Decoupling and decomposing analysis of construction industry's energy consumption in China

The construction industry is one of the key industries for driving energy conservation in China. Decoupling of the construction industry development from energy consumption has become the focus of the green economy. This study applied an elastic decoupling model to explore the decoupling status between energy consumption and output value in China's construction industry. Log-Mean Divisia Index was utilized to explain the factors influencing decoupling from the perspectives of labor, efficiency, and investment. Results indicate that weak decoupling is the main status during 2000-2015. This means Chinese construction industrial development is no longer occurring at the expense of faster energy consumption growth. The labor factor is the dominant factor in the appearance of the decoupling status, and its cumulative increase impact on energy productivity is 230%, followed by efficiency factors (135%). Investment factors fail to drive the construction industry to a decoupling development state in most years, but there have been improvements during the 12th Five-Year Plan.''