Title: Carbon footprint of the households' consumption in China

Authors: Zhengquan Guo; Haibin Liu

Addresses: School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beinong Road 2, Changping District, 102206, Beijing, China ' School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology, No.Ding11 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, 100083, Beijing, China

Abstract: This paper studies the direct and embodied carbon footprint of households' consumption in China. The study results show that the embodied carbon footprint of Chinese households is far higher than direct carbon footprint. The direct carbon footprint of urban households is resulted from consumption of power, heat and petroleum products, while the rural households are mostly due to consumption of power and coal. The embodied carbon footprint of households' consumption stems mostly from raw material and energy sectors with high intensities of carbon emissions, and with considerable intermediate input and demand in the production process. The per capita carbon footprint of urban households is far higher than that of rural households. The emissions reductions emphases on carbon footprint of households' consumption are urban households, embodied carbon footprint, and the direct carbon footprint of energy consumption of rural households in China.

Keywords: direct carbon footprint; embodied carbon footprint; household consumption; energy consumption; household energy use; urban households; rural households; China; CO2; carbon dioxide; carbon emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2013.061787

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2013 Vol.36 No.2/3/4, pp.181 - 196

Received: 01 Oct 2012
Accepted: 02 Aug 2013
Published online: 12 Jul 2014 *

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