Abstract: Exploring status quo and trend of regional differences of energy efficiency in China is the prerequisite of realizing energy saving target of the Twelfth Five-Year Guideline. Based on the stochastic frontier border analysis framework, firstly, the energy efficiency of 29 provinces and autonomous regions from 1980 to 2010 are calculated. Then regional differences and influence factors of energy efficiency are analysed. Finally, by using panel unit root, stochastic convergence analysis of energy efficiency in China is given. Results show that regional differences of energy efficiency are relatively obvious and the trend is from expanding to downsizing significantly;Under the 1% significant level,when coal consumption proportion decreases by 1%,energy efficiency will increase by 0.335% and when title structure,energy price index and export dependence increase by 1%,energy efficiency will increase by 0.672%,0.166% and 0.166% respectively;eastern randomness convergence does not exist but the midwest appears club convergence under 10% significant level,however,the level of western randomness convergence is low. Therefore,formulating differential targets of energy consumption structure,title structure, energy price and export dependency and so on are beneficial to narrow the gap in energy efficiency between regions and improve the level of the convergence of eastern region and Midwest.

Key words: energy efficiency, regional difference, SFA, randomness convergence, panel unit root