Decoupling and Decomposition Analysis of Residential Energy Consumption from Economic Growth during 2000–2017: A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Guangdong, China

Yong Yang,Junsong Jia,Adam T Devlin,Dongming Xie,Min Ju,Yangming Zhou

doi:10.3390/en13174461

Abstract

Residential energy consumption (REC) is now the second largest energy sector in China. However, decoupling analysis of REC has not received enough attention. Here, we explore the decoupling relationship between REC and economic growth in urban and rural Guangdong from 2000 to 2017. First, we use the Tapio decoupling model to study the decoupling state. Then, key drivers affecting the decoupling were explored by combining the Tapio decoupling model with the Log-mean Divisa Index (LMDI) method. Finally, the decoupling efforts were evaluated by using the decoupling efforts model. The main results are as follows: (1) The decoupling state in urban regions was better than that in rural regions. Urban regions experienced weak decoupling (WD) in most years during 2000–2017, while expansive negative decoupling (END) mostly was seen in rural regions. (2) The per capita income effect was the most important driver inhibiting decoupling in Guangdong urban and rural regions. The energy intensity effect was the biggest driver promoting decoupling in urban Guangdong, followed by the family size effect. In contrast, the family size effect exerted the dominant influence on accelerating the decoupling in rural Guangdong. Overall, the household effect inhibited decoupling in urban regions, but promoted decoupling in rural regions. (3) The decoupling efforts results suggest that the energy efficiency improvement played a major role in the decoupling efforts of urban Guangdong, while the decrease of family size in rural Guangdong was the leading contributor to the decoupling efforts.

Highlights

China has become the largest energy consumer in the world, leading to the environment coming under strain [1]
(3) The decoupling efforts results suggest that the energy efficiency improvement played a major role in the decoupling efforts of urban Guangdong, while the decrease of family size in rural Guangdong was the leading contributor to the decoupling efforts
According to Kaya [49], the residential energy consumption (REC) can be expressed as the extended identity: E=

Summary

Introduction

China has become the largest energy consumer in the world, leading to the environment coming under strain [1]. As the largest developing country, China is still in the middle stages of industrialization and urbanization [2]. Its economic development is difficult to realize without energy. Residential energy consumption (REC) is the second largest energy consuming sector in. China, accounting for around 12% of the total energy consumption in 2015 [4,5]. The average share of REC to the total energy consumption is about 31% in the world [6]. With further development of urbanization and industrialization expected, China’s REC is likely to increase in the future [7,8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion