| Author: | Zheng, Saina |
| Title: | Exploring network features, spatial disparity, and technology efficiency of energy services through performance contracting in China |
| Advisors: | Hsu, Shu-chien (CEE) Chan, P. C. Albert (BRE) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2020 |
| Subject: | Energy industries -- China Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Pages: | xvi, 223 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Energy conservation is key to climate change mitigation and sustainable development. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) has been increasingly employed to promote energy conservation toward sustainable development and low-carbon society. The EPC mode shared between energy conservation company (ESCO) and client, enables client to finance energy efficiency retrofit projects without paying the upfront capital. ESCO industry witnesses a rapid growth and make significant contributions to energy conservation, especially in China. However, Lack of characterization for intra- and inter-province trade paths from energy service providers to clients across multiple sectors limit our understanding of the energy service company (ESCO) industry's management behavior, investment decisions and market planning. This dissertation characterizes such energy conservation services in China based on a nationwide survey on ESCO projects. The primary aim was to characterize the energy conservation services in difference provinces from the perspective of supply side and demand side and explore the driving factors for ESCO industry. Energy service company (ESCO) industry was first characterized with Circos visualization to give a full vision of the industry patterns. It is revealed that the ESCO activity patterns across China in terms of trade volume and energy savings. Network analysis was further adopted to identify the main contributors and transfer hubs. The inequality of ESCO industry was then verified throughout China, with the highest value in North China. In terms of investment amount and energy savings, 29 energy conservation measures were discussed with a conclusion that residual heat, pressure and recovery and boiler and furnace system upgrade or retrofit were the most popular energy conservation measures. To explore the driving forces which lead to the spatial patterns and differences between provinces in ESCO industry, regression was utilized. The driving forces include policies, geographical difference, energy conservation measures and corporate characteristics. Mean country-level energy conservation seems driven by national regulations and policies, we observe significant variance driven by provincial guidelines in response to their initial energy intensities. Regarding the geographical difference, spatial autocorrelation was explored and proved to exist. With the assistance of spatial regression model, the relationship between provincial population, provincial per capita gross domestic production, energy intensity, consumption of coal, research and development input, energy industry investment, industrial value added, and spatial patterns were also explored. From the perspective of energy conservation measures, energy efficiency was investigated utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis in six regions in China. Reconstruction of industrial boiler furnaces is the most energy-efficient measure in the manufacturing sector, while energy management systems are the most efficient measure in the building sector. The variation in the statuses of economic development and the climate conditions of the six areas of China are the major factors for the differences in efficiency. Finally, the effect of ESCO characteristics on the ESCO performance are discussed. Institutional Theory and Natural-resource-based View were adopted to select the external and internal variables which can be used to develop a model for corporate environmental performance prediction. SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) value was then utilized to interpret the model, and disclose the relationship between the aforementioned variables and corporate environmental performance. Total assets, amount of proactive environmental costs, proportion of technicians and number of patents contribute most to corporate environmental performance. This dissertation has significant value of contributing to the energy conservation in energy service industry by examining the spatial disparity, trade network and environmental performance at the industrial and company levels. This dissertation is the first attempt to provide a full vision of inter-connected ESCO trade routes, networks, spatial patterns and energy efficiency throughout the country and their complexity across multiple sectors with a detailed census data of more than 3000 ESCO projects. The research findings and implications in this study provide a solid reference for future studies in energy service industry. Based on the findings, a series of policy suggestions were proposed from national and regional level, sectoral level, and ESCO level. Local circumstances and energy conservation measures features should be considered when promoting the ESCO industry. It is essential to enhance the subnational policy support. The ESCO industry concentration needs to be shifted from industrial sector to building sector. This dissertation also provides guidance for ESCO to make investment strategies. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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