Household CO2 Emissions Research Articles

Development of methodology for the assessment of changes in household electricity consumption and calculation of CO<SUB align="right">2 emissions

This study outlines a methodology for assessing changes in household electricity consumption and CO2 emissions. The method is proposed to analyse large datasets of residential electricity consumption in the case study of the first smart metering pilot project in Latvia. The goal of the project is to achieve a reduction of electricity consumption in households by 10%. In order to do so project aims to increase household user's awareness of smart technologies, as well as to promote households' involvement in energy efficiency measures. The proposed methodology is based on several steps, including: 1) baseline situation analysis; 2) normalisation of electricity consumption data; 3) identification of the factors affecting household electricity consumption; 4) an empirical analysis of households' electricity consumption using regression analysis; 5) assessment of changes in electricity consumption at the end of evaluation period and 6) calculation of CO2 emissions. Finally, the first results of the smart metering pilot project in nine-month period have been presented. The recommendations for policy development on promoting smart metering have been raised at the end of this paper.

住宅におけるエネルギー選択と市区町村別CO<sub>2</sub>排出原単位の研究

This study proposes a statistical method for estimating household CO2 emission intensity by each municipality in Japan. First, housing energy selection patterns in major cities were analyzed using path analysis method. Second, results of the above analysis were utilized to create statistical models of energy selection pattern for various energy types. Finally, the simulation was enlarged using spatial statistics, thus allowing estimation of CO2 emission intensity by region. Results of this study enabled calculation both of CO2 emission intensity in each region as well as variability rate between 2000 and 2010.

A model for the complexity of household energy consumption

A significant number of studies have researched into the household energy consumption and CO2 emission (HECCE). However, little attention has been paid to model the complex interrelationships that exist among the various variables involved, especially for the effect of qualitative variables such as occupants’ behaviour. In this regard, a methodology of systems-based approach has been adopted in this research to model the complexity of the socio-technical system of household energy consumption and CO2 emission. This paper will explore the intrinsic interrelationship between the dwellings, occupants and environment systems. The study identifies ‘cause and effect’ relationships among these systems as well as quantitatively simulates the behaviour of HECCE. A system dynamics model is proposed to utilise the hard and soft data incorporated in this system with due cognisance to the inter-dependencies of variables that are involved in addition to mental judgement of the experts and industry practitioners. The paper also discusses the validation of the proposed model. The proposed model provides policy makers with a decision making tool upon which different scenarios regarding HECCE can be tested before implementation.

Household electricity consumption and CO2 emissions in the Netherlands: A model-based analysis

Twenty percent of the total energy consumption in the Netherlands comes from household electricity consumption. This comes from household electric appliances whose number has grown in recent years. The paper explores the effect of smart meter introduction, appliance efficiency and consumer behaviour on reducing electricity consumption in the Netherlands. It does so by combining two perspectives: a sociotechnical approach and a bottom up simulation approach. The range of scenarios explored through simulation in the paper provides an understanding of the interplay between efficiency, smart meter diffusion and consumer behaviour. The results show their effect on electricity consumption and suggest that further effort is required to control and reduce it. Insights from the paper suggest that future studies should disaggregate with respect to a number of factors.

Dynamic impact of household consumption on its CO2 emissions in Malaysia

This article aims to measure the dynamic impact of household consumption (final household consumption expenditure, LHC) on CO2 emission from household’s energy consumption in Malaysia from 1971 to 2010. The estimation of autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test confirms a non-monotonic relationship between LHC and residential CO2 emission. In the long run, there is a positive relationship between LHC and CO2 emission as well as a negative relationship between quadratic forms of LHC and CO2 emission which indicates the existence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between these two variables. The analysis also found a similar relationship in both the short and long run. To confirm the non-monotonous relationship, the U test of Sasabuchi–Lind–Mehlum (2010) approach has followed to obtain the sufficient conditions for the existence of inverted U relationship. Moreover, the U test of Sasabuchi–Lind–Mehlum (2010) found that CO2 emission increases with increasing LHC up to 6.5 units, but it declines with an additional increase of LHC which is also found by the ARDL model. However, the existence of environmental Kuznets curve implies that in the long run, household CO2 emission declines with the additional increase of household consumption in the Malaysian economy.

