Factors Influencing Energy Intensity in Four Chinese Industries
Energy intensity has declined significantly in four Chinese industries -- pulp and paper; cement; iron and steel; and aluminum. While previous studies have identified technological change within an industry to be an important influence on energy in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/07/18055822/factors-influencing-energy-intensity-four-chinese-industries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15912 |
| Summary: | Energy intensity has declined
significantly in four Chinese industries -- pulp and paper;
cement; iron and steel; and aluminum. While previous studies
have identified technological change within an industry to
be an important influence on energy intensity, few have
examined how industry-specific policies and market factors
also affect industry-level intensity. This paper employs
unique firm-level data from China's most
energy-intensive large and medium-size industrial
enterprises in each of these four industries over a six-year
period from 1999 to 2004. It empirically examines how
China's energy-saving programs, liberalization of
domestic markets, openness to the world economy, and other
policies, contribute to the decline in energy intensity in
these industries. The results suggest that rising energy
costs are a significant contributor to the decline in energy
intensity in all four industries. China's industrial
policies targeting scale economies -- for example,
"grasping the large, letting go off the small" --
also seem to have contributed to reductions in energy
intensity in these four industries. However, the results
also suggest that trade openness and technology development
led to declines in energy intensity in only one or two of
these industries. Finally, the analysis finds that energy
intensities vary among firms with different ownership types
and regional locations. |
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