Decomposition the driving force of regional electricity consumption in Japan from 2001 to 2015

Abstract

Investigating electricity consumption is vital for identifying the driving forces for national onsite energy use and pathways for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, before any electricity conservation measures are implemented, a well understanding of the driving forces behind sectoral electricity consumption variation are of great importance. Therefore, this research constructed an assessment framework on how electricity consumption reflects and responds to social and natural events, and how far the Japanese electricity consumption decouples economic development by estimating the changes in electricity consumption in Japan from 2001 to 2015. The results revealed that electricity consumption intensity and economic activity effect were both dominant but obtained opposite impacts in terms of electricity consumption changes. Moreover, differences in driving forces that caused spatial variance for regional changes in electricity consumption were found during the economic recession and recovery periods. The decoupling status showed that the decoupling degree in Japan changed from an extensive negative decoupling state to a weak decoupling state during the study periods. Subsequently, the results also shed light on how to mitigate regional electricity consumption stress sustainably.