Can the semi-urbanization of population promote or inhibit the improvement of energy efficiency in China?

Urbanization is an important factor affecting energy efficiency. However, the semi-urbanization of population has become an unavoidable problem in the process of urbanization in China. This article aims to investigate the impact of the semi-urbanization of population on energy efficiency and explore the changes in the relationship between urbanization and energy efficiency caused by the existence of a large-scale semi-urbanized population, by utilizing Stochastic Frontier Analysis on the provincial panel data of China during 2001-2017. The main findings can be yielded as follows. (1) The formation of the semi-urbanization of population in China is mainly caused by the household registration system and its consequences. (2) The nexus between the semi-urbanization of population and energy efficiency can be described as an inverted U-shaped curve. That is, maintaining a moderate number of the semiurbanized population can help improve energy efficiency, while the growth of the semi-urbanized population is playing a role in suppressing the improvement of energy efficiency. With the growth of the semi-urbanized population, the losses of energy efficiency and the waste of energy resources continue to increase. (3) The highly complete urbanization can promote the improvement of energy efficiency. However, the existence of large-scale semi-urbanized population inhibits the positive effect of urbanization on improving energy efficiency. (4) The growth of the semi-urbanized population can restrain the improvement of energy efficiency in both Eastern Region and Western Region, while the semi-urbanization of population has slightly improved the energy efficiency of Central Region. From the empirical results, it can be concluded that promoting the complete urbanization of the semi-urbanized population can help improve energy efficiency. Based on these findings, this article further explores the policy implications. (c) 2021 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This article investigates the impact of the semi-urbanization of population on energy efficiency in China, finding that maintaining a moderate number of semi-urbanized population can help improve energy efficiency, while the growth of semi-urbanized population suppresses its improvement. Complete urbanization can promote energy efficiency, but the presence of large-scale semi-urbanized population inhibits this positive effect.