Spatial-temporal pattern evolution and driving factors of China's energy efficiency under low-carbon economy.

Improving energy efficiency and building a low-carbon economy are the important ways to resolve the current contradiction between economic growth and the environment in China. In this paper, we use the super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure model (super-efficiency SBM model) to measure the energy efficiency of 30 provinces in China, and then conduct Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) to analyze its spatial-temporal evolution. Moreover, we use the Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) to analyze the spatial-temporal heterogeneity of its driving factors. The results show that: (i) during the sample period, China's energy efficiency shows a rapidly upward trend, accompanied by the gradually strengthening spatial pattern of the "eastern>central>western"; (ii) the spatial pattern of the "southern>northern" exhibited by the annual growth rate of energy efficiency experienced a process of weakening first and then gradually strengthening; (iii) the influencing effects of market openness, relative energy price and industry structure on energy efficiency have no significant heterogeneity as a whole; (iv) the effects of environmental regulation intensity, the marketization level, the technical level, energy consumption structure and economic development level have significant spatial heterogeneity, and the effects of energy conservation and emission reduction policies has significant temporal heterogeneity. Unlabelled Image • Spatial-temporal evolutions of energy efficiency and its growth are depicted using EOF. • The driving factors of energy efficiency are investigated using GTWR. • The spatial pattern of the "eastern > central > western" is dynamically strengthening. • The energy efficiency growth rate shows "southern > northern" dynamic evolution. • The same factors have different effects in the spatial and temporal dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]