The effect of renewable energy development on China's energy intensity: Evidence from partially linear functional-coefficient panel data analyses

Reducing energy intensity helps limit energy consumption and mitigate climate change. Renewable energy (RE) development has meaningful implications for energy intensity improvement. This study analyzes the heterogeneous effects of RE development on energy intensity at different economic development levels. It applies a partially linear functional-coefficient model on panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2018. The study's findings show that RE development promotes energy intensity growth when the per capita GDP (PGDP) is less than 41.3 thousand yuan. However, the marginal effect of RE development is not significant when PGDP lies between 41.3 and 56.5 thousand yuan. At higher levels of PGDP, RE development has a significant and negative impact on energy intensity, and its marginal effect increases with economic development. These results suggest that while expanding the deployment of RE, policymakers should address the declining share of the secondary industry and the substitution of coal consumption with RE.

Automated summary

This study analyzes the heterogeneous effects of renewable energy (RE) development on energy intensity at different economic development levels. The findings suggest that RE development promotes energy intensity growth when the per capita GDP is low, but its effect becomes insignificant at moderate GDP levels. However, at higher GDP levels, RE development has a significant and negative impact on energy intensity.