IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v10y2017i5p660-d98027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Energy Efficiency in China’s Transport Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Han Hao

    (State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Feiqi Liu

    (State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Zongwei Liu

    (State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Fuquan Zhao

    (State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract

Energy efficiency is one of the key factors affecting energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. By focusing on China’s transport sector, this study comprehensively reviews and compares the energy efficiency performance of passenger vehicles, light-duty commercial vehicles, commercial road transport, commercial water transport, aviation transport and railway transport, and identifies the opportunities for further energy efficiency improvements. It is found that railway transport exhibited the greatest improvement in energy efficiency during the past decade, which was mainly driven by progress in its electrification. Passenger vehicles have also experienced considerable energy efficiency improvements, which can be mainly attributed to the establishment of mandatory fuel consumption standards. In contrast, commercial road transport has shown the least improvement, due to insufficient policy implementations. Based on the analysis, it is recommended that, as China’s present policy framework to improve energy efficiency in the transport sector is generally effective, it should be consistently maintained and successively improved. Electrification represents a major opportunity for improvement of energy efficiency in the transport sector. Such potential should be fully tapped for all transport modes. Greater effort should be put into improving the energy efficiency of commercial road transport. The policy instruments utilized to improve the energy efficiency of heavy-duty vehicles should be as intensive and effective as the policy instruments for passenger vehicles.

Suggested Citation

  • Han Hao & Feiqi Liu & Zongwei Liu & Fuquan Zhao, 2017. "Measuring Energy Efficiency in China’s Transport Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:660-:d:98027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/5/660/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/5/660/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hao, Han & Geng, Yong & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2014. "Regional disparity of urban passenger transport associated GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions in China: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 783-793.
    2. Vincenzo Franzitta & Domenico Curto & Daniele Milone & Davide Rao, 2016. "Assessment of Renewable Sources for the Energy Consumption in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Hao, Han & Wang, Sinan & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan, 2016. "The impact of stepped fuel economy targets on automaker's light-weighting strategy: The China case," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 755-765.
    4. Steven Lugauer & Richard Jensen & Clayton Sadler, 2014. "An Estimate Of The Age Distribution'S Effect On Carbon Dioxide Emissions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(2), pages 914-929, April.
    5. Hao, Han & Geng, Yong & Hang, Wen, 2016. "GHG emissions from primary aluminum production in China: Regional disparity and policy implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 264-272.
    6. Hao, Han & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2011. "Comparison of policies on vehicle ownership and use between Beijing and Shanghai and their impacts on fuel consumption by passenger vehicles," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 1016-1021, February.
    7. Hao, Han & Geng, Yong & Sarkis, Joseph, 2016. "Carbon footprint of global passenger cars: Scenarios through 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 121-131.
    8. Hao, Han & Geng, Yong & Li, Weiqi & Guo, Bin, 2015. "Energy consumption and GHG emissions from China's freight transport sector: Scenarios through 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 94-101.
    9. Bert Van Wee & Pieter Janse & Robert Van Den Brink, 2004. "Comparing energy use and environmental performance of land transport modes," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 3-24, February.
    10. Liimatainen, Heikki & Pöllänen, Markus, 2013. "The impact of sectoral economic development on the energy efficiency and CO2 emissions of road freight transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 150-157.
    11. Hao, Han & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan & Li, Weiqi & Hang, Wen, 2015. "Scenario analysis of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from China's passenger vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 151-159.
    12. Charles Raux & Martin Lee-Gosselin, 2010. "Transport, energy and greenhouse gases: perspectives on demand limitation. Guest editorial," Post-Print halshs-01026479, HAL.
    13. Han Hao & Michael Wang & Yan Zhou & Hewu Wang & Minggao Ouyang, 2015. "Levelized costs of conventional and battery electric vehicles in china: Beijing experiences," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 1229-1246, October.
    14. Guo, Bin & Geng, Yong & Franke, Bernd & Hao, Han & Liu, Yaxuan & Chiu, Anthony, 2014. "Uncovering China’s transport CO2 emission patterns at the regional level," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 134-146.
    15. Patterson, Murray G, 1996. "What is energy efficiency? : Concepts, indicators and methodological issues," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 377-390, May.
    16. Hao, Han & Ou, Xunmin & Du, Jiuyu & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2014. "China’s electric vehicle subsidy scheme: Rationale and impacts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 722-732.
    17. Okafor, Izuchukwu Francis & Unachukwu, Godwin Ogechi & Odukwe, Anthony Okay, 2014. "Measuring energy efficiency of the public passenger road transport vehicles in Nigeria," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 319-325.
    18. Hao, Han & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2011. "Fuel conservation and GHG (Greenhouse gas) emissions mitigation scenarios for China’s passenger vehicle fleet," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 6520-6528.
    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. Feng, Xuesong & Tao, Zhibin & Shi, Ruolin, 2024. "The Spatiotemporal exploration of intercity transport energy efficiency in the mainland of China on the basis of improved stochastic frontier modelling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).

    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. Hao, Han & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan, 2017. "An overview of energy efficiency standards in China's transport sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 246-256.
    2. Hao, Han & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan & Li, Weiqi, 2016. "Natural gas as vehicle fuel in China: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 521-533.
    3. Hao, Han & Liu, Feiqi & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan, 2016. "Compression ignition of low-octane gasoline: Life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 391-398.
    4. Han Hao & Feiqi Liu & Xin Sun & Zongwei Liu & Fuquan Zhao, 2019. "Quantifying the Energy, Environmental, Economic, Resource Co-Benefits and Risks of GHG Emissions Abatement: The Case of Passenger Vehicles in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Luo, Xiao & Dong, Liang & Dou, Yi & Liang, Hanwei & Ren, Jingzheng & Fang, Kai, 2016. "Regional disparity analysis of Chinese freight transport CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2007: Driving forces and policy challenges," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 1-14.
    6. González Palencia, Juan C. & Araki, Mikiya & Shiga, Seiichi, 2016. "Energy, environmental and economic impact of mini-sized and zero-emission vehicle diffusion on a light-duty vehicle fleet," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 96-109.
    7. Hao, Han & Geng, Yong & Li, Weiqi & Guo, Bin, 2015. "Energy consumption and GHG emissions from China's freight transport sector: Scenarios through 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 94-101.
    8. Hao, Han & Liu, Zongwei & Zhao, Fuquan & Li, Weiqi & Hang, Wen, 2015. "Scenario analysis of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from China's passenger vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 151-159.
    9. Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin & Yuan, Zhiyi & Yan, Xiaoyu & Zhang, Xiliang, 2018. "Development and application of China provincial road transport energy demand and GHG emissions analysis model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 313-328.
    10. Diao, Qinghua & Sun, Wei & Yuan, Xinmei & Li, Lili & Zheng, Zhi, 2016. "Life-cycle private-cost-based competitiveness analysis of electric vehicles in China considering the intangible cost of traffic policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 567-578.
    11. Hao, Han & Ou, Xunmin & Du, Jiuyu & Wang, Hewu & Ouyang, Minggao, 2014. "China’s electric vehicle subsidy scheme: Rationale and impacts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 722-732.
    12. González Palencia, Juan C. & Otsuka, Yuki & Araki, Mikiya & Shiga, Seiichi, 2017. "Scenario analysis of lightweight and electric-drive vehicle market penetration in the long-term and impact on the light-duty vehicle fleet," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 1444-1462.
    13. Hualong Yang & Xuefei Ma & Yuwei Xing, 2017. "Trends in CO 2 Emissions from China-Oriented International Marine Transportation Activities and Policy Implications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Pan, Xunzhang & Wang, Hailin & Wang, Lining & Chen, Wenying, 2018. "Decarbonization of China's transportation sector: In light of national mitigation toward the Paris Agreement goals," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 853-864.
    15. Wang, Sinan & Zhao, Fuquan & Liu, Zongwei & Hao, Han, 2018. "Impacts of a super credit policy on electric vehicle penetration and compliance with China's Corporate Average Fuel Consumption regulation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 746-762.
    16. Gao, Zhihui & Zhang, Qi & Liu, Boyu & Liu, Jiangfeng & Wang, Ge & Ni, Ruiyan & Yang, Kexin, 2024. "The driving factors and mitigation strategy of CO2 emissions from China's passenger vehicle sector towards carbon neutrality," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    17. Wu, Tian & Shen, Qu & Xu, Ming & Peng, Tianduo & Ou, Xunmin, 2018. "Development and application of an energy use and CO2 emissions reduction evaluation model for China's online car hailing services," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 298-307.
    18. Li, Danyang & Chen, Wenying, 2019. "TIMES modeling of the large-scale popularization of electric vehicles under the worldwide prohibition of liquid vehicle sales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    19. Jialin Liu & Yi Zhu & Qun Zhang & Fangyan Cheng & Xi Hu & Xinhong Cui & Lang Zhang & Zhenglin Sun, 2020. "Transportation Carbon Emissions from a Perspective of Sustainable Development in Major Cities of Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    20. Liu, Junling & Yin, Mingjian & Xia-Hou, Qinrui & Wang, Ke & Zou, Ji, 2021. "Comparison of sectoral low-carbon transition pathways in China under the nationally determined contribution and 2 °C targets," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    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:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:660-:d:98027. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.