Abstract
Energy is the essential input for operations along the industrial manufacturing chain of textiles. China’s textile industry is facing great pressure on energy consumption reduction. This paper presents an analysis of the energy footprint (EFP) of China’s textile industry from 1991 to 2015. The relationship between EFP and economic growth in the textile industry was investigated with a decoupling index approach. The logarithmic mean Divisia index approach was applied for decomposition analysis on how changes in key factors influenced the EFP of China’s textile industry. Results showed that the EFP of China’s textile industry increased from 41.1 Mt in 1991 to 99.6 Mt in 2015. EFP increased fastest in the period of 1996–2007, with an average annual increasing rate of 7.7 percent, especially from 2001 to 2007 (8.5 percent). Manufacture of textile sector consumed most (from 58 percent to 76 percent) of the energy among the three sub-sectors, as it has lots of energy-intensive procedures. EFP and economic growth were in a relative decoupling state for most years of the researched period. Their relationship showed a clear tendency toward decoupling. Industrial scale was the most important factor that led to the increase of EFP, while decreasing energy intensity contributed significantly to reducing the EFP. The promoting effect of the factors was larger than the inhibiting effect on EFP in most years from 1991 to 2015.
Highlights
Energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have raised a great deal of concern in recent decades, as GHGs have an adverse environmental impact [1]
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of energy consumption in China’s textile industry, the main factors that affect the energy utilization, and the degrees of influence of these factors
The energy footprint (EFP) is one way to measure that energy consumption [24]
Summary
Energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have raised a great deal of concern in recent decades, as GHGs have an adverse environmental impact [1]. The world’s consumption of energy increased from 4661 Mt in 1973 to 9425 Mt in 2014 according to statistics of the International Energy. The statistics showed that the industry sector occupied approximately 30.5% of the world’s total energy (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas, electricity) consumption in 2014. The concentration of energy saving technologies and energy efficiency assessment methods in industry sectors has increased significantly in order to reduce GHGs emissions. The textile industry is a significant contributor to many national economies, encompassing both small and large-scale operations worldwide [3]. The global fiber production has increased rapidly with the growing consumption of textiles and clothing. It is reported that global fiber production was approximately 97.8 million tons in 2016 [4]. The textile industry comprises a large number of plants, which together consume a significant amount of energy
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