Empirical Analysis of Changes in China's Industrial Sector Energy Consumption Intensity and Influential Factors

Industry consumes the most energy in China,and is responsible for changes in national energy demand.This highlights the importance of industrial energy efficiency.Since 2001,production in high energy-consuming sectors such as steel and cement has expanded rapidly,causing industrial energy consumption intensity to rise rather than decline.Due to large differences in production methods and energy consumption among different industrial sectors,energy efficiency and mechanisms of change also vary.This paper considers the factors that impact industrial energy consumption intensity,and whether there are major differences in energy consumption intensity among industrial sectors with different production features and techniques.Research on this topic is helpful for understanding the characteristics of industrial energy consumption intensity and creating effective policies on energy conservation.Using panel data on China's 29 industrial sectors,this paper empirically analyzes changes in industrial energy consumption intensity and influential factors from the industrial sector.The factors impacting energy consumption intensity include not only technological progress and energy prices,but also export trade composition of high energy-consuming products,enterprise ownership structure and energy substitution.The results show that increased science and technology expenditure contributes to a rise in energy efficiency for high energy-consuming sectors.There is great potential for energy-saving in these sectors through the development and utilization of energy-saving technologies.Changes in enterprise ownership structure have significant influence on energy consumption intensity.With shifts in international industry,changes in export trade composition boost domestic high energy-consuming sectors and increase China's industrial energy consumption.This causes a depletion of China's energy resources,and a decline in China's average industrial energy efficiency.Increases in relative energy price contribute to a significant decline in energy consumption intensity.With a rise in the proportion of electricity and oil consumption in total energy consumption,industrial energy consumption intensity declines,especially for high energy-consuming sectors.Different energy-saving policies should be customized for different industrial sectors.For high energy-consuming sectors,science and technology expenditures should be increased,as well as the elimination of less advanced production processes,and investment structure should be adjusted towards increased investment in energy-saving measures.For the mid-level energy-consuming sectors such as textile industries,the energy-consumption structure should be optimized,and advanced energy-saving technology and equipment should be widely used.It is also necessary to set up a reasonable energy pricing system which can reflect resource scarcity and environmental costs,and to establish different prices for electricity for high energy-consuming enterprises.By these means,energy efficiency of industrial sectors would be improved,and the target of energy-saving can be reached effectively.