• Energy Research

To reduce gasoline consumption and emissions, the Chinese government has introduced a series of preferential policies to encourage the purchase of new energy vehicles (NEVs). However, enthusiasm for the private purchase of NEVs appears to be very low. This timely paper addresses the need for an empirical study to explore this phenomenon by identifying purchase motivations of potential NEV consumers and examining the impact of government policies introduced to promote NEVs in China. A questionnaire survey was carried out. The acceptance of NEVs is measured in three different logistic models: the willingness of consumers to purchase NEVs, the purchasing time, and the acceptable price. The results showed that financial benefits, performance attributes, environmental awareness and psychological needs are the four most important factors influencing consumers’ acceptance of NEVs. Among these, performance attributes rather than financial benefits are the most important indicator. The moderating effect of government policies to relations between purchasing intention, time and price is not strong as respected while the policy implications are clear that the ‘public awareness of government policy’ functions as a moderator in the process of acceptance. These findings could give some hints to the government to make better NEV industry policy.

Climate change-induced coal-fired plant generation efficiency reduction tends to cut power supply by 15.77 billion kWh/year in the 2050s under RCP8.5. The challenges could be more evident if factoring in the rapidly increasing power demand.

Abstract Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is regarded as an important option to reduce the CO2 emission of the electricity industry, especially in China. But emissions reduction potential of CCUS within each special administrative region needs to be identified. We explored the near-term CO2 storage potential of coal-fired power plants in China from the county perspective. According to the results of emissions sources and storage sites within counties, the following findings were reached: 1) Coal-fired power plants are distributed in 441 counties, the oil fields are in 149 counties, and the deep saline aquifers are in 561 counties. The spatial distribution of storage sites and coal-fired power plants is not consistent across counties. 2) Considering the injection capacity of single well, the CO2 storage potential decreased by more than 50%. Thirty counties have emission reduction potential through CCUS, with a total of 99.01Mt/y. 3) The CCUS emission reduction of counties in the top five provinces accounts for 83.9% of the total. Hebei, Xinjiang, Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces can be regarded as demonstration provinces for near term project deployment.

Abstract A unified policy framework for energy and water would be beneficial considering the high interdependence of the two resources in China. In this paper, a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model is established to examine the existence of synergetic effects within water fee policy and energy related climate policy, i.e. carbon tax, and provide insights for Chinese integrative policy-making. The results show that water fee can contribute to industrial water conservation, whereas its effect is limited under current water fee level. The adoption of a carbon tax in addition to it might further improve its water saving benefits. Furthermore, water fee can also promote the enhancement of China's emission reduction goal, and a higher carbon tax and water fee rate can achieve greater emission reduction effects. At this point, the synergetic spillover effects that water conservation benefits will be achieved simultaneously via the transition of industry into a more low-carbon form is critical for elaborating an effective strategy of environmental policy. Besides, our results suggest that giving priority to renewable power is regarded as the silver bullet to address the water and emission constraints on energy system, as it can optimize the water conservation benefits of emission reduction.

In this paper, we report eight sets of multivariate regression equations, introducing the socioeconomic factors for the estimation models of monthly electricity consumption in the primary, secondary, tertiary industry, and the household sectors, to study the quantitative effects of socioeconomic factors (electricity real price, activity level, income, holiday, etc.). The results demonstrate that the price elasticity of electricity demand in the household and the secondary industry sectors is significant. When the electricity price increases by 1 %, the demand in the household and secondary industry sectors reduces by 0.4–0.5 % with a time lag for the latter.

Abstract The convergence of carbon emissions in the industrial sector is an important prerequisite for achieving peak carbon emissions in China. This study investigates the carbon emissions intensity convergence of 24 industrial sectors in China between 1995 and 2015 based on an environmental performance index method and the convergence model. The results find that beta-conditional convergence exists across the carbon intensities of all industrial sectors by considering capital intensity and per-capita sectoral value added. This finding indicates that the carbon intensities of all sectors converge to different steady levels and are influenced by the two considered control variables. A decrease in the capital intensity or increase in the per-capita value added increases the degree of carbon intensity convergence, but the effect of per-capita value added is greater. Additionally, club convergence analyses show that there are two stronger convergent clubs of carbon intensity for 20 sectors, but the convergence evidence of the remaining four sectors is relatively weak.

Abstract Energy and water have become major constraints for China’s sustainable development. Effective measures focused on resource conservation are important to this country. In this study, a comprehensive assessment is conducted of the energy and water use of different sectors using exhaustive data collection and an environmentally extended input-output model. Given the interdependent relationship between energy and water, this paper also identifies the key sectors with most closed energy-water nexus. The results show the following; (1) the key sectors for high direct energy consumption and water use include Mining and Washing of Coal, Manufacture of Chemicals, Manufacture of Nonmetallic Mineral Products, Manufacture and Processing of Metals, and Electricity. (2) The key sectors for high indirect energy consumption and water use include the Manufacture of Chemicals, Manufacture of Electrical Machinery, and Construction. (3) The Manufacture of Chemicals sector should be focused on due to its direct and indirect influences. A focus on the key sectors may provide a greater opportunity for simultaneously achieving energy savings and water conservation, whereas different priorities should be applied; production-based or technology-related measures are effective for influencing direct energy consumption and water use, whereas consumption-based or end-use measures are better suited for influencing indirect energy consumption and water use.

Abstract Coordinated emission mitigation is an essential part of regional synergetic development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Through compiling an inter-provincial input-output table of China and applying environmentally extended multi-regional input-output model (MRIO), this study seeks to explore the CO2 emissions flow embodied in trade, domestically and internationally, of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in 2013, where domestic trade and carbon emission sources are both discussed. The findings include: Firstly, the consumption-based emission of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is 818.78 Mt, slightly lower than production-based (963.92 Mt). Secondly, Beijing and Tianjin are net CO2 inflow provinces, with net transferred CO2 emissions 118.85 Mt and 79.22 Mt in 2013 respectively. While Hebei province was an embodied CO2 net outflow region, the emissions transferred out was 162.88 Mt in 2013. Finally, in terms of the composition of the carbon emission sources, the carbon emission in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is closely related from the production-based; but for consumption-based carbon emissions, Beijing and Tianjin is highly dependent on other areas, including Hebei, while the dependence of Hebei on Beijing and Tianjin is quite small.