A comparative study of bioenergy consumption and CO2 emissions in Tibetan region of China

Bioenergy is an important energy source for Tibetans. To compensate for the lack of a comparative study on household bioenergy consumption and CO2 emissions among farming region, farming-pastoral region, pastoral region, and forest edge zones in Tibetan area, the authors conducted the comparative study through field investigation, literature review and data analysis. The study results reveal that: (1)Bioenergy consumption show regularity from high to low in forest edge zones, pastoral region, farming-pastoral region and farming region, respectively, but the CO2 emissions change from high to low in forest edge zones, pastoral region, farming region, and farming-pastoral region, respectively in Tibetan area; (2)Remote geographic locations and traditional nomadic system restricts Tibetan pastoral region from use of diversified energy, resulting in higher bioenergy consumption and CO2 emissions; (3)The energy efficiency could be potentially increased by improving energy structures and by using durable, low cost and easy to carry clean energy facilities.

Are younger generations higher carbon emitters than their elders?: Inequalities, generations and CO2 emissions in France and in the USA

Proper understanding of the determinants of household CO2 emissions is essential for a shift to sustainable lifestyles. This paper explores the impacts of date of birth and income on household CO2 emissions in France and in the USA. Direct CO2 emissions of French and American households are computed from consumer budget surveys, over the 1980–2000 time period. Age Period Cohort estimators are used to isolate the generational effect on CO2 emissions — i.e. the specific effect of date of birth, independent of the age, the year and other control variables. The paper shows that French 1935–55 cohorts have a stronger tendency to emit CO2 than their predecessors and followers. The generational effect is explained by the fact that over their lifespan, French baby boomers are better off than other generations and live in energy and carbon inefficient dwellings. In the USA, the absence of a generational effect on CO2 emissions can be explained by the fact that intergenerational income inequalities are weaker than in France. Persistence of the generational effect once income and housing type is controlled for in France can be explained by the difficulty for French 1935–55 cohorts to adapt to sober energy consumption patterns.

Potential of new lighting technologies in reducing household lighting energy use and CO2 emissions in Finland

Using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can significantly reduce the current household lighting energy use in Finland during 2020–2050. Our calculations show that the potential of using LEDs in reducing household lighting energy use and corresponding CO2 emissions in Finland during 2020–2050 can be significant. Reductions from the current level of Finnish household lighting energy use (1.8 TWh/a) were 59 % in 2020, 72 % in 2030 and 78 % in 2050, when a high LED penetration was assumed. Lighting energy savings in 2020 would mean a 1.3 % reduction from the current total electricity use in Finland (84.2 TWh/a). The starting point in 2012 was that the share of incandescent lamps was 32 % and the share of LED lamps 6 % of the total amount of lamps in an average household. Using the current average emissions factor (current electricity production structure), the saved amount of energy in 2020 means 234,000 tonnes of CO2. Using the marginal emissions factor, the saved amount of energy means 920,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Does the Household Environmental Kuznets Curve for Carbon Dioxide Emissions Exist? Micro Evidence from Cities in China

By linking household consumption and CO2 emissions, it utilizes the household financial survey data to analyze the relationship of CO2 emissions and income on the household level. By testing the model of household Environmental Kuznets Curve about CO2 emissions and another model involving more factors than income, it finds the household Environmental Kuznets Curve about CO2 emissions exists in cities of China. Moreover, it finds the household financial factors, besides household borrowing, credit card loans, non-savings insurance, asset level and cash level, affect the relationship of CO2 emissions and income. According to the empirical result, it predicts that the CO2 emissions will be the most when the household income reaches about 200 thousand Yuan.

Energy-saving behavior and marginal abatement cost for household CO2 emissions

This paper attempts to measure consumers' perceived net benefits (or net costs) of energy-saving measures in using energy-consuming durable goods. Using the estimated net costs and the volume of CO2 reduced by the measures, a marginal abatement cost (MAC) curve for the average household's CO2 emissions is produced. An analysis using the curve suggests that in order to provide households with an incentive to take actions that can lead to CO2 emission reductions in using energy-consuming durables, a high level of carbon price is needed. In addition, a regression analysis reveals that the net benefits of the measures are larger for households that put a higher priority on energy saving, for those living in detached houses, for those with a smaller number of persons living together, and for those with less income. The result of the analysis using the MAC curve may suggest that promoting energy-saving behavior will require not only a policy to provide economic incentives but also interventions to influence psychological factors of household behavior.

