Study on energy rebound effects of China’s industries

From the perspective of generalized technological progress, this study investigates the energy rebound effects on China’s domestic overall and the country’s various industries using 2005–2017 data. The results showed that the rebound effect of the domestic overall is driven mainly by the secondary sector. The domestic overall and high-energy-consuming industries decrease the rebound effects, whereas low-energy-consuming industries increase the rebound effects. As China’s industrial structure does not lean toward high-energy-consuming industries, this implies that the Industrial Restructuring Initiative that began in the Chinese government’s “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” has effectively slowed down the rebound effects of high-energy-consuming industries, and the feedback effect of self-reinforcement within the economic system was offset. The results also implied that energy efficiency policies should shift to low-energy-consuming industries; the rebound effects of the energy industries could be lessened, the energy efficiency of low-energy-consuming industries could be increased, and the industrial structure could be further optimized by implementing an appropriate pricing in electricity.