IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v29y2014icp11-21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Methane emissions of energy activities in China 1980–2007

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Bo
  • Chen, G.Q.
  • Li, J.S.
  • Tao, L.

Abstract

As the largest CH4 emitter, China produces CH4 at an increasing rate, especially from its energy activities. Presented in this paper is a detailed inventory and analysis of CH4 emissions from energy activities in China from 1980 to 2007 covering all the significant sources. The total energy-related CH4 emissions in China tripled during the period with an average annual increase rate of 4.7% and reached 21,943.1Gg in 2007, 2.4 times of that in USA. As the largest emission source, coal mining increased its share from 69.2% (4559.5Gg) in 1980 to 85.8% (18,825.5Gg) in 2007; The second biggest source was fuel combustion, mainly bio-fuel combustion (2370.3Gg in 2007); Oil and natural gas system leakage was a minor source but at a rapidly increasing rate. This transient emission structure is quite different from the steady structure of USA, which is dominated by the fugitive emissions from natural gas and oil systems. According to the lower IPCC Global Warming Potential, the annual energy-related CH4 emissions were equivalent to 9.1%–11.7% of China′s energy-related CO2 emissions, amounting to 548.6Mt CO2-eq in 2007 which is greater than the nationwide gross CO2 emissions in many developed countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Bo & Chen, G.Q. & Li, J.S. & Tao, L., 2014. "Methane emissions of energy activities in China 1980–2007," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 11-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:11-21
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403211300600X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.060?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. P. Bousquet & P. Ciais & J. B. Miller & E. J. Dlugokencky & D. A. Hauglustaine & C. Prigent & G. R. Van der Werf & P. Peylin & E.-G. Brunke & C. Carouge & R. L. Langenfelds & J. Lathière & F. Papa & M, 2006. "Contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources to atmospheric methane variability," Nature, Nature, vol. 443(7110), pages 439-443, September.
    2. Luo, Dongkun & Dai, Youjin, 2009. "Economic evaluation of coalbed methane production in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3883-3889, October.
    3. Chen, G.Q. & Chen, Z.M., 2011. "Greenhouse gas emissions and natural resources use by the world economy: Ecological input–output modeling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(14), pages 2362-2376.
    4. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2010. "China in the transition to a low-carbon economy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6638-6653, November.
    5. Ji, Xi & Chen, G.Q. & Chen, B. & Jiang, M.M., 2009. "Exergy-based assessment for waste gas emissions from Chinese transportation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2231-2240, June.
    6. Geng, Yuhuan & Tian, Mingzhong & Zhu, Qiuan & Zhang, Jianjun & Peng, Changhui, 2011. "Quantification of provincial-level carbon emissions from energy consumption in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 3658-3668.
    7. Yang, Ming, 2009. "Climate change and energy policies, coal and coalmine methane in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2858-2869, August.
    8. Zhang, Yan & Zhang, Jinyun & Yang, Zhifeng & Li, Shengsheng, 2011. "Regional differences in the factors that influence China’s energy-related carbon emissions, and potential mitigation strategies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7712-7718.
    9. Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2010. "Is it fair to treat China as a Christmas tree to hang everybody's complaints? Putting its own energy saving into perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 47-56, September.
    10. Lin, Boqiang & Sun, Chuanwang, 2010. "Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 613-621, January.
    11. Bhattacharya, S.C. & Abdul Salam, P. & Sharma, Mahen, 2000. "Emissions from biomass energy use in some selected Asian countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 169-188.
    12. Stern, David I. & Jotzo, Frank, 2010. "How ambitious are China and India's emissions intensity targets?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6776-6783, November.
    13. Bo Zhang & Suping Peng & Xiangyang Xu & Lijie Wang, 2011. "Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-19, November.
    14. Yi, Wen-Jing & Zou, Le-Le & Guo, Jie & Wang, Kai & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2011. "How can China reach its CO2 intensity reduction targets by 2020? A regional allocation based on equity and development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2407-2415, May.
    15. Gasparatos, Alexandros & El-Haram, Mohamed & Horner, Malcolm, 2009. "A longitudinal analysis of the UK transport sector, 1970-2010," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 623-632, February.
    16. Zhang, Lixiao & Yang, Zhifeng & Chen, Bin & Chen, Guoqian, 2009. "Rural energy in China: Pattern and policy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2813-2823.
    17. Hermann, Weston A., 2006. "Quantifying global exergy resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1685-1702.
