasonably analyze China’s regional environmental efficiency and its determinants has practical significance. This article uses the Super-SBM model under undesirable outputs to measure regional environmental efficiency in China, and then explores influential factors of China’s environmental efficiency between 1991–2001 by means of the Tobit regression model. The empirical results show that during the sample period, the overall average level of China’s environmental efficiency is low, and the gap between different provinces and areas is large. The eastern area’s efficiency is obviously superior to the central and western area, which shows the necessity at present to optimize regional integration and promote innovation of energy conservation and emission reduction technology. At the same time, the “Eleven-Five ” year plan clearly states the energy saving and consumption reducing index, which motivates a great increase in China’s overall environmental efficiency, and promotes the fast development of resource conservation and environmentally friendly societal construction. The analysis of the influence factors by the Tobit model shows that fiscal decentralization and technology progress can increase environmental efficiency on the whole while economic scale and regional difference can also influence the efficiency. However, these factors’ influence is not the same in different areas. Finally, based on the research results, this paper gives policy recommendations on reducing pollution emissions and increasing China’s environmental efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper employs a spatial dynamic panel model to forecast China's energy consumption in 2011–2020. We find that energy consumption would continue to increase at least till 2020, with annual growth rates of 10% in 2011–2015 and 6% in 2016–2020. A higher proportion of service sectors in the economy and technological progress reduce energy demand. However, the latter appears to have dwindled impact since 2001. Strong spatial dependence implies copying behaviour in energy consumption across regions. Therefore, more efficient energy control at the disaggregated level can have multiplied impact on the country's goal in energy saving and carbon emission reducing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Analyses and forecasts of carbon emissions, energy consumption and real outputs are key requirements for clean energy economy and climate change in rapid growth market such as China. This paper employs the nonlinear grey Bernoulli model (NGBM) to predict these three indicators and proposes a numerical iterative method to optimize the parameter of NGBM. The forecasting ability of NGBM with optimal parameter model, namely NGBM−OP has remarkably improved, compared to the GM and ARIMA. The MAPEs of NGBM−OP for out-of-sample (2004–2009) are ranging from 1.10 to 6.26. The prediction results show that China’s compound annual emissions, energy consumption and real GDP growth is set to 4.47%, −0.06% and 6.67%, respectively between 2011 and 2020. The co-integration results show that the long-run equilibrium relationship exists among these three indicators and emissions appear to be real output inelastic and energy consumption elastic. The estimated values cannot support an EKC hypothesis, and real output is significantly negative impact on emissions. In order to promote economic and environmental quality, the results suggest that China should adopt the dual strategy of increasing energy efficiency, reducing the loss in power transmission and distribution and stepping up energy conservation policies to reduce any unnecessary wastage of energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The negative effects of energy consumption and pollution have restrained the Chinese economy from further rapid growth. Therefore to clarify their relationship with economic growth can lay a solid foundation for the decision-making of energy conservation and pollution reduction and ensure the sustainable development of the Chinese economy. Using panel data on the 30 Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2008, this paper builds a 3E model of pollution, energy and production and conducts an empirical study on the interaction between pollutant emission, energy consumption and average GDP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper uses two methods LMDI and Laspeyres to analysis the influences the industrial structure has on energy consumption,including how much the three industries have contribution to energy intensity .The results we conclude are:1) Economy has a strong stimulating effect on energy consumption;2)The effect of improving energy efficiency by using science and technology is significant in Guangdong province, especially in the secondary industry; 3) The secondary industry plays a positive role in reducing energy intensity, and the advantages of the tertiary industry isn’t displayed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Based on the definition of carbon footprint and elements that affect it, a model was constructed for empirical research, using data of cities in Hunan Province from 2005 to 2009, to calculate the amount of carbon footprint and to analyze the relationships between carbon footprint and each of the elements, including population, level of economic development, industrial structure and energy structure. In addition, this paper also puts forward solutions to further low-carbon development of Hunan Province in the areas of low-carbon development mechanism energy structure low carbon life style and talent development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Due to the pressure of the global energy resources and the environment, the sustainable development of economy in China faces seriously challenge, the mode of economic growth has to be changed urgently. Nowadays, China is at a rapidly increasing stage of industrialization and urbanization which has the obvious characteristics of the heavy-duty industry. A lot of energy requirement have been brought because of the infrastructure construction and the upgrading people''s consumption level. This paper analyzed the characteristics of China''s economic transition stage, the current industrial energy-saving features, the obtained achievement and the existing problems. Then, a solution of industrial energy-saving has been put forward during China''s economic transformation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Along with high-speed economic development and increasing energy consumption, the Chinese Government faces a growing pressure to maintain the balance between energy supply and demand. In 2009, China has become both the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitting country in the world. In this case, the inappropriate energy consumption structure should be changed. As an alternative, a suitable infrastructure for the implementation of renewable energy may serve as a long-term sustainable solution. The perspective of a 100% renewable energy system has been analyzed and discussed in some countries previously. In this process, assessment of domestic renewable energy sources is the first step. Then appropriate methodologies are needed to perform energy system analyses involving the integration of more sustainable strategies. Denmark may serve as an example of how sustainable strategies can be implemented. The Danish system has demonstrated the possibility of converting into a 100% renewable energy system. This paper discusses the perspective of renewable energy in China firstly, and then analyses whether it is suitable to adopt similar methodologies applied in other countries as China approaches a renewable energy system. The conclusion is that China’s domestic renewable energy sources are abundant and show the possibility to cover future energy demand; the methodologies used to analyse a 100% renewable energy system are applicable in China. Therefore, proposing an analysis of a 100% renewable energy system in China is not unreasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]