Spatial-temporal Variation And Its Impact Mechanism Of Energy Efficiency In Economic Transition Of Shandong Province

With the advance of the process of industrialization of the world, large quantitiesof coal, oil and other fossil fuels which were non-renewable resources can not meetthe sustainable economic and social development needs were consumed. Meanwhile,the development and use of new energy were not mature enough and can not supportthe world economic operation. Therefore, the global economy was facing energyconstraints. Moreover, there were threats of global warming caused by greenhouse gasemissions. So, how to improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil energyconsumption were received more and more attention.As a country with large population and relative scarce resources, China hasexperienced rapid and extensive economic growth in the early industrialization alongwith large energy consumption and serious environmental pollution. The situation andeconomic development in Shandong Province can be described as a microcosm ofChina. The secondary industry with high energy consumption and high pollutioncontributed mostly to the economy. The economy was in rapid expansion whileenergy consumption was huge and pollutant emissions were much higher than theregional environmental carrying capacity. As a result, it was difficult to reconcile thecontradiction between economic development and environmental protection.Therefore, to seize the current energy efficiency status, explore the impact of theunderlying mechanism, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption inShandong Province as soon as possible were of big importance in order to achievesustainable economic and social development. Consequently, the subject of this studyhas been put forward.On the base of combing past research, related concepts and methods at home andabroad, the characteristics of economic growth and energy consumption in ShandongProvince were analyzed firstly in this paper. There were problems such as highdependence on foreign energy, extensive economic growth, overlarge energyconsumption and coal-dominated energy structure which is not efficient and causesserious pollution. Secondly, the spatial and temporal variation characteristics ofenergy efficiency were analyzed in Shandong Province utilizing energy intensityindicated by energy consumption of per unit GDP and total factor energy efficiency based on data envelopment analysis. The conclusion was energy efficiency isrelatively low and regional differences are significant in Shandong Province. Thirdly,the impact mechanism of spatial and temporal variation of energy efficiency inShandong Province was explored. By regression analysis, the time series values ofenergy efficiency and its influencing factors were used to determine the contributionof each factor. And On this basis, a qualitative analysis of causes of regionaldistribution differences in17 cities was made.The result showed that the openness,industrial structure, technological innovation, energy prices had combined effect onenergy efficiency in the economic restructuring development process in ShandongProvince. Finally, according to the findings above, suggestions to improve the energyefficiency of Shandong Province were put forward which contained changingeconomic development mode and adjusting the industrial structure, integrating intothe globalization and improving the quality of foreign trade, increasing researchinvestment and enhancing technological innovation and deepening the reform ofenergy prices and adjusting energy structure. Also, specific operational measures wereproposed to different regions.