Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of electricity consumption on carbon intensity across Chinese manufacturing sectors

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research aims to study the effect on industrial carbon intensity by decomposing electricity consumption into electricity consumption volume and electric power intensity by using panel data of 27 China’s manufacturing sectors. An improved STIRPAT model is also developed by this article to identify the unexplored potential influencing factors. The research findings suggest that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between electricity consumption and carbon intensity and unidirectional causality from electricity consumption volume to carbon intensity. Regression results indicate that electricity consumption volume has a significantly negative effect on industrial carbon intensity for the full sample. However, due to the significantly positive influence that electric power intensity has on carbon intensity, we conclude that energy consumption and industrial economy failed to achieve the decoupling effect. The impacts of electricity consumption volume and electric power intensity have industrial heterogeneity. Electric power intensity impacts carbon intensity the most for resource intensive sectors. The effects of subgroups are further examined for sectors with high/low carbon emission volume and carbon intensity. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is conducive to reducing carbon intensity for sectors with high volume and sectors with high intensity. Industrialization level demonstrates a significantly positive effect on improving carbon intensity for sectors with low volume and sectors with low intensity. Finally, we put forward specific suggestions on the basis of these empirical findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ang BW, Goh T (2016) Carbon intensity of electricity in ASEAN: drivers, performance and outlook. Energy Policy 98(Supplement C):170–179

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ang BW, Su B (2016) Carbon emission intensity in electricity production: a global analysis. Energy Policy 94(Supplement C):56–63

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Atems B, Hotaling C (2018) The effect of renewable and nonrenewable electricity generation on economic growth. Energy Policy 112(Supplement C):111–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bah MM, Azam M (2017) Investigating the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth: evidence from South Africa. Renew Sust Energ Rev 80(Supplement C):531–537

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balsalobre-Lorente D et al (2018) How economic growth, renewable electricity and natural resources contribute to CO2 emissions? Energy Policy 113(Supplement C):356–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bélaïd F, Youssef M (2017) Environmental degradation, renewable and non-renewable electricity consumption, and economic growth: assessing the evidence from Algeria. Energy Policy 102(Supplement C):277–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castillo A, Linn J (2011) Incentives of carbon dioxide regulation for investment in low-carbon electricity technologies in Texas. Energy Policy 39(3):1831–1844

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman AJ, Itaoka K (2018) Energy transition to a future low-carbon energy society in Japan's liberalizing electricity market: precedents, policies and factors of successful transition. Renew Sust Energ Rev 81(Part 2):2019–2027

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen Y, Fang Z (2017) Industrial electricity consumption, human capital investment and economic growth in Chinese cities. Econ Model

  • Chen G et al (2013) Life cycle carbon emission flow analysis for electricity supply system: a case study of China. Energy Policy 61(Supplement C):1276–1284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng Z et al (2017) The emissions reduction effect and technical progress effect of environmental regulation policy tools. J Clean Prod 149:191–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng Z, Li L, Liu J (2018a) Industrial structure, technical progress and carbon intensity in China’s provinces. Renew Sust Energ Rev 81:2935–2946

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng Z et al (2018b) The spatial correlation and interaction between environmental regulation and foreign direct investment. J Regul Econ 54:124–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • China Energy Statistical Yearbook (2015) National Bureau of Statistics of China. China Statistics Press, Beijing, China, (In Chinese)

  • Costa-Campi MT, García-Quevedo J, Trujillo-Baute E (2018) Electricity regulation and economic growth. Energy Policy 113(Supplement C):232–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis J, Lynch MÁ, Zubiate L (2016) Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity: the influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation. Appl Energy 161(Supplement C):487–496

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daniels L, Coker P, Potter B (2016) Embodied carbon dioxide of network assets in a decarbonised electricity grid. Appl Energy 180(Supplement C):142–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Bella G, Grigoli F (2017) Power it up: strengthening the electricity sector to improve efficiency and support economic activity. Energy Econ 67(Supplement C):375–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietz T, Rosa EA (1994) Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence and technology. Hum Ecol Rev 1:277–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich PR, Holdren JP (1971) Impact of population growth. Science 171:1212–1217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fukushige M, Yamawaki H (2015) The relationship between an electricity supply ceiling and economic growth: an application of disequilibrium modeling to Taiwan. J Asian Econ 36(Supplement C):14–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furuoka F (2017) Renewable electricity consumption and economic development: new findings from the Baltic countries. Renew Sust Energ Rev 71(Supplement C):450–463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ge F et al (2017) The analysis of the underlying reasons of the inconsistent relationship between economic growth and the consumption of electricity in China – a case study of Anhui province. Energy 128(Supplement C):601–608

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelan A (2018) Economic and environmental impacts of electricity subsidy reform in Kuwait: a general equilibrium analysis. Energy Policy 112(Supplement C):381–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamdi H, Sbia R, Shahbaz M (2014) The nexus between electricity consumption and economic growth in Bahrain. Econ Model 38(Supplement C):227–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He Y, Fullerton TM, Walke AG (2017) Electricity consumption and metropolitan economic performance in Guangzhou: 1950–2013. Energy Econ 63(Supplement C):154–160

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) I.P.o.C.C., Climate change 2007: the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, England

