Quantifying and mapping spatial variability of Shanghai household carbon footprints

Abstract

Understanding the spatial variability of household carbon emissions is necessary for formulating sustainable and low-carbon energy policy. However, data on household carbon emissions is limited in China, the world’s largest greenhouse gases emitter. This study quantifies and maps household carbon emissions in Shanghai using a city-wide household survey. The findings reveal substantial spatial variability in household carbon emissions, especially in transport-related emissions. Low emission clusters are founded in Hongkou, Xuhui, Luwan, Jinshan, and Fengxian. High emission clusters are located in Jiading and Pudong. Overall, the spatial pattern of household carbon emissions in Shanghai is donut-shaped: lowest in the urban core, increasing in the surrounding suburban areas, and declining again in the urban fringe and rural regions. The household emissions are correlated with a number of housing and socioeconomic factors, including car ownership, type of dwelling, size of dwelling, age of dwelling, and income. The findings underscore the importance of a localized approach to low-carbon policy-making and implementation.

Key words： household carbon emissions; spatial variability; energy policy; Shanghai; China

Acknowledgments

The project was funded by the National Social Science Foundation (No. 11CRK005), the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Foundation (No. 11YJA630176), the Shanghai Municipal Soft Science Foundation, the Australia Research Council (No. DP1094801), and the East China University of Science and Technology (No. WN1222011), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 222201422026). We are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for helping to improve this work.

References

1 Shammin M R, Herendeen R A, Hanson M J, Wilson E J. A multivariate analysis of the energy intensity of sprawl versus compact living in the US for 2003. Ecological Economics, 2010, 69(12): 2363–2373

2 Zegras P C. The built environment and motor vehicle ownership and use: Evidence from Santiago de Chile. Urban Studies (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2010, 47(8): 1793–1817

3 Liu L C, Wu G, Wang J N, Wei Y M. China’s carbon emissions from urban and rural households during 1992–2007. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2011, 19(15): 1754–1762

4 McNeil M A, Letschert V E. Future air conditioning energy consumption in developing countries and what can be done about it: the potential of efficiency in the residential sector. 2014–<month>05</month>, http://www.eceee.org/library/conference_proceedings/eceee_Summer_Studies/2007/Panel_6/6.306/paper

5 Cao X, Huang X. City-level determinants of private car ownership in China. Asian Geographer, 2013, 30(1): 37–53

6 Zheng S, Wang R, Glaeser E L, Kahn M E. The greenness of China: household carbon dioxide emissions and urban development. Journal of Economic Geography, 2011, 11(5): 761–792

7 Peters G P. Carbon footprints and embodied carbon at multiple scales. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2010, 2(4): 245–250

8 Wiedenhofer D, Lenzen M, Steinberger J K. Energy requirements of consumption: Urban form, climatic and socio-economic factors, rebounds and their policy implications. Energy Policy, 2013, 63: 696–707

9 Druckman A, Jackson T. Household energy consumption in the UK: A highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model. Energy Policy, 2008, 36(8): 3177–3192

10 Druckman A, Jackson T. The carbon footprint of UK households 1990–2004: a socio-economically disaggregated, quasi-multi-regional input–output model. Ecological Economics, 2009, 68(7): 2066–2077

11 Naess P. ‘New urbanism’or metropolitan-level centralization? A comparison of the influences of metropolitan-level and neighborhood-level urban form characteristics on travel behavior. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011, 4(1): 25–44

12 VandeWeghe J R, Kennedy C. A spatial analysis of residential greenhouse gas emissions in the Toronto census metropolitan area. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2007, 11(2): 133–144

13 Wilson J, Spinney J, Millward H, Scott D, Hayden A, Tyedmers P. Blame the exurbs, not the suburbs: exploring the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions within a city region. Energy Policy, 2013, 62: 1329–1335

14 Ye H, Wang K, Zhao X, Chen F, Li X, Pan L. Relationship between construction characteristics and carbon emissions from urban household operational energy usage. Energy and Building, 2011, 43(1): 147–152

15 Liu R. Energy consumption and energy intensity in multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Canada. CBEEDAC 2007–RP-04. Canadian Building Energy End-Use Data and Analysis Centre, Edmonton, 2007

16 Bird S, Hernández D. Policy options for the split incentive: increasing energy efficiency for low-income renters. Energy Policy, 2012, 48: 506–514

17 Lo K. China’s low-carbon city initiatives: the implementation gap and the limits of the target responsibility system. Habitat International, 2014, 42: 236–244

18 Kwan C L. Influence of local environmental, social, economic and political variables on the spatial distribution of residential solar PV arrays across the United States. Energy Policy, 2012, 47: 332– 344

19 Girod B, de Haan P. More or better? A model for changes in household greenhouse gas emissions due to higher income. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2010, 14(1): 31–49

20 Kennedy E H, Krahn H, Krogman N T. Egregious emitters: disproportionality in household carbon footprints. Environment and Behavior, 2014, 46(5): 535–555

21 Liu W, Spaargaren G, Heerink N, Mol A P, Wang C. Energy consumption practices of rural households in north China: basic characteristics and potential for low carbon development. Energy Policy, 2013, 55: 128–138

22 Li L, Chen C, Xie S, Huang C, Cheng Z, Wang H, Wang Y, Huang H, Lu J, Dhakal S. Energy demand and carbon emissions under different development scenarios for Shanghai, China. Energy Policy, 2010, 38(9): 4797–4807

23 Wang Y, Ma W, Tu W, Zhao Q, Yu Q. A study on carbon emissions in Shanghai 2000–2008, China. Environmental Science & Policy, 2013, 27: 151–161

24 Glaeser E L, Kahn M E. The greenness of cities: carbon dioxide emissions and urban development. Journal of Urban Economics, 2010, 67(3): 404–418