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Energy-saving technology progress can solve the contradiction between economic growth and energy consumption. This paper divides China's manufacturing into 19 industries, describes the global value chain (GVC) embedding position trend, explores its impact on energy-biased technology progress and researches the mechanisms. The results show that (1) China's manufacturing technology progress tends toward energy conservation, and most industries participate in the GVC through shallow cross-border division. The simple embedding position is higher than the complex embedding position, and the physical position in the GVC is relatively stable; however, the economic position fluctuates significantly. (2) The GVC embedding position and the energy-biased technology progress show an inverted U-shaped curve relationship. Only when it enters the right side of the turning point and climbs to the high end of the GVC can it promote the development of energy-saving technology progress; the effects of the embedding method, embedding direction and position are heterogeneous. (3) The GVC embedding position's spillover and market competition effect promote energy-saving technology progress, while path dependence and the pollution transfer effect promote progress in energy-consuming technology. • Calculates the GVC embedding position of China's industry and the energy-biased technology progress index. • China's industrial technology progress is generally towards energy conservation. • The GVC embedding position and the energy-biased technology progress show an inverted U-shaped curve relationship. • The technology spillover and market competition effect generated are conducive to energy-saving technology progress. • Path dependence and pollution transfer effect promote energy-consuming technology progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of the magnesia refractory industry has caused serious problems of resource and energy waste and environmental pollution. Cleaner Production and Cleaner Production Audit are considered effective tools for energy conservation and emission reduction in the industry. This study presents an application of cleaner production and cleaner production audit in a typical large-scale magnesia raw material production plant in Liaoning, China and the results of their implementation. Through the 7 steps of a cleaner production audit (planning and organization, pre-assessment, assessment, option generation and screening, feasibility analysis, implementation, and maintenance of cleaner production), the resource and energy consumption and environmental emissions of the enterprise are investigated, the key auditing procedures are identified, and the cleaner production opportunities are analyzed. 28 cleaner production options, including raw material and energy substitution, technology improvement, facility maintenance and updates, process optimization and control, waste reutilization, management, and staff training and motivation, have been developed and implemented in a feasible way. After complete implementation of these options, great environmental and economic benefits are expected to be achieved: increased utilization of magnesite tailing powder by 281,000 t per year; annual savings of 25,000 t of magnesite ore; savings of 384,000 kW h of electricity; a 21.7% reduction in magnesite consumption per ton of FM product; improvement of the wastewater utilization rate from 70% to 100%; the removal of dust, SO 2 and NO x emissions produced by burning coal or producer gas; savings of 1.066 million USD per year. The results demonstrate that implementing cleaner production can not only bring huge environmental benefits, but also significant economic gains. Moreover, factory staff have recognized the benefits that cleaner production can bring to the plant, and plan to continue the process. Since there are few studies on the application of cleaner production in the magnesia refractory industry, this paper provides scientific guidelines for its implementation in other similar enterprises, and a theoretical and practical basis for promoting the sustainable development of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following several decades of rapid economic growth, China has become the largest energy consumer and the greatest emitter of CO 2 in the world. Given the complex development situation faced by contemporary China, Chinese policymakers now confront the dual challenge of reducing energy use while continuing to foster economic growth. This study posits that a better understanding of the relationship between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions is necessary, in order for the Chinese government to develop the energy saving and emission reduction strategies for addressing the impacts of climate change. This paper investigates the cointegrating, temporally dynamic, and casual relationships that exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions in China, using data for the period 1990–2012. The study develops a comprehensive conceptual framework in order to perform this analysis. The results of cointegration tests suggest the existence of long-run cointegrating relationship among the variables, albeit with short dynamic adjustment mechanisms, indicating that the proportion of disequilibrium errors that can be adjusted in the next period will account for only a fraction of the changes. Further, impulse response analysis (which describes the reaction of any variable as a function of time in response to external shocks) found that the impact of a shock in CO 2 emissions on economic growth or energy consumption was only marginally significant. Finally, Granger casual relationships were found to exist between economic growth, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions; specifically, a bi-directional causal relationship between economic growth and energy consumption was identified, and a unidirectional causal relationship was found to exist from energy consumption to CO 2 emissions. The findings have significant implications for both academics and practitioners, warning of the need to develop and implement long-term energy and economic policies in order to effectively address greenhouse effects in China, thereby setting the nation on a low-carbon growth path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of energy consumption in China has led to increased emissions of CO 2 . As a response, the Chinese government has proposed a series of carbon mitigation strategies, such as switching the production structure and implementing energy-saving and emission–reduction technologies in energy-intensive sectors. In this paper, an integrated assessment approach was developed by combining the Stock-based model, the China-TIMES model and the co-benefits analysis model. The approach was applied to China’s steel sector to simulate the trends of energy consumption and air emissions (CO 2 , SO 2 , NO x , and PM 10 ) during 2010–2050, under a reference scenario and three alternative carbon mitigation scenarios. The model quantified the air emission reductions, water conservation, and associated co-benefits during the study