The Analysis of Different Regional Characteristics of Energy Intensity in China

Energy intensity of China is continuously dropping sharply. However, it is greatly different in different regions as a result of many factors. Although many researchers have longitudinally studied the reasons of energy intensity dropping based on time series data, few of them did a transverse analysis on the factors that lead the difference of energy intensity. Thus, it is difficult to clearly identify the factors. In this paper, we offer a transverse analysis for the characteristics of differences of interregional energy intensities. From a reduction to absurdity view, we present industrial structure as the significant factor in impacting the differences of interregional energy intensities, and study relationships of energy intensity and industrial structure based on correlation analysis, regression analysis, relation analysis of energy intensity and industrial structure´s gap, and cluster analysis. Our results show that each industry´s energy efficiency is the main reason that leads the differences of interregional energy intensities. Therefore, we suggest that improving energy efficiency is the most valuable strategy in dropping energy intensity in China.