Study on the Impact of Energy Poverty on Energy Efficiency of Construction Industry: Mediating Role of Energy Consumption Structure

In the process of continuously advancing urbanization, the energy efficiency of the construction industry, as a pillar industry of the national economy, has also attracted much attention. The imbalance of regional economic development, the difference of regional resource endowment and the incomplete energy infrastructure in some areas lead to the prominent problem of energy poverty in China. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and cities from 2008 to 2017, this paper calculates the energy poverty index and the energy efficiency of the construction industry. Using OLS, Tobit, Probit and other estimation methods, this paper analyzes the internal relationship between energy poverty and the energy efficiency of the construction industry, the mediating role of energy consumption structure, and the moderating effect of technological level and marketization degree. The results show that: (1) There is a negative correlation between energy poverty and energy efficiency of construction industry. (2) The energy consumption structure plays a partial mediating role in the impact of energy poverty on the energy efficiency of the construction industry, that is, energy poverty inhibits the optimization of the energy consumption structure, and through this process inhibits the improvement of the energy efficiency of the construction industry. (3) The technological level and the degree of marketization play a moderating role in the main effect, which can weaken and strengthen the negative impact of energy poverty on the energy efficiency of the construction industry.