Estimation of carbon efficiency decomposition in materials and potential material savings for China's construction industry

Abstract

As an important source of carbon emissions, the carbon emission performance of construction materials should be measured for China's construction industry. This paper proposes a modified data envelopment analysis (DEA) to analyze the carbon efficiency decomposition and potential material reduction for regional construction industries. As the main innovation, the carbon efficiency decomposition of cement, steel, and aluminum is estimated. To achieve the minimal regional carbon intensities, modified potential material reductions are estimated by creatively identifying correlations between the material consumption and economic outputs. This paper conducts an empirical study of China's regional construction systems from 2006 to 2015. Some conclusions are achieved. The carbon efficiencies of construction materials are inefficient in most regions, which are derived from the inefficient material consumption. All of the decomposed carbon efficiencies are decreasing from the east to the west with enlarging geographic disparities from 2006 to 2015. The consumption for each construction material is optimized for China's regions. Some policy implications are also provided.