Exploring the Changing Gap of Residential Energy Consumption per Capita in China and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis of Driving Forces

Hongguang Nie, Rene Kemp and Véronique Vasseur
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Hongguang Nie: School of Economics and Management, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun 130022, China
Véronique Vasseur: Maastricht Sustainability Institute, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: This paper brings out some remarkable differences between China as a developing country experiencing high economic growth and the Netherlands as a developed country by examining the driving forces behind the evolution of residential energy consumption per capita (RECpc) in the two countries in the period from 2001 to 2015. The components we analysed are income, energy-intensity, weather and energy-mix effects. The most remarkable result is the changing effect of energy intensity in China: during 2001–2007 energy intensity increased, and decreased afterward. The changes reflected changes in material circumstances: the shift to relative energy intensive goods and of saturation of energy demand for heating and cooling. In the Netherlands, the declining energy intensity, warmer winters and the more diversified energy mix decreased RECpc by 511.39, 58.81 and 1.08 kgce, respectively. Although the income growth both increased RECpc in the two countries, the relatively high-speed increasing income in China narrowed the RECpc gap between the two countries. This study implies that the opposite changes in RECpc in developing and developed countries are due to the different development stages reached by the countries. Policy suggestions are being offered to deal with the different circumstances, as revealed through this study.

Keywords: changing gap of residential energy consumption; energy intensity; weather effect; economic development stages; cross-country comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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