    18. Weber, Christopher L. & Peters, Glen P. & Guan, Dabo & Hubacek, Klaus, 2008. "The contribution of Chinese exports to climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3572-3577, September.
    19. Yusuf, Rafiu O. & Noor, Zainura Z. & Abba, Ahmad H. & Hassan, Mohd Ariffin Abu & Din, Mohd Fadhil Mohd, 2012. "Methane emission by sectors: A comprehensive review of emission sources and mitigation methods," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(7), pages 5059-5070.
    20. Zhang, Bo & Chen, G.Q., 2010. "Physical sustainability assessment for the China society: Exergy-based systems account for resources use and environmental emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 1527-1545, August.
    21. Zhang, Bo & Chen, G.Q., 2010. "Methane emissions by Chinese economy: Inventory and embodiment analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4304-4316, August.
    22. Rong, Fang, 2010. "Understanding developing country stances on post-2012 climate change negotiations: Comparative analysis of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4582-4591, August.
    23. Zhang, Ming & Mu, Hailin & Ning, Yadong, 2009. "Accounting for energy-related CO2 emission in China, 1991-2006," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 767-773, March.
    24. Jiang, Bing & Sun, Zhenqing & Liu, Meiqin, 2010. "China's energy development strategy under the low-carbon economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4257-4264.
    25. Guo, Xiao-Dan & Zhu, Lei & Fan, Ying & Xie, Bai-Chen, 2011. "Evaluation of potential reductions in carbon emissions in Chinese provinces based on environmental DEA," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2352-2360, May.
    26. He, Jiankun & Deng, Jing & Su, Mingshan, 2010. "CO2 emission from China's energy sector and strategy for its control," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 4494-4498.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Changjian & Wang, Fei & Zhang, Xinlin & Yang, Yu & Su, Yongxian & Ye, Yuyao & Zhang, Hongou, 2017. "Examining the driving factors of energy related carbon emissions using the extended STIRPAT model based on IPAT identity in Xinjiang," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 51-61.
    2. Zhang, L.X. & Wang, C.B. & Bahaj, A.S., 2014. "Carbon emissions by rural energy in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 641-649.
    3. Yan, Huijie, 2015. "Provincial energy intensity in China: The role of urbanization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 635-650.
    4. Wang, Ke & Zhang, Jianjun & Cai, Bofeng & Yu, Shengmin, 2019. "Emission factors of fugitive methane from underground coal mines in China: Estimation and uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 273-282.
    5. Zhang, B. & Qiao, H. & Chen, Z.M. & Chen, B., 2016. "Growth in embodied energy transfers via China’s domestic trade: Evidence from multi-regional input–output analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1093-1105.
    6. Zhang, Bo & Yang, T.R. & Chen, B. & Sun, X.D., 2016. "China’s regional CH4 emissions: Characteristics, interregional transfer and mitigation policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1184-1195.
    7. Lu, Hongfang & Xu, FengYing & Liu, Hongxiao & Wang, Jun & Campbell, Daniel E. & Ren, Hai, 2019. "Emergy-based analysis of the energy security of China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 123-135.
    8. Yuan, Zhiyi & Ou, Xunmin & Peng, Tianduo & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2019. "Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of multi-pathways natural gas vehicles in china considering methane leakage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Chen, Yilin & Shen, Huizhong & Zhong, Qirui & Chen, Han & Huang, Tianbo & Liu, Junfeng & Cheng, Hefa & Zeng, Eddy Y. & Smith, Kirk R. & Tao, Shu, 2016. "Transition of household cookfuels in China from 2010 to 2012," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 800-809.
    10. Huang, Chen & Gu, Baihe & Chen, Yingchao & Tan, Xianchun & Feng, Lianyong, 2019. "Energy return on energy, carbon, and water investment in oil and gas resource extraction: Methods and applications to the Daqing and Shengli oilfields," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Zheng, Chong Wei & Li, Chong Yin, 2015. "Variation of the wave energy and significant wave height in the China Sea and adjacent waters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 381-387.
    12. Du, Mingxi & Peng, Changhui & Wang, Xiaoge & Chen, Huai & Wang, Meng & Zhu, Qiuan, 2017. "Quantification of methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills in China during the past decade," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 272-279.
    13. Wu, X.F. & Chen, G.Q., 2018. "Coal use embodied in globalized world economy: From source to sink through supply chain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 978-993.
