آیا مصرف انرژی در میان استان های چین پایدار است؟  Is energy utilization among Chinese provinces sustainable?

1. Introduction China’s economic momentum has spiked aggressively in recent years, and the country continues to play a major role in the process of economic globalization. Following such rapid development, environmental damage has become a severe problem and the availability of natural resources has sharply declined. The Chinese Government has increased investment in energy infrastructure construction and pushed for new technologies to supply power more effectively. Energy resources are materials and natural processes that have the ability to provide widespread power under present socioeconomic conditions. Coal and petroleum are two relevant modern energy resources. Although production efficiency has greatly improved since the Industrial Revolution, the main resources for developing machine production, such as iron ore, coal and petroleum, are still in short supply. Due to its energy-intensive economy, China has the highest national annual energy consumption (Statistical Review of World Energy, 2015). From 2012 to 2013, China’s annual energy consumption increased by 15.4%, to 3.75 billion tons of standard coal equivalent (TCE), of which coal, oil and natural gas accounted for 68%, 19% and 4.4%, respectively (China Statistical Yearbook, 2015). In 2012, China’s energy consumption per 10,000 Yuan GDP was 0.76 TCE, a 6% decrease compared with 2010. This is a result of China recently advocating the development of renewable and clean energy while decreasing the use of nonrenewable energy. It is important to note that many people continue to use less efficient energy sources, such as coal and oil, both of which provide little energy for pollution they create. Despite this, alternative energies with high efficiency and low environmental impact are also becoming more prevalent, including geothermal and hydropower systems, nuclear power, wind power and natural gas. China’s rapid economic growth and associated high energyconsumption in both imply huge social costs, including water pollution, health and safety problems, poor air quality, and resource shortages on both local and global scales (He et al., 2002). For example, Song et al. (2015a) demonstrated that the economic scale effect significantly explained the increased carbon emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region. Among 500 developed cities in China, fewer than five achieve the World Health Organization standards for air quality. China contains some of the most polluted places in the world. The main reason for these problems is the emission of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and smoke from heavy chemical industries, coal plants and the overexploitation of natural resources.