Abstract
Abstract The construction industry is one of the largest energy consumers in China. It not only uses energy directly but also consumes a large amount of embodied energy hidden in intermediate goods and services from other industries. This paper utilizes the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to measure the embodied energy consumption in China’s construction industry at the province level. To quantify the backward and forward linkages between the construction industry and other industries, the energy-driven and energy-driving abilities of the construction industry are investigated for 30 provinces. The results show that the values of the energy-driven coefficients are significantly larger than the energy-driving coefficients, indicating that the construction industry is highly dependent on products from other industries and other regions, not vice versa. The construction industries in the southwest and northwest regions of China have the highest energy-driven coefficients, showing that the construction industries in west China heavily rely on indirect energy embodied in goods and services. This particularly applies in Guangxi and Hainan provinces, which have the highest energy-driven abilities and the lowest energy-driving abilities. The findings can facilitate the policy-makers to examine the critical energy-saving paths.
Highlights
China is currently in a rapid urbanization stage led by the 60% urbanization rate target as a part of the 13th Five-Year Plan released by the central government[1]
Since the construction industry is a typical energy-intensive industry, the rapid urbanization process stimulates a large amount of energy consumption and carbon emissions, placing much stress on the environment and the economy[2,3]
Most previous studies focused on direct energy consumption of on-site production activities in the construction industry, neglecting the embodied energy consumed in the entire industrial chain[8−12]
Summary
China is currently in a rapid urbanization stage led by the 60% urbanization rate target as a part of the 13th Five-Year Plan released by the central government[1]. Most previous studies focused on direct energy consumption of on-site production activities in the construction industry, neglecting the embodied energy consumed in the entire industrial chain[8−12]. Some recent investigations explored the embodied energy consumption at multiple scales, based on various lifecycle assessment tools[13,14]. Lin, et al studied the embodied energy of the construction industry in China by using the single region inputoutput (SRIO) model[15]. Embodied energy consumption in the construction industry has been widely investigated in these studies, insufficient insights have been provided into the energy flows through interregional trade from the industrial and multiregional perspectives. The SRIO model, the BOQ, and the process-based LCA all fail to examine the concealed relationships along the economic network and inter-regional energy flows. It is important to account for distinct regional characteristics to track crucial disparities and linkages
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