Analysis of the relationship between urbanisation and energy consumption in China

Abstract

Energy consumption increases with urbanisation. This paper developed evaluation indicators and calculations for energy consumption changes, and advances a new indicator, Energy Consumption Unit Geometric Average (ECUGA) elasticity coefficient and its calculation. The ECUGA elasticity coefficient can explore energy consumption changes and make comparisons among countries at different urbanisation stages. The general trend of energy consumption changes is summarised at different urbanisation stages based on values for 45 countries. For China, the ECUGA elasticity coefficient first increases and then decreases, with the peak of urbanisation at 40% to 50%. China's ECUGA elasticity coefficient for 1978–2005 and 2010–2050 differed from the general trend, with a decrease until urbanisation reached 40%, followed by a rapid increase at 40% to 50%, and then a decrease from 50% to 80%. Although the increase and decrease of China's ECUGA elasticity coefficient is faster than in other countries, the values are always lower than the average for these countries at corresponding urbanisation stages.