CO2 emissions of China's commercial and residential buildings: Evidence and reduction policy. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lin, Boqiang; Liu, Hongxun
• Is Part Of: Building and environment. Volume 92(2015)
• Page Start: 418
• Page End: 431
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Building energy consumption -- Building CO2 emissions -- Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index; Buildings -- Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Building -- Research -- Periodicals; Constructions -- Technique de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 696
• DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.05.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-1323

Abstract

Abstract: This paper provides an assessment of the potential of CO2 mitigation in buildings by conducting an empirical research on the determinants of building energy-related CO2 emissions. The building sector accounts for 30%–50% of CO2 emissions and thus has significant impacts on global warming. This paper fills the research gap by investigating the economic factors that determine energy-related CO2 emissions in China's commercial and residential buildings. Based on provincial data, a three-dimensional LMDI decomposition of building energy-related CO2 emissions into four components is proposed, and includes scale, income, intensity and structure effects. The results suggest that: (i) China's building energy-related CO2 emissions are increasing rapidly; (ii) The improvement in living standards is the leading driving force of the increases in emissions, but its importance diminishes due to energy efficiency improvement and transformation to low-carbon energy structure; (iii) The evolution of China's commercial building energy-related CO2 emissions shows the features of the environmental Kuznets curve; (iv) CO2 emissions would further increase in the developed eastern regions due to large-scale migration from rural to urban areas. Highlights: Electricity is the main source of CO2 emissions in China's building sector. Residents' income is a dominant factor of the increases in CO2 emissions. Energy efficiency improvement contributes the most to CO2 mitigation. Population migration results in an increase in CO2 emissions in the urban areas.