IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i9p2379-d1650353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Energy Consumption Based on the STIRPAT Model: A Case Study of the Western Regions of China

Author

Listed:
  • Yi Zhu

    (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China
    Department of Economic Management, CPC Guizhou Provincial Party School, Guiyang 550025, China)

  • Chao Feng

    (School of Economics and Management, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China)

  • Xieqihua Liu

    (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China)

  • Tao Zhang

    (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China)

  • Xi Wang

    (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China)

Abstract

Understanding the factors influencing energy consumption is crucial for sustainable development. This study quantitatively analyzes the factors influencing energy consumption in China’s western regions from 2000 to 2022, employing the STIRPAT model, cointegration analysis, and ridge regression. Focusing on population size, economic development, industrial structure, urbanization, and technological progress, the results reveal significant heterogeneity in their impacts. Urbanization exhibits the strongest positive effect, with a 1% increase leading to a 0.483% rise in energy consumption, followed by economic development and industrial structure. Population growth has a modest positive influence, while technological progress demonstrates a mitigating effect, reducing energy demand. The findings underscore the critical role of urbanization and industrial restructuring in shaping energy consumption patterns. Policy recommendations emphasize optimizing urban layouts, accelerating industrial upgrades, and promoting technological innovation to achieve sustainable energy development in the region. These insights provide a foundation for targeted policies to balance economic growth with energy efficiency in Western China.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Zhu & Chao Feng & Xieqihua Liu & Tao Zhang & Xi Wang, 2025. "An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Energy Consumption Based on the STIRPAT Model: A Case Study of the Western Regions of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-21, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:9:p:2379-:d:1650353
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2379/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/9/2379/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernández-Val, Iván & Weidner, Martin, 2016. "Individual and time effects in nonlinear panel models with large N, T," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 192(1), pages 291-312.
    2. Jones, Donald W., 1991. "How urbanization affects energy-use in developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 621-630, September.
    3. Popp, David C., 2001. "The effect of new technology on energy consumption," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 215-239, July.
    4. Muhammad Asif & Jian-Qiao Li & Muhammad Azam Zia & Muhammad Hashim & Uzair Aslam Bhatti & Mughair Aslam Bhatti & Ahmad Hasnain, 2024. "Environmental Sustainability in BRICS Economies: The Nexus of Technology Innovation, Economic Growth, Financial Development, and Renewable Energy Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-29, August.
    5. Henrik Jacobsen, 2000. "Energy Demand, Structural Change and Trade: A Decomposition Analysis of the Danish Manufacturing Industry," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 319-343.
    6. York, Richard & Rosa, Eugene A. & Dietz, Thomas, 2003. "STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 351-365, October.
    7. Fengting Zhang & Md Nazirul Islam Sarker & Yang Lv, 2022. "Coupling Coordination of the Regional Economy, Tourism Industry, and the Ecological Environment: Evidence from Western China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Zhang, Ming & Song, Yan & Li, Peng & Li, Huanan, 2016. "Study on affecting factors of residential energy consumption in urban and rural Jiangsu," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 330-337.
    9. Pengfei Sheng & Yaping He & Xiaohui Guo, 2017. "The impact of urbanization on energy consumption and efficiency," Energy & Environment, , vol. 28(7), pages 673-686, November.
    10. Kurniawan, Robi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2018. "Coal consumption, urbanization, and trade openness linkage in Indonesia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 576-583.
    11. Khazzoom J, Daniel, 1995. "An Econometric Model of the Regulated Emissions for Fuel-Efficient New Vehicles," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 190-204, March.
    12. Dhakal, Shobhakar, 2009. "Urban energy use and carbon emissions from cities in China and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4208-4219, November.
