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This study conducts a "reality check" on the electricity production and electricity consumption trends in China, in the U.S. and in the Euro area and in the EU. Most of our analyses cover years 1961–2011. The data is based on the World Bank׳s database with supplementary IEA database (2013). In this article we perform various trend analyses, which are linked to electricity production and consumption developments. These regions are major players in global climate change and climate policy. Our trend analyses indicate in many ways that China is now a global trend-setter in climate change and climate policy. Upwards sloping trends were evident in the Chinese energy economy. However, U.S. and the EU are still very important players. Trend analyses of this article indicate that the structures of electricity production and energy mixes are changing. Our benchmarking studies indicate that the role of renewables is increasing in electricity production and the role of oil-based electricity production has drastically decreased. The "Golden age" of nuclear energy in electricity production seems to be over: at least, turning points can be found in trend developments. Empirical trade-off analyses of the study verified conventional research results about high linear correlation coefficients (regression models) between electricity production and GDP as well as between population and GPD in all regions. Correlation coefficients measure the strength of association between two variables. What was interesting is that our comparative analyses revealed some remarkable differences in linear regression equation coefficients. One of them was that the coefficient between population and electricity production is much lower in China than in the U.S. or in the EU. Second finding was that the coefficient of the regression model describing linear relationship between GDP and electricity production is highest in China in comparison to the other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During last century, worldwide environment degradation gets more and more serious, and achieving environmental sustainable development is desirable. As many environmental issues are directly or indirectly energy related, energy sustainable development is one of the most important prerequisites for environmental sustainable development. Renewable energy technologies and energy conservation are two solutions for energy sustainable development. At present, energy-saving technology is a feasible and an effective way to achieve energy and environmental sustainable development, although renewable energy may be final solution to environmental issues. Building cooling, heating, and power (BCHP) technology, which usually use natural gas as primary energy, has high efficiency of energy utilization due to the utilization of distributed power generation and heat recovery, and thus is a promising energy conservation technology. BCHP can reduce pollutants emission and thus protects the environment besides improving IAQ and increasing reliability of building energy supply. As the largest developing country, China is just in the process of adjusting energy structure and improving energy efficiency. Because of its significant role in energy and environmental sustainable development, developing BCHP in China will help the country in optimizing energy proportion, increasing energy efficiency, and protecting environment. Therefore, BCHP technology will have broad prospects in China and it will promote the country''s energy and environmental sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]