    Google Scholar 

  • Iyke BN (2015) Electricity consumption and economic growth in Nigeria: a revisit of the energy-growth debate. Energy Econ 51(Supplement C):166–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kantar E et al (2016) Hierarchical structure of the countries based on electricity consumption and economic growth. Phys A: Stat Mech Appl 454(Supplement C):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karanfil F, Li Y (2015) Electricity consumption and economic growth: exploring panel-specific differences. Energy Policy 82(Supplement C):264–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim YS (2015) Electricity consumption and economic development: are countries converging to a common trend? Energy Econ 49(Supplement C):192–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyophilavong P et al (2017) A note on the electricity-growth nexus in Lao PDR. Renew Sust Energ Rev 77(Supplement C):1251–1260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenzen M et al (2016) Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia. Appl Energy 179(Supplement C):553–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li JF et al (2014) The economic impact of carbon pricing with regulated electricity prices in China—an application of a computable general equilibrium approach. Energy Policy 75(Supplement C):46–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liddle B, Sadorsky P (2017) How much does increasing non-fossil fuels in electricity generation reduce carbon dioxide emissions? Appl Energy 197(Supplement C):212–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin B, Liu C (2016) Why is electricity consumption inconsistent with economic growth in China? Energy Policy 88(Supplement C):310–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin J, He G, Yuan A (2016) Economic rebalancing and electricity demand in China. Electr J 29(3):48–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu C, Wang Y, Zhu R (2017a) Assessment of the economic potential of China’s onshore wind electricity. Resour Conserv Recycl 121(Supplement C):33–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D et al (2017b) Electricity consumption and economic growth nexus in Beijing: a causal analysis of quarterly sectoral data. Renew Sust Energ Rev

  • Liu N, Ma Z, Kang J (2017c) A regional analysis of carbon intensities of electricity generation in China. Energy Econ 67(Supplement C):268–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maksimović G et al (2017) Analyzing of economic growth based on electricity consumption from different sources. Phys A: Stat Mech Appl 484(Supplement C):37–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marques AC, Fuinhas JA, Neves SA (2018) Ordinary and special regimes of electricity generation in Spain: how they interact with economic activity. Renew Sust Energ Rev 81(Part 1):1226–1240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mezghani I, Haddad HB (2017) Energy consumption and economic growth: an empirical study of the electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia. Renew Sust Energ Rev 75(Supplement C):145–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moro A, Lonza L (2017) Electricity carbon intensity in European member states: impacts on GHG emissions of electric vehicles. Transp Res Part D: Transp Environ

  • Osman M, Gachino G, Hoque A (2016) Electricity consumption and economic growth in the GCC countries: panel data analysis. Energy Policy 98(Supplement C):318–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palm E, Nilsson LJ, Åhman M (2016) Electricity-based plastics and their potential demand for electricity and carbon dioxide. J Clean Prod 129(Supplement C):548–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng X, Tao X (2018) Decomposition of carbon intensity in electricity production: technological innovation and structural adjustment in China’s power sector. J Clean Prod 172(Supplement C):805–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polemis ML, Dagoumas AS (2013) The electricity consumption and economic growth nexus: evidence from Greece. Energy Policy 62(Supplement C):798–808

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salahuddin M, Gow J, Ozturk I (2015) Is the long-run relationship between economic growth, electricity consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and financial development in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries robust? Renew Sust Energ Rev 51(Supplement C):317–326

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Salahuddin M et al (2018) The effects of electricity consumption, economic growth, financial development and foreign direct investment on CO2 emissions in Kuwait. Renew Sust Energ Rev 81(Part 2):2002–2010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarwar S, Chen W, Waheed R (2017) Electricity consumption, oil price and economic growth: global perspective. Renew Sust Energ Rev 76(Supplement C):9–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sathre R, Gustavsson L, Truong NL (2017) Climate effects of electricity production fuelled by coal, forest slash and municipal solid waste with and without carbon capture. Energy 122(Supplement C):711–723

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz M et al (2017) Dynamics of electricity consumption, oil price and economic growth: global perspective. Energy Policy 108(Supplement C):256–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Q, Chen Y (2010) Status and outlook of China’s free-carbon electricity. Renew Sust Energ Rev 14(3):1014–1025

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J et al (2018) Investigating driving forces of aggregate carbon intensity of electricity generation in China. Energy Policy 113(Supplement C):249–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolfram P, Wiedmann T, Diesendorf M (2016) Carbon footprint scenarios for renewable electricity in Australia. J Clean Prod 124(Supplement C):236–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woo CK, Liu Y, Luo X, Shiu A, Zarnikau J (2017) Consumption effects of electricity decarbonization: evidence from California and the Pacific northwest. Electr J 30(10):44–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yi H (2015) Clean-energy policies and electricity sector carbon emissions in the U.S. states. Util Policy 34(Supplement C):19–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Xu K (2016) Impact of environmental regulation and technical progress on industrial carbon productivity: an approach based on proxy measure. Sustainability 8(819):1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang C et al (2017) On electricity consumption and economic growth in China. Renew Sust Energ Rev 76(Supplement C):353–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng M et al (2018) Economic and environmental benefits of coordinating dispatch among distributed electricity storage. Appl Energy 210(Supplement C):842–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work has been supported by the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Scientific Research and Cultivation Project for Young Teachers of Nanjing Audit University in 2019 (Grant No. 19QNPY007), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71573136), National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 17ZDA096), Annual Project of the National Social Science Fund (Grant No. 18BJL124), Scientific Research Projects of the Fifth Phase of “333 Project” in Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BRA2017460), and the “Blue Project” in Colleges and Universities of Jiangsu Province.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing, China

    Huan Zhang

Authors
  1. Huan Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huan Zhang.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, H. Effects of electricity consumption on carbon intensity across Chinese manufacturing sectors. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 27414–27434 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05955-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05955-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation