IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0055642.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting of Urban Residential Consumption: A Household Survey Based Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Tao Lin
  • Yunjun Yu
  • Xuemei Bai
  • Ling Feng
  • Jin Wang

Abstract

Devising policies for a low carbon city requires a careful understanding of the characteristics of urban residential lifestyle and consumption. The production-based accounting approach based on top-down statistical data has a limited ability to reflect the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from residential consumption. In this paper, we present a survey-based GHG emissions accounting methodology for urban residential consumption, and apply it in Xiamen City, a rapidly urbanizing coastal city in southeast China. Based on this, the main influencing factors determining residential GHG emissions at the household and community scale are identified, and the typical profiles of low, medium and high GHG emission households and communities are identified. Up to 70% of household GHG emissions are from regional and national activities that support household consumption including the supply of energy and building materials, while 17% are from urban level basic services and supplies such as sewage treatment and solid waste management, and only 13% are direct emissions from household consumption. Housing area and household size are the two main factors determining GHG emissions from residential consumption at the household scale, while average housing area and building height were the main factors at the community scale. Our results show a large disparity in GHG emissions profiles among different households, with high GHG emissions households emitting about five times more than low GHG emissions households. Emissions from high GHG emissions communities are about twice as high as from low GHG emissions communities. Our findings can contribute to better tailored and targeted policies aimed at reducing household GHG emissions, and developing low GHG emissions residential communities in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Tao Lin & Yunjun Yu & Xuemei Bai & Ling Feng & Jin Wang, 2013. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting of Urban Residential Consumption: A Household Survey Based Approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(2), pages 1-12, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0055642
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055642
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0055642&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0055642?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Druckman, Angela & Jackson, Tim, 2009. "The carbon footprint of UK households 1990-2004: A socio-economically disaggregated, quasi-multi-regional input-output model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2066-2077, May.
    2. Kennedy, Christopher & Steinberger, Julia & Gasson, Barrie & Hansen, Yvonne & Hillman, Timothy & Havránek, Miroslav & Pataki, Diane & Phdungsilp, Aumnad & Ramaswami, Anu & Mendez, Gara Villalba, 2010. "Methodology for inventorying greenhouse gas emissions from global cities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 4828-4837, September.
    3. Wei, Yi-Ming & Liu, Lan-Cui & Fan, Ying & Wu, Gang, 2007. "The impact of lifestyle on energy use and CO2 emission: An empirical analysis of China's residents," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 247-257, January.
    4. Manfred Lenzen & Robert A. Cummins, 2011. "Lifestyles and Well‐Being Versus the Environment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 15(5), pages 650-652, October.
    5. Lin, Jianyi & Cao, Bin & Cui, Shenghui & Wang, Wei & Bai, Xuemei, 2010. "Evaluating the effectiveness of urban energy conservation and GHG mitigation measures: The case of Xiamen city, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5123-5132, September.
    6. Bin, Shui & Dowlatabadi, Hadi, 2005. "Corrigendum to "Consumer lifestyles approach to US energy use and the related CO2 emissions": [Energy Policy 33 (2005) 197-208]," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1362-1363, July.
    7. Feng, Zhen-Hua & Zou, Le-Le & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2011. "The impact of household consumption on energy use and CO2 emissions in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 656-670.
    8. Global Energy Assessment Writing Team,, 2012. "Global Energy Assessment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521182935, September.
    9. Baynes, Timothy & Lenzen, Manfred & Steinberger, Julia K. & Bai, Xuemei, 2011. "Comparison of household consumption and regional production approaches to assess urban energy use and implications for policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7298-7309.
    10. Bin, Shui & Dowlatabadi, Hadi, 2005. "Consumer lifestyle approach to US energy use and the related CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 197-208, January.
    11. Druckman, A. & Jackson, T., 2008. "Household energy consumption in the UK: A highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 3167-3182, August.
    12. Xuemei Bai, 2007. "Integrating Global Environmental Concerns into Urban Management: The Scale and Readiness Arguments," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 11(2), pages 15-29, April.
    13. Lenzen, Manfred & Wier, Mette & Cohen, Claude & Hayami, Hitoshi & Pachauri, Shonali & Schaeffer, Roberto, 2006. "A comparative multivariate analysis of household energy requirements in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, India and Japan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 181-207.
    14. Global Energy Assessment Writing Team,, 2012. "Global Energy Assessment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107005198, September.
    15. Dhakal, Shobhakar, 2009. "Urban energy use and carbon emissions from cities in China and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4208-4219, November.
    16. Karen C Seto & Michail Fragkias & Burak Güneralp & Michael K Reilly, 2011. "A Meta-Analysis of Global Urban Land Expansion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-9, August.
    17. Martinsson, Johan & Lundqvist, Lennart J. & Sundström, Aksel, 2011. "Energy saving in Swedish households. The (relative) importance of environmental attitudes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 5182-5191, September.
    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. Ran Guo & Hong Leng & Qing Yuan & Shiyi Song, 2022. "Impact of Urban Form on CO 2 Emissions under Different Socioeconomic Factors: Evidence from 132 Small and Medium-Sized Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Michele Pezzagno & Anna Richiedei & Maurizio Tira, 2020. "Spatial Planning Policy for Sustainability: Analysis Connecting Land Use and GHG Emission in Rural Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Rui Huang & Shaohui Zhang & Changxin Liu, 2018. "Comparing Urban and Rural Household CO 2 Emissions—Case from China’s Four Megacities: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Li, Zhong & Liu, Weibai & Wei, Xun, 2023. "The impact of digital finance development on carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from households in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    5. Borck, Rainald & Mulder, Peter, 2024. "Energy policies and pollution in two developing country cities: A quantitative model," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Yan Wu & Pim Martens & Thomas Krafft, 2022. "Public Awareness, Lifestyle and Low-Carbon City Transformation in China: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    7. John, Beatrice & Luederitz, Christopher & Lang, Daniel J. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2019. "Toward Sustainable Urban Metabolisms. From System Understanding to System Transformation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 402-414.
    8. Xibao Xu & Yan Tan & Shuang Chen & Guishan Yang & Weizhong Su, 2015. "Urban Household Carbon Emission and Contributing Factors in the Yangtze River Delta, China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    9. Edward Simpson & David Bradley & John Palfreyman & Roger White, 2022. "Sustainable Society: Wellbeing and Technology—3 Case Studies in Decision Making," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-30, October.
    10. Zhihui Li & Xiangzheng Deng & Xi Chu & Gui Jin & Wei Qi, 2019. "An Outlook on the Biomass Energy Development Out to 2100 in China," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 1359-1377, December.
    11. Mahumane, Gilberto & Mulder, Peter, 2022. "Urbanization of energy poverty? The case of Mozambique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Chang, Yuan & Huang, Runze & Ries, Robert J. & Masanet, Eric, 2014. "Shale-to-well energy use and air pollutant emissions of shale gas production in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 147-157.
    13. Arce, Guadalupe & López, Luis Antonio & Guan, Dabo, 2016. "Carbon emissions embodied in international trade: The post-China era," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 1063-1072.

