Energy Consumption and Energy Efficiency of the Transportation Sector in Shanghai

This article investigates changes in the transportation sector in Shanghai between 2000 and 2010 and the implications of this on transportation energy consumption and energy efficiency. The results show that from 2000 to 2010: (1) the traffic energy consumption increased from 597.96 million tons of carbon to 2070.22 million tons of carbon, with an average annual growth rate of 13.49%, and oil met 94.49% of this energy demand by 2010; (2) among present transportation modes, waterway transportation accounts for over 50% of the energy consumption within the transportation sector (on the dominant transportation modes for Shanghai residents, private car use accounted for the largest proportion of energy consumption, whereas rail transportation accounted for the smallest proportion of energy consumption); (3) the energy consumption per unit conversion traffic volume had an upward trend, whereas the energy consumption per unit output value showed a declining trend. Across the study period, the energy consumption elasticity coefficient is 0.94 on average, indicating that the change rate of energy consumption has lagged behind that of economic growth. Correspondingly, some recommendations for energy policy were presented.