Acta Geographica Sinica ›› 2011, Vol. 66 ›› Issue (10): 1403-1412.doi: 10.11821/xb201110010

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Understanding Electricity Consumption Changes in Chinese Mainland from 1995 to 2008 by Using DMSP/OLS Stable Nighttime Light Time Series Data

LI Tong1,2, HE Chunyang1,2, YANG Yang1,2, LIU Zhifeng1,2   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
    2. College of Resources Science & Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:2011-01-31 Revised:2011-07-12 Online:2011-10-20 Published:2011-10-20
  • Supported by:

    The National Basic Research Program of China, No.2010CB950901; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.40971059

Abstract: Electricity consumption (EC) is one of the basic indexes for the evaluation of electric power situation. Obtaining timely and accurate spatio-temporal changes of EC is significant for reasonable allocation of electric power resources. In this study, EC simulation model was developed by using the DMSP/OLS stable nighttime light time series data. The model was used to reconstruct the spatial patterns of EC in Chinese mainland at the county level from 1995 to 2008. In addition, the spatio-temporal changes of EC were analyzed. Some conclusions can be drawn as follows: (1) The electricity consumption simulation model was reliable to represent the spatio-temporal changes of EC in Chinese mainland with an about 70% accuracy. (2) The EC of most regions in Chinese mainland was at low to medium level with marked temporal and spatial variations, while 49.72% of the high level EC was concentrated in eastern China. The six urban agglomerations (Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region, Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou region, Pearl River Delta, Shandong Peninsula, middle-south of Liaoning Province and Sichuan Basin) accounted for 10.69% of the total area in Chinese mainland, and consumed 39.23% of electricity. (3) The EC of most regions in Chinese mainland increased from 1995 to 2008, and 64% of the regions showed a significant increase in EC. The EC of eastern and central China showed a medium-speed increase from 1995 to 2008, being 61.62% and 80.65%, respectively, while the EC of 75.69% of western China showed no significant increase. Specifically, the EC showed a high-speed increase in the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou region, Pearl River Delta, Shandong Peninsula, being 77.27%, 89.35% and 66.72%, respectively. The EC showed a medium-speed increase in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region (71.12%) and middle-south of Liaoning Province (72.13%), while 56.34% of Sichuan Basin showed no significant increase.

Key words: DMSP/OLS, electricity consumption, spatio-temporal changes, Chinese mainland