Analysis of Econometric Relationship between Urbanization and Energy Consumption in China

This paper analyzed the econometric relationship between the urbanization and energy consumption from 1990 to 2010 in China with the co-integration theory and the error correction model. The results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between urbanization and the total energy consumption, which has an effect of short-term adjustment. Urbanization has different effects on the consumption of coal, natural gas and electricity. Besides, the improvement of the urbanization level can lead to the increase of energy consumption in the short term. However, the energy efficiency can be improved in the long term due to the readjustment of the industrial structure and the promotion of energy-saving technologies. Therefore, the establishment of resource-saving urbanization model will help to reduce energy consumption under the current condition.