    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. Rui Huang & Shaohui Zhang & Changxin Liu, 2018. "Comparing Urban and Rural Household CO 2 Emissions—Case from China’s Four Megacities: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Chen, Guangwu & Zhu, Yuhan & Wiedmann, Thomas & Yao, Lina & Xu, Lixiao & Wang, Yafei, 2019. "Urban-rural disparities of household energy requirements and influence factors in China: Classification tree models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 1321-1335.
    3. Golley, Jane & Meng, Xin, 2012. "Income inequality and carbon dioxide emissions: The case of Chinese urban households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1864-1872.
    4. Ramachandra, T.V. & Bajpai, Vishnu & Kulkarni, Gouri & Aithal, Bharath H. & Han, Sun Sheng, 2017. "Economic disparity and CO2 emissions: The domestic energy sector in Greater Bangalore, India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1331-1344.
    5. Xinkuo Xu & Liyan Han, 2017. "Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, September.
    6. Liu, Lan-Cui & Wu, Gang, 2013. "Relating five bounded environmental problems to China's household consumption in 2011–2015," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 427-433.
    7. Yuan, Baolong & Ren, Shenggang & Chen, Xiaohong, 2015. "The effects of urbanization, consumption ratio and consumption structure on residential indirect CO2 emissions in China: A regional comparative analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 94-106.
    8. Ryu Koide & Michael Lettenmeier & Satoshi Kojima & Viivi Toivio & Aryanie Amellina & Lewis Akenji, 2019. "Carbon Footprints and Consumer Lifestyles: An Analysis of Lifestyle Factors and Gap Analysis by Consumer Segment in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-25, October.
    9. Tilov, Ivan & Farsi, Mehdi & Volland, Benjamin, 2019. "Interactions in Swiss households’ energy demand: A holistic approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 136-149.
    10. Zhu, Qin & Peng, Xizhe & Wu, Kaiya, 2012. "Calculation and decomposition of indirect carbon emissions from residential consumption in China based on the input–output model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 618-626.
    11. Wenwen Wang & Ming Zhang, 2015. "Direct and indirect energy consumption of rural households in China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(3), pages 1693-1705, December.
    12. Wiedenhofer, Dominik & Lenzen, Manfred & Steinberger, Julia K., 2013. "Energy requirements of consumption: Urban form, climatic and socio-economic factors, rebounds and their policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 696-707.
    13. Li, Jun & Zhang, Dayong & Su, Bin, 2019. "The Impact of Social Awareness and Lifestyles on Household Carbon Emissions in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 145-155.
    14. Hongwu Zhang & Lequan Zhang & Keying Wang & Xunpeng Shi, 2019. "Unveiling Key Drivers of Indirect Carbon Emissions of Chinese Older Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Pedro J. Zarco-Periñán & Fco Javier Zarco-Soto & Irene M. Zarco-Soto & José L. Martínez-Ramos & Rafael Sánchez-Durán, 2022. "CO 2 Emissions in Buildings: A Synopsis of Current Studies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-10, September.
    16. Lixiao Zhang & Qiuhong Hu & Fan Zhang, 2014. "Input-Output Modeling for Urban Energy Consumption in Beijing: Dynamics and Comparison," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-11, March.
    17. Xiaofeng Lv & Kun Lin & Lingshan Chen & Yongzhong Zhang, 2022. "Does Retirement Affect Household Energy Consumption Structure? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, September.
    18. Zhang, Junyi & Teng, Fei & Zhou, Shaojie, 2020. "The structural changes and determinants of household energy choices and energy consumption in urban China: Addressing the role of building type," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    19. Yueyue Rong & Junsong Jia & Min Ju & Chundi Chen & Yangming Zhou & Yexi Zhong, 2021. "Multi-Perspective Analysis of Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Direct Energy Consumption by the Methods of Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index and σ Convergence in Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-28, August.
    20. Nieves, J.A. & Aristizábal, A.J. & Dyner, I. & Báez, O. & Ospina, D.H., 2019. "Energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions analysis in Colombia: A LEAP model application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 380-397.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pone00:0055642. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.