Relationship Analysis between Urbanization and Building Energy Consumption in China Based on a Structural Equation Model

Ma Xianrui, Wang Xia, Du Yongjie, Cai Weiguang

COMPUTER MODELLING & NEW TECHNOLOGIES 2014 18(12C) 994-1002

School of Construction Management and Real Estate Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, 400045

In this paper, a qualitative analysis is firstly conducted on the relationship between urbanization and building energy consumption from five perspectives which are: urbanization rate, floor space of newly built residential buildings in urban areas, value-added of the tertiary industry, annual per capita consumption of residents and new urban population. Based on the qualitative analysis, a structural equation model is built and quantitative analysis is carried out. The result confirms that there is a strong positive correlation between urbanization and building energy consumption, as well as, the correlation coefficient is gained. Lastly, some suggestions on building energy-saving are given accordingly with the results of the analysis.