Abstract
Cities are regarded as the main areas for conducting strategies for energy sustainability and climate adaptation, specifically in the world’s top energy consumer—China. To uncover dynamic features and main drivers for the city-level energy consumption, a comprehensive and systematic city-level total energy consumption accounting approach was established and applied in China’s megacity, which has the highest industrial electricity consumption. Compared with previous studies, this study systematically analyzes drivers for energy consumption based on industrial and residential perspectives. Additionally, this study analyzes not only the mechanisms by which population size, economic growth, and energy intensity affect energy consumption but also the effects of population and industry structural factors. According to the extended Logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, the main conclusions drawn from this research are as follows: (1) The total energy consumption of Suzhou presented an overall increasing trend, with 2006–2012 as a rapid growth stage and 2013–2016 as a moderate growth stage. (2) The energy consumption structure was mainly dominated by coal, which was followed by outsourced electricity and natural gas. (3) Scale-related factors have dominated changes in energy consumption, and structural and technological factors have had profound effects on energy consumption in different development periods. (4) Population size and economic output were the main drivers for increments in industrial energy consumption, whereas energy intensity and economic structure performed the important curbing effects. The income effect of urban residents was the biggest driver behind the increase in residential energy consumption, whereas energy intensity was the main limiter. These findings provide a scientific basis for an in-depth understanding of the determinants of the evolution of urban energy consumption in China’s megacity, including similar cities or urban areas in the developing world.
Highlights
As public resources for human survival and social and economic development, energy resources are basic material resources for modern societies and are the most powerful engine for regional economic development [1,2]
Since the Industrial Revolution, the acquisition of affordable, stable, and clean energy supplies has become the cornerstone of economic growth and social prosperity worldwide [3]
In the “13th Five-year Plan” (2016–2020), the energy consumption per unit gross domestic product (GDP) is proposed to be reduced by 15%, and the proportion of non-fossil energy shall account for 15% of primary energy consumption by 2020
Summary
As public resources for human survival and social and economic development, energy resources are basic material resources for modern societies and are the most powerful engine for regional economic development [1,2]. Since the Industrial Revolution, the acquisition of affordable, stable, and clean energy supplies has become the cornerstone of economic growth and social prosperity worldwide [3]. Since the reforms and opening-up of China’s economy, the rapid process of industrialization and urbanization has made the country’s total energy production and consumption grow rapidly [4,5]. As of 2016, the total global primary energy consumption had reached 13.276 billion tons of oil equivalent, and 23% of which was consumed by China [6]. The rapid economic growth and energy consumption in China have increased the pressure to guarantee its energy supply and security, which has brought a series of problems in the fields of ecology and the environment [7,8].
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