period. The modeling results show that by switching the production structure and implementing energy-saving and emission–reduction technologies, China’s steel sector can achieve significant co-benefits of carbon mitigation, water conservation, averted mortality and averted morbidity. Despite certain limitations and uncertainties associated with the elements of the integrated assessment approach, the results demonstrate that substantial social benefits and health effects could be realized through carbon mitigation strategies in China’s steel sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy consumption has a strong driving force for promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, and is a new way to achieve clean and low-carbon development. Based on this, this paper uses the data of renewable energy consumption, carbon productivity, GDP, population, energy efficiency and technological innovation of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, and empirically analyzes the impact of renewable energy consumption on carbon productivity in 30 provinces in China, using STIRPAT model, comprehensively considers spatial horizontally and temporal vertically dimension. The empirical results show that: (1) China's carbon productivity shows a significant spatial spillover effect, its impact can spill over to adjacent areas within 1000 km; (2) China's renewable energy power consumption plays a significant role in promoting the improvement of carbon productivity. (3) Renewable energy consumption in the western region plays the most important role in driving carbon productivity. Finally, according to the temporal and spatial relationship between renewable energy consumption and carbon productivity in different regions, we provide specific regional policy suggestions. • The STIRPAT model is employed to explore temporal and spatial impact, while it considers sub regions. • Spatialy, the impact can spill over to adjacent areas within 1000km. Temporally, the impact fluctuates and rises. • The positive role of renewable energy consumption is found in China's western region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently experiencing rapid economic growth as a result of industrialization and urbanization. In the next 20 years, China's energy demand will increase substantially, and energy conservation will become imperative for the country's low carbon economic transformation. Since 1998, China's chemical fiber production has ranked first in the world. In 2011, China's chemical fiber production accounted for about 70% of the world's total output. Therefore, energy saving is important for China's chemical fiber industry, and can provide immense benefits, and hence the need for thorough and intense research. In this paper, the co-integration method is used to test the relationship between energy consumption and its influencing factors such as GDP, energy prices, population and R&D expenditures. The results show that there is a long-term relationship between the variables. Based on this, we estimate energy demand and predict the energy-saving potential for the industry under different scenarios. We apply the Monte Carlo simulation method to verify the reliability of the prediction. Scenario analysis is adopted to predict energy demand and energy saving in the industry under different scenarios. Finally, we propose some policy suggestions on energy saving based on the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting with the 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) and continuing in the 12th FYP, quantitative and binding targets have been set for energy-efficiency improvement in China. Drawing on international experience in burden-sharing on climate change, this paper presents a framework for provincial-level disaggregation of energy-saving targets in China. Based on principles of equity and efficiency, four scenarios have been established by weighting different choice preferences of responsibility, capacity, and potential. In addition, nonlinear and linear allocation models have been developed by considering or ignoring marginal energy-saving cost. When this framework was applied to the disaggregation of the national energy saving target of 16% during the 12th FYP, the results show that the final allocation schemes are largely determined by the policy maker's choice preferences. The extreme reduction target of 37.26% fell to Shanghai under responsibility preferring (RP) using the linear allocation method, while the capability preferring (CP) scenario considering marginal energy-saving cost is the closest to the actual scheme accepted by the 30 provinces. Development of such a framework may serve as a feasible policy instrument to help China achieve its conservation targets in a cost-effective way and in accordance with its regional development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program is China’s keystone energy conservation and climate change program. The program has effectively created a class of energy-intensive enterprises that are regulated by the government for energy conservation purposes. Through an empirical study conducted in Changchun, this paper shows that the adoption of energy efficiency technologies and practices has been highly uneven in this class of enterprises because of two reasons. First, a de facto two-tier regulatory system has emerged within the framework of the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program. Central state-owned enterprises are closely regulated by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) which is a central government apparatus, whereas local state-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises are regulated by the local government, which has fewer resources and incentives to implement the program rigorously. Second, the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program bundles together different types of enterprises. This approach places smaller enterprises at a disadvantage and limits their ability to conserve energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric power industry is a typical industry with high energy consumption and high emissions in China. To relieve the increasing environmental pressures and promote the sustainable development of China’s economy and society, it is urgent to take actions to reduce energy consumption and pollution emissions of China’s electric power industry. In this paper, we first present an overview of the development status of China’s electric power industry, including the total power generating capacity and proportions of different power generation methods, the development of renewable energy power generation, as well as the average utilization hours of different power generation equipment. Then, the development of energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry is studied. The indicators of energy conservation include coal consumption for power supply, power consumption rate of power plants and comprehensive line loss rate; while the contents of emissions reduction include desulfurization, emissions control and the comprehensive utilization of solid waste. Finally, suggestions in five aspects to promote energy conservation