Regulation and Optimization of Urban Water and Land Resources Utilization for Low Carbon Development: A Case Study of Tianjin, China

Abstract

The consumption of energy and resources produces carbon emissions and exacerbates global warming. As the basic resources for urban development, the development and utilization of water and land resources consume a large amount of energy, which results in carbon emissions. This paper presents a study aimed at analyzing the interaction of urban water–land–energy and its carbon emission effects and finding ways to achieve the win-win situation of carbon emission reduction and economic development. We used an SD-MOP model combined with system dynamics (SD) and multi-objective programming (MOP) to describe the feedback relationship between urban water and land resources utilization and carbon emissions, designed a comprehensive scheme for carbon emission reduction goal and optimized it in order to achieve the low carbon development goal. Tianjin, one of the four province-level municipalities, was investigated as a case study for this research. The simulation results indicate that Tianjin’s carbon emissions from water and land utilization will peak around 2025 when applying the comprehensive regulation scheme. After optimization, the optimal regulation scheme would achieve considerable social, economic and environmental benefits. We suggest the implementation of measures including the optimization of the industrial, energy and land use structure; the improvement of energy efficiency; increasing residents’ low carbon awareness; and strengthening industrial and domestic water savings to realize the low carbon development of the city. The findings of this study will be useful for the management of urban water and land utilization.