Interprovincial transfer of embodied primary energy in China: A complex network approach

Cuixia Gao, Bin Su, Mei Sun, Xiaoling Zhang and Zhonghua Zhang

Applied Energy, 2018, vol. 215, issue C, 792-807

Abstract: The energy supply–demand security and climate change has continued to be problematic, making it significant and necessary to investigate embodied energy flow, particularly in a large and fast-growing developing country like China. One of the effective approaches is the energy/emissions embodied in bilateral trade (EEBT) aiming to locate the destination of energy bi-directionally to evaluate how energy flow between producer and consumer sectors. However, in addition to the flow of energy and resources, the topological structure and impact of underlying components from a system science perspective are equally important for policy-making. This study therefore constructs an energy embodied in trade network (EETN) model to track multi-layer primary energy flow by integrating the EEBT approach and complex network analysis. The embodied coal, oil, natural gas, and non-fossil fuels associated with China’s 30 provinces/municipalities are quantified at the provincial level. By the joint analysis of the network-oriented metrics, the EETN model elicits the possibility of understanding the heterogeneity distribution of different types of energy flow and the potential impact of province-specific policy interventions. We explain how resource endowment, economic growth, income inequality, cross-provincial industrial transfer, and infrastructures affect China’s provincial energy embodiments as well as the clustering features. Other findings and policy recommendations are also presented.

Keywords: Primary energy; EEBT; Complex network theory; Communities; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:215:y:2018:i:c:p:792-807

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.02.075

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