Operational energy consumption and GHG emissions in residential sector in urban China : an empirical study in Jinan

Abstract

Driven by rapid urbanization and increasing household incomes, residential energy consumption in urban China has been growing steadily in the past decade, posing critical energy and greenhouse gas emission challenges. Operations represent the most energy consuming phase in the lifecycle of a residential neighborhood, accounting for 80%-90% of neighborhood lifecycle energy consumption. Although a number of research efforts have focused on operational energy consumption at the household or building scale, few attempts have been made to understand the variation in energy consumption patterns across the neighborhood scale in the China context. This thesis presents research on the operational energy consumption and GHG emissions in the residential sector in Jinan, a medium-size city in eastern China. Specifically, based upon four different neighborhood typologies identified in Jinan - Superblock, Enclave, Grid, and Traditional - I examine the relationship between neighborhood form and two components of operational energy consumption: in-home and common-area. The research follows two pathways. For in-home energy consumption, I use household data collected from nine Jinan neighborhoods representing the four different typologies and apply multivariate regression techniques to examine effects on fuel choice, appliance ownership, and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. For common area energy use, I develop a deterministic estimation framework to calculate the consumption level and share by different end uses. The research shows that from the operational energy consumption perspective, China is gradually catching up with the industrialized countries, with per household energy consumption levels in the surveyed neighborhoods reaching approximately 1/3 of the U.S. average. After accounting for electricity generation and transmission/distribution, more than 90% of neighborhood residential energy used in Jinan comes directly or indirectly from coal, resulting in considerable GHG emissions due to coal's carbon-intensity. In-home consumption accounts for 90% of total neighborhood operational energy use; the primary influencing factors include household income and size, presence of children, home ownership, living area, and households' awareness towards saving energy. Neighborhood form, on its own, has a moderate impact, mainly through apparent effects on household energy source choice and appliance ownership. The research suggests that the Enclave - featuring moderate compactness, high presence of mid-rise buildings, a relatively organized building layout, and diverse land uses and neighborhood functions - represents a relatively energy efficient neighborhood form in the context of urban China. The Enclave potentially limits on-site coal use, improves thermal efficiency, reduces the demand for space cooling, lowers the consumption by elevators and water pumps, and facilitates the use of solar energy. Additional options for energy conservation and GHG mitigation in urban China's residential sector include enabling flexible control of space heating and accelerating the transition from coal to cleaner energy sources.