The Effects of Climate and Socio‐Demographics on Direct Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Australia

AbstractHousehold CO2 emissions are a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and consequently climate warming. Despite this, there has been little consideration of how household CO2 emissions may be affected by changes in climate. The aim of the present study has been to investigate the way climate, as well as socio‐demographic characteristics, may affect household CO2 emissions produced from energy use. A national online survey was conducted to determine current household CO2 emissions in Australia as well as capture the ownership and use of household appliances and installations. Electricity and gas‐based emissions as well as the ownership of a variety of household appliances and installations were found to be strongly associated with temperature. Electricity and gas emissions were found to decrease as annual average temperatures increase. However, as temperatures continue to rise under climate change this pattern may be reversed owing to increased reliance on air conditioners. One option for preventing this from occurring is to encourage houses to adopt more solar‐passive installations. Although this may be expensive, households with higher emissions tend to have higher incomes, indicating that they may have the capacity to pay for such installations.

Neighborhood form and CO2 emission: evidence from 23 neighborhoods in Jinan, China

To understand the household CO2 emission level in China, as well as how much the neighborhoods’ socio-economic or design factors could influence the CO2 emission, 23 neighborhoods in Jinan were investigated in 2009 and 2010. These neighborhoods fall into four different types: superblock, enclave, grid and traditional. The household CO2 emission includes sources of both inhome energy use and passenger transportation. The average CO2 emission per household is 7.66 t·a-1, including 6.87 t in-home operational emission and 792 kg transportation emission. The household CO2 emission by neighborhood categories is 10.97, 5.65, 6.49, 5.40 t·household−1·a−1 for superblock, enclave, grid and traditional respectively. Superblock has the highest average emission and also the highest percent (more than 25%) of transportation emission among four different types of neighborhoods. The residential CO2 emission of superblock neighborhoods in Jinan has already reached the level in developed countries nearly ten years ago. It is predictable that more superblock neighborhoods would be built in China with the fast urbanization. How to avoid the rapid household CO2 emission growth in the future would be a systematic issue. The study also found that in addition to income and apartment area, household density, land use mix and accessibility to public transportation are three primary factors which have significant impacts on CO2 emission. High density, mixed land use and convenient accessibility to public transportation tend to reduce household CO2 emission.

Impacts of demographic, meteorological, and economic changes on household CO2 emissions in the 47 prefectures of Japan

AbstractAn understanding of the factors affecting household CO2 emissions is necessary for effective climate policies aimed at reducing emissions. We developed an empirical model of household CO2 emissions in the 47 prefectures of Japan and conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impacts of demographic, meteorological, and economic changes on emissions. Emissions are projected to increase with demographic changes by 2030, and to decrease with temperature increases during the twenty‐first century. Carbon taxes on energy sources are projected have a limited effect on the reduction of emissions in the short term. The closure of nuclear power plants is projected to lead to a substantial increase in emissions.

Who emits most? Associations between socio-economic factors and UK households' home energy, transport, indirect and total CO2 emissions

Does the association between household characteristics and household CO2 emissions differ for areas such as home energy, transport and indirect emissions? This question is policy relevant because distributional implications of mitigation policies may vary depending on the area of emissions that is targeted if specific types of households are likely to have higher emissions in some areas than in others. So far, this issue has not been examined in depth in the literature on household CO2 emissions. Using a representative UK expenditure survey, this paper compares how household characteristics like income, household size, education, gender, worklessness and rural or urban location differ in their association with all three areas as well as total emissions. We find that these associations vary considerably across emission domains. In particular, whilst all types of emissions rise with income, low income, workless and elderly households are more likely to have high emissions from home energy than from other domains, suggesting that they may be less affected by carbon taxes on transport or total emissions. This demonstrates that fairness implications related to mitigation policies need to be examined for separate emission domains.

Household carbon dioxide emissions from peasants and herdsmen in northwestern arid-alpine regions, China

This study assessed household CO2 emissions (related to the consumption of necessary and luxury goods and services) of peasants and herdsmen households in arid-alpine regions in Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia provinces, China. We also explored whether agriculture types, family income and family size have played any role in household CO2 emissions. In order to address these issues, we: (i) developed assessment indicators for household emissions; (ii) conducted semi-structured questionnaire household surveys; and (iii) employed input-output analysis (IOA). The results showed that, the average household CO2 emission per capita is 1.43 tons (t) CO2; the proportion of subsistence emissions (related to the consumption of necessary goods and services) accounts for 93.24%, whereas luxury emissions (generated due to consumption of specific goods and services that are consumed only when household income improves) only account for 6.76%t. Moreover, household CO2 emissions increase with family income and family size, but per capita emissions are inversely related to family size. The highest average household emissions were found in the alpine agricultural and pastoral region (6.18t CO2), followed by the irrigated agricultural region (6.07t CO2) and the rain-fed agricultural region (5.34t CO2). In consideration of insignificant amount of household emissions from these poor and vulnerable groups of the society, this study suggests to follow the principle of fairness while making energy conservation, emission reduction and adaptation policies.

