Few studies addressed the relationship between the energy efficiency cycle and the export-oriented economic growth style, and our work aimed to contribute this research in the literature using China's dataset during 1985–2018. Results of the autoregressive-distributed-lag model there were two cycles in China's energy efficiency, and the first ranged from 1989 to 2002 while the second was over the period 2003–2012. Meanwhile, the estimations suggested that a 1% export increase was linked to a 0.107% increase in energy efficiency in the long run. However, the export was significantly and negatively associated with the short-run fluctuation of energy efficiency. As a result, the statistical simulation confirmed that export would raise the fluctuation range of energy efficiency.
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