Urban energy consumption and related carbon emission estimation： a study at the sector scale

• Published in: Frontiers of earth science Vol. 7; no. 4; pp. 480 - 486
• Main Authors: Lu, Weiwei, Chen, Chen, Su, Meirong, Chen, Bin, Cai, Yanpeng, Xing, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 2013; Higher Education Press; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Beijing; carbon; Carbon dioxide; carbon emission; case studies; coal; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; economic development; ecosystems; electricity; Emissions testing; energy; energy conservation; Energy consumption; environmental impact; industry; oils; Research Article; Studies; transportation; Urban areas; urban sector; 估算; 城市生态系统; 工业部门; 碳排放量; 能源消耗; 能源消费; 能源资源; 行业规模; China; Beijing; carbon emission; urban sector; energy consumption
• ISSN: 2095-0195; 2095-0209
• DOI: 10.1007/s11707-013-0363-1

With rapid economic development and energy consumption growth, China has become the largest energy consumer in the world. Impelled by extensive international concern, there is an urgent need to analyze the characteristics of energy consumption and related carbon emission, with the objective of saving energy, reducing carbon emission, and lessening environmental impact. Focusing on urban ecosystems, the biggest energy consumer, a method for estimating energy consumption and related carbon emission was established at the urban sector scale in this paper. Based on data for 1996–2010, the proposed method was applied to Beijing in a case study to analyze the consumption of different energy resources (i.e., coal, oil, gas, and electricity) and related carbon emission in different sectors (i.e., agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, household, and service sectors). The results showed that coal and oil contributed most to energy consumption and carbon emission among different energy resources during the study period, while the industrial sector consumed the most energy and emitted the most carbon among different sectors. Suggestions were put forward for energy conservation and emission reduction in Beijing. The analysis of energy consumption and related carbon emission at the sector scale is helpful for practical energy saving and emission reduction in urban ecosystems.