Does land market matter for urban energy efficiency? Empirical evidence from cities in China

Abstract

Improving urban energy efficiency on the basis of cost-effectiveness is an important topic of universal concern across the world. The input cost has great influence on energy efficiency. Thus, as one of the important factors in the production progress, land price may exert an energy effect via affecting the urban industries. With a focus on land price levels and the variability, our study investigates the impact of land market on urban energy efficiency, based on the panel data of China's prefecture-level cities. Further, by exploring effects of the segment land markets, our study reveals the exact price features in land market that have driven the changes in energy efficiency of cities. The main results are: (a) Either of the price level and the price variability in urban land market has a positive net effect on energy efficiency. When price level and variability increase by 1%, urban energy efficiency respectively increases by 0.06% and 0.04%, and the effects vary with city's population size and geographic location; (b) An increase of land price level improves energy efficiency by optimizing industrial structure and reduces energy efficiency by weakening industrial production efficiency, while an increase in land price variability exerts a positive impact on energy efficiency by adjusting industrial structure; (c) The price level factor affecting urban energy efficiency is mainly the commercial-residential land prices, while the difference between commercial-residential and industrial land prices is the variability factor that affects energy efficiency.