Household carbon emission differences and their driving factors in Northwestern China

Based on interview survey data, we used the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the Peoples Republic of China National Greenhouse Gas Inventory(2007), input-output analysis, and life cycle assessment methodology to assess household CO2 emissions in Northwestern China. The result revealed the status and patterns of household CO2 emissions in this area: (1) average annual household CO2 emission per capita is 2.05 tons CO2 per year; (2) the majority of household CO2 emissions came from coal, electricity and food consumption, in which direct CO2 emissions (related to consumption of fossil fuel) accounted for 39.29 percent, and indirect emissions comprised 60.71 percent; (3) household CO2 emission was mainly affected by geographic environment, family size and income, and household age structure; (4) amounts, sources and driving factors of CO2 emission varied between urban and rural households, as well as between households in different provinces.

UK Households' Carbon Footprint: A Comparison of the Association between Household Characteristics and Emissions from Home Energy, Transport and Other Goods and Services

Does the association between household characteristics and household CO2 emissions differ for different areas such as home energy, transport, indirect and total emissions in the UK? Specific types of households might be more likely to have high emissions in some areas than in others and thus be affected differently by climate mitigation policies that target these areas. Using the Living Costs and Food Survey and Expenditure and Food Survey for the years 2006 to 2009, this paper compares how household characteristics like income, household size, rural/urban location and education level differ in their association with home energy, transport, indirect and total emissions. We find that the association between household characteristics and emissions differs considerably across these areas, particularly for income, education, the presence of children, female headed, workless and rural households. We also test the implicit assumption in the literature that the association between household characteristics and CO2 emission is constant across the CO2 emission distribution using quantile regressions and compare results for poor and rich households. The analysis considers policy implications of these findings throughout.

Accounting for Changes in Automobile Gasoline Consumption in Japan: 2000–2007

This paper analyzes gasoline consumption in Japan for the period 2000–2007 using the index decomposition analysis (IDA). The changes in gasoline consumption in Japan were attributed to five factors: (1) change in the annual average driving distance of new and vintage cars, (2) change in the market share of new passenger cars, (3) change in the total number of new passenger cars, (4) change in the fuel economy of new passenger cars, and (5) change in the stock of vintage cars. We used the IDA results to estimate the economy-wide direct rebound effect, where improved fuel mileage causes additional travel. We found that the total gasoline saved by shifting from vintage ordinary passenger cars to both new kei passenger cars and new hybrid cars during fiscal 2006–2007 amounted to 395 ML, while about half of the gasoline savings from car replacement were lost by the direct rebound effects. The analysis shows that the direct rebound effect can be crucial in the effort of reducing overall gasoline consumption as well as household CO2 emissions from passenger cars. JEL Classification: Q41, Q43.

The impacts of China’s household consumption expenditure patterns on energy demand and carbon emissions towards 2050

This paper explores how China’s household consumption patterns over the period 2005–2050 influence the total energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in two baseline scenarios, and how it influences carbon prices as well as the economic cost in the corresponding carbon mitigation scenarios. To this end we first put forward two possible household consumption expenditure patterns up to 2050 using the Working–Leser model, taking into account total expenditure increase and urbanization. For comparison, both expenditure patterns are then incorporated in a hybrid recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model. The results reveal that as income level increases in the coming decades, the direct and indirect household energy requirements and CO2 emissions would rise drastically. When household expenditure shifts from material products and transport to service-oriented goods, around 21,000 mtce11Mtce: million ton coal equivalent, equal to 29.31 giga-joules. of primary energy and 45 billion tons of CO2 emissions would be saved over the 45-year period from 2005 to 2050. Moreover, carbon prices in the dematerialized mitigation scenario would fall by 13% in 2050, thus reducing the economic cost.

Variation in household CO2 emissions and the consequences for burden sharing

Variation in household CO2 emissions and the consequences for burden sharing