Individual environmental behavior: A key role in building low-carbon communities in China

Abstract

People’s social behavior, especially environmental behavior, has a great impact on energy consumption and carbon emission. This paper explores both categories of individual factors (e.g., values, habits, education, motivation, etc.) and social factors (e.g., institution, infrastructure, encouragement, etc.), to clarify the correlation between them and their sub-factors. Low-carbon campus is a representative type of low-carbon community which is less difficult to build than other communities because university students are well-educated and, to some extent, are more environmental aware and more willing to change their behaviors. The energy-saving and environment-friendly policies implemented on campus are collected and overviewed in this paper. Additionally, the leaders and employees from the related administration departments are interviewed, and the data of electricity amount and water usage are analyzed and a well-designed questionnaire is handed out in a survey. The survey investigates the environmental knowledge, energy use habits, attitude toward low-carbon transformation, comments on the current institution and so on. The results show that different groups of students have varied levels of environmental knowledge, energy use habits, and attitude toward low-carbon campus management. To improve energy conservation and cut carbon emission radically, advices on building low-carbon community are also proposed including professional curriculums of environmental protection, economic initiatives, effect management, good communications, and sound infrastructures and facilities.

Key words： behavior change; energy saving; low-carbon community; campus of Fudan University; China

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71774033, 71673051) and the Fudan Tyndall Centre (FTC98503B09a).

References

1 Jiang P, Chen Y, Geng Y, Dong W, Xue B, Xu B, Li W. Analysis of the co-benefits of climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2013, 58: 130–137

2 Wang Q, Chen X. Energy policies for managing China’s carbon emission. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015, 50: 470–479

3 Quéré C L, Andres R J, Boden T, The global carbon budget 2012. Earth System Science Data Discussions, 2013, 6(2): 689–760

4 Vlek C, Steg L. Human behavior and environmental sustainability: problems, driving forces, and research topics. Journal of Social Issues, 2007, 63(1): 1–19

5 Jackson T. Motivating sustainable consumption: a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change. Report to the Sustainable Development Research Network, Surrey: Centre for Environmental Strategies, 2005

6 Midden C, Kaiser F G, Teddy McCalley L. Technology’s four roles in understanding individuals’ conservation of natural resources. Journal of Social Issues, 2007, 63(1): 155–174

7 Jiang P, Keith Tovey N. Opportunities for low carbon sustainability in large commercial buildings in China. Energy Policy, 2009, 37(11): 4949–4958

8 Raven R P, Heiskanen E, Lovio R, Hodson M, Brohmann B. The contribution of local experiments and negotiation processes to field-level learning in emerging (niche) technologies meta-analysis of 27 new energy projects in Europe. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 2008, 28(6): 464–477

9 Middlemiss L. Influencing individual sustainability: a review of the evidence on the role of community-based organisations. International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2008, 7(1): 78–93

10 Heiskanen E, Johnson M, Robinson S, Vadovics E, Saastamoinen M. Low-carbon communities as a context for individual behavioural change. Energy Policy, 2010, 38(12): 7586–7595

11 Kollock P. Social dilemmas: the anatomy of cooperation. Annual Review of Sociology, 1998, 24(1): 183–214

12 Shove E. Converging conventions of comfort, cleanliness and convenience. Journal of Consumer Policy, 2003, 26(4): 395–418

13 Guy S. Designing urban knowledge: competing perspectives on energy and buildings. Environment and Planning C, Government & Policy, 2006, 24(5): 645–659

14 Thøgersen J. How may consumer policy empower consumers for sustainable lifestyles? Journal of Consumer Policy, 2005, 28(2): 143–177

15 McKenzie-Mohr D. Promoting sustainable behavior: an introduction to community-based social marketing. Journal of Social Issues, 2000, 56(3): 543–554

16 Seyfang G. Sustainable consumption, the new economics and community currencies: developing new institutions for environmental governance. Regional Studies, 2006, 40(7): 781–791

17 Middlemiss L, Parrish B D. Building capacity for low-carbon communities: the role of grassroots initiatives. Energy Policy, 2010, 38(12): 7559–7566

18 Jiang P, Chen Y H, Xu B, Building low carbon communities in China: the role of individual’s behaviour change and engagement. Energy Policy, 2013, 60: 611–620

19 Dunlap R E. Environmental sociology a personal perspective on its first quarter century. Organization & Environment, 2002, 15(1): 10–29

20 Likert R. A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 1932, 140: 1–55

21 Wuensch K L. What is a Likert Scale? and How Do You Pronounce ‘Likert?’. East Carolina University, 2009

22 Derrick B, White P. Comparing two samples from an individual likert question. International Journal of Mathematics and Statistics, 2017, 18(3): 1–13

23 Zhou J, Mao X Q, Hu T, Zeng A, Xing Y K, Corsetti G. Implications of the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans for energy conservation and CO₂ and air pollutants reduction: a case study from the city of Urumqi, China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016, 112(2): 1767–1777

24 Moloney S, Horne R, Fien J. Transitioning to low carbon communities—from behaviour change to systemic change: lessons from Australia. Energy Policy, 2010, 38(12): 7614–7623

25 Jiang P, Chen Y H, Geng Y, Dong W B, Analysis of the co-benefits of climate change mitigation and air pollution reduction in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2013, 58: 130–137

26 Steg L, Vlek C. Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: an integrative review and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2009, 29(3): 309–317

27 Kaplan S. Human nature and environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 2000, 56(3): 491–508