    14. Li, Y.L. & Chen, B. & Chen, G.Q., 2020. "Carbon network embodied in international trade: Global structural evolution and its policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    15. Chen, G.Q. & Wu, X.F., 2017. "Energy overview for globalized world economy: Source, supply chain and sink," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 735-749.
    16. Sun, Zuo-Yu & Li, Guo-Xiu, 2015. "On reliability and flexibility of sustainable energy application route for vehicles in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 830-846.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Bo & Chen, G.Q., 2014. "Methane emissions in China 2007," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 886-902.
    2. Bo Zhang & Suping Peng & Xiangyang Xu & Lijie Wang, 2011. "Embodiment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Chinese Economy Based on Global Thermodynamic Potentials," Energies, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Zhang, L.X. & Wang, C.B. & Bahaj, A.S., 2014. "Carbon emissions by rural energy in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 641-649.
    4. Chen, G.Q. & Zhang, Bo, 2010. "Greenhouse gas emissions in China 2007: Inventory and input-output analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 6180-6193, October.
    5. Zhang, Bo & Chen, G.Q., 2010. "Methane emissions by Chinese economy: Inventory and embodiment analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4304-4316, August.
    6. Chen, G.Q. & Chen, Z.M., 2011. "Greenhouse gas emissions and natural resources use by the world economy: Ecological input–output modeling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(14), pages 2362-2376.
    7. Xia, X.H. & Chen, Y.B. & Li, J.S. & Tasawar, H. & Alsaedi, A. & Chen, G.Q., 2014. "Energy regulation in China: Objective selection, potential assessment and responsibility sharing by partial frontier analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 292-302.
    8. Chen, G.Q. & Yang, Q. & Zhao, Y.H. & Wang, Z.F., 2011. "Nonrenewable energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions of a 1.5Â MW solar power tower plant in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 1961-1967, May.
    9. Ni, Jinlan & Wei, Chu & Du, Limin, 2015. "Revealing the political decision toward Chinese carbon abatement: Based on equity and efficiency criteria," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 609-621.
    10. Su, Yongxian & Chen, Xiuzhi & Li, Yong & Liao, Jishan & Ye, Yuyao & Zhang, Hongou & Huang, Ningsheng & Kuang, Yaoqiu, 2014. "China׳s 19-year city-level carbon emissions of energy consumptions, driving forces and regionalized mitigation guidelines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 231-243.
    11. Li, Xue & Lin, Cong & Wang, Yang & Zhao, Lingying & Duan, Na & Wu, Xudong, 2015. "Analysis of rural household energy consumption and renewable energy systems in Zhangziying town of Beijing," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 318(C), pages 184-193.
    12. Lindner, Soeren & Liu, Zhu & Guan, Dabo & Geng, Yong & Li, Xin, 2013. "CO2 emissions from China’s power sector at the provincial level: Consumption versus production perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 164-172.
    13. Weidong Chen & Qing He, 2016. "Intersectoral burden sharing of CO 2 mitigation in China in 2020," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-14, January.
    14. Zhong, Zhangqi & Jiang, Lei & Zhou, Peng, 2018. "Transnational transfer of carbon emissions embodied in trade: Characteristics and determinants from a spatial perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 858-875.
    15. Zhang, Bo & Chen, Z.M. & Xia, X.H. & Xu, X.Y. & Chen, Y.B., 2013. "The impact of domestic trade on China's regional energy uses: A multi-regional input–output modeling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1169-1181.
    16. Lin, Boqiang & Ouyang, Xiaoling, 2014. "Analysis of energy-related CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions and reduction potential in the Chinese non-metallic mineral products industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 688-697.
    17. Chen, Z.M. & Chen, G.Q., 2011. "Embodied carbon dioxide emission at supra-national scale: A coalition analysis for G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2899-2909, May.
    18. Zhang, Youguo & Tang, Zhipeng, 2015. "Driving factors of carbon embodied in China's provincial exports," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 445-454.
    19. Su, Bin & Thomson, Elspeth, 2016. "China's carbon emissions embodied in (normal and processing) exports and their driving forces, 2006–2012," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 414-422.
    20. Ye, Bin & Jiang, JingJing & Li, Changsheng & Miao, Lixin & Tang, Jie, 2017. "Quantification and driving force analysis of provincial-level carbon emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 223-238.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:29:y:2014:i:c:p:11-21. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.