Residential energy-related carbon emissions in urban and rural China during 1996-2012: From the perspective of five end-use activities

Abstract Residential sector is one of the greatest contributors to national CO₂ emissions in China, contributing towards 10.3% in 2012. With rapid urbanization and development in the future, it will inevitably keep increasing, thus it is of great importance to study the characteristics of residential carbon emissions. This paper investigates the carbon emission evolutions during 1996-2012 in urban and rural residential sector, from an end-use perspective. Especially, comprehensive emission factors of electricity and heat in terms of time-series are taken into consideration, and five end-use activities are analyzed. The key findings are: in urban areas, carbon emissions from private transportations grew the fastest and it still has great growth potential in the medium and short term; carbon emissions from space heating and cooling; and cooking and water heating accounted for the largest, with about 40% and 30%, respectively. The growth rates of these are also fast, therefore controls to maintain high standards for degree of comfort are needed. In rural areas, carbon emissions from private transportations also grew fast, even higher than that of urban residents, so it should develop rural public transportation; the rapid growth of carbon emissions from home appliances and lighting reflected the improvement of living conditions and modernization; carbon emissions from space heating and cooling accounted for the largest proportion and has great potential in the future.