    13. Rahman, Mohammad Mafizur & Sultana, Nahid, 2022. "Impacts of institutional quality, economic growth, and exports on renewable energy: Emerging countries perspective," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 938-951.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Qiang & Lin, Jian & Zhou, Kan & Fan, Jie & Kwan, Mei-Po, 2020. "Does urbanization lead to less residential energy consumption? A comparative study of 136 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    2. Wang, Qiang & Wu, Shi-dai & Zeng, Yue-e & Wu, Bo-wei, 2016. "Exploring the relationship between urbanization, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions in different provinces of China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1563-1579.
    3. Xueting Jin & Yu Li & Dongqi Sun & Jinzhou Zhang & Ji Zheng, 2019. "Factors Controlling Urban and Rural Indirect Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Household Consumption: A Case Study in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Sheng, Pengfei & Guo, Xiaohui, 2018. "Energy consumption associated with urbanization in China: Efficient- and inefficient-use," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 118-125.
    5. Ahmed, Khalid, 2015. "The sheer scale of China’s urban renewal and CO2 emissions: Multiple structural breaks, long-run relationship and short-run dynamics," MPRA Paper 71035, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Cheng, Zhi & Lien, Fue-Sang & Yee, Eugene & Meng, Hang, 2022. "A unified framework for aeroacoustics simulation of wind turbines," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 299-319.
    7. Yan, Xiang & Xin, Boqing & Cheng, Changgao & Han, Zhiyong, 2024. "Unpacking energy consumption in China's urbanization: Industry development, population growth, and spatial expansion," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    8. Zhang, Hui & Zhou, Peng & Sun, Xiumei & Ni, Guanqun, 2024. "Disparities in energy efficiency and its determinants in Chinese cities: From the perspective of heterogeneity," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    9. Peter Marcotullio & Andrea Sarzynski & Jochen Albrecht & Niels Schulz & Jake Garcia, 2013. "The geography of global urban greenhouse gas emissions: an exploratory analysis," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 121(4), pages 621-634, December.
    10. Long, X. & Ji, Xi & Ulgiati, S., 2017. "Is urbanization eco-friendly? An energy and land use cross-country analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 387-396.
    11. Yao Qian & Lang Sun & Quanyi Qiu & Lina Tang & Xiaoqi Shang & Chengxiu Lu, 2020. "Analysis of CO 2 Drivers and Emissions Forecast in a Typical Industry-Oriented County: Changxing County, China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Fang, Wen Shwo & Miller, Stephen M. & Yeh, Chih-Chuan, 2012. "The effect of ESCOs on energy use," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 558-568.
    13. Niu, Honglei & Lekse, William, 2017. "Carbon emission effect of urbanization at regional level: Empirical evidence from China," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-62, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Feng Dong & Bolin Yu & Yifei Hua & Shuaiqing Zhang & Yue Wang, 2018. "A Comparative Analysis of Residential Energy Consumption in Urban and Rural China: Determinants and Regional Disparities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-19, November.
    15. Arshian Sharif, Syed Ali Raza, 2016. "Dynamic Relationship between Urbanization, Energy Consumption and Environmental Degradation in Pakistan: Evidence from Structure Break Testing," Journal of Management Sciences, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 3(1), pages 01-21, March.
    16. Wang, Shaojian & Li, Guangdong & Fang, Chuanglin, 2018. "Urbanization, economic growth, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions: Empirical evidence from countries with different income levels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2144-2159.
    17. Li, Ke & Lin, Boqiang, 2015. "Impacts of urbanization and industrialization on energy consumption/CO2 emissions: Does the level of development matter?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1107-1122.
    18. Vélez-Henao, Johan-Andrés & Font Vivanco, David & Hernández-Riveros, Jesús-Antonio, 2019. "Technological change and the rebound effect in the STIRPAT model: A critical view," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1372-1381.
    19. Bo Li & Xuejing Liu & Zhenhong Li, 2015. "Using the STIRPAT model to explore the factors driving regional CO 2 emissions: a case of Tianjin, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 76(3), pages 1667-1685, April.
    20. Phetkeo Poumanyvong & Shinji Kaneko & Shobhakar Dhakal, 2012. "Impacts of urbanization on national residential energy use and CO2 emissions: Evidence from low-, middle- and high-income countries," IDEC DP2 Series 2-5, Hiroshima University, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:9:p:2379-:d:1650353. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.