and emissions reduction of China’s electric power industry are presented. The five suggestions are improving power generation technologies, expanding renewable energy power generation, optimizing power generation process, strengthening monitoring and regulation, and promoting power generation rights and emissions trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With low energy intensity and great potential for growth, the commercial sector has become one of the key sectors for energy conservation and emission reduction in the context of China's rapid urbanization process. Based on the EIA (Energy Information Administration) statistical methods, this paper calculates the energy consumption of China's commercial sector from 1981 to 2012, specifies the determinants of commercial energy demand, forecasts future energy consumption and estimates the energy conservation potentials using the Johansen co-integration methodology. The results indicate: (i) GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and urbanization have positive effects on the energy consumption of the commercial sector while labor productivity and energy price contribute to reduction in the sector's energy consumption. (ii) Under the basic scenario, energy consumption of the commercial sector will be 317.34 and 469.84 Mtce (million tons of coal equivalent) in 2015 and 2020 respectively. (iii) Under the moderate and advanced scenario, about 187.00 and 531.45 Mtce respectively of the energy consumption of the commercial sector can be conserved from 2013 to 2020. The findings have important implications for policy-makers to enact energy-saving policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrolytic aluminium industry is a typical energy-intensive industry, and one of the six largest energy-consuming industries in China. The energy consumption of China’s electrolytic aluminium industry (CEAI) in 2011 accounted for 0.91% of China’s total energy consumption and 22.7% of the total energy consumption of the non-ferrous metal industry. In consideration of the bulk of energy used in the smelting process in the non-ferrous metal industry, CEAI assumes the corresponding obligation of energy conservation and emissions reduction. Using the co-integration method, the long-term equilibrium relationship among the energy consumption of CEAI, output, electricity price and average enterprise scale is obtained. Thereafter the Monte-Carlo simulation is used to forecast energy consumption and energy conservation potential of CEAI under different energy conservation scenarios, and conduct risk analysis. The research shows that increase in the price of electricity and enterprise scale is helpful to reducing the total energy consumption of CEAI. The future energy conservation potential of CEAI is large. According to the result of the analysis the energy conservation potential of CEAI in 2020 will reach 30.51 Mtce under the moderate energy conservation scenario and 49.93 Mtce under the advanced energy conservation scenario. Some corresponding policy suggestions are recommended in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) facilitates the efficient utilization of renewable energy sources and energy conservation, and it is expected to be more prevalent in the future for the great potential to substitute the use of renewable energy for burning of fossil fuels. As we all know, groundwater heat pump (GWHP) and aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) are typical forms in the area of GSHP and underground thermal energy storage (UTES) respectively. The effect of energy conservation plays an important role in the national energy strategy, but the groundwater environment has been affected and even damaged to some extent because of over-exploitation and unreasonable utilization. This paper reviewed the development from GWHP to ATES worldwide, especially in China and surveyed the situation of groundwater utilization from GWHP. It shows that lack of cognitive ability, scientific constraints and reasonable utilization may bring catastrophic damage to the groundwater resource. Future work should aim at more research on basic problems during the demonstration of applications, such as thermal interaction between pumping and injecting wells, energy transport in the field of well, groundwater contamination, etc. In fact, the characteristics and performance of unsteady and transient heat transfer in the complex underground environment of multi-wells, and their control strategies of the GWHP and ATES systems have been also the most pressing problems. Their explorations and studies will strengthen the theoretical and practical understanding, and guide an orderly, healthy and sustainable development from GWHP to ATES technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite reforms, China still largely applies the cost plus pricing mechanism for the energy sector. Government administrative energy pricing leads to energy price distortions, which could result in not only the excessive and wasteful energy consumption, but also environmental deterioration, thereby undermining energy conservation and emission abatement. Using fossil-fuel subsidies as a proxy for the level of energy price distortions, this paper estimates the subsidy of 22 Chinese departments during the period 2006–2010, and adopts the price-gap approach to analyze the impacts of subsidy removal on energy consumption and CO 2 emissions for the various sectors and energy types. The results demonstrate that removing energy subsidies would reduce energy consumption and emissions by 3.77% and 2.85%, respectively, but the effects vary across sectors. The transport, storage and post sector and the electricity, gas and water supply sector are much more affected by energy subsidies removal than other sectors. With respect to energy types, fuel oil and natural gas are sensitive to subsidies, indicating the magnitude of their consumption. This suggests that removing subsidies on these fuel types could significantly reduce CO 2 emissions. Finally, we comprehensively discuss relevant policy issues on energy price formation reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently experiencing rapid urbanization. The building sector plays an important role in China's energy conservation and emission reduction. An increasing amount of energy will be steadily consumed in the building sector as the urbanization process accelerates. China's government attaches great importance to building energy efficiency (BEE). How does the urbanization process affect building energy consumption (BEC)? How much energy can be saved in the building sector through implementation of energy polices? These questions are critical for government development strategies and planning. Thus, in this paper, an econometric model (co-integration technique) is developed to analyze how China's BEC is affected by macroeconomic variables in the context of urbanization, and also forecast the BEC and BEE potential until 2020 under different scenarios. The research result shows that occupants’ lifestyles, residents’ living standards, and energy price have significant influences on BEC. The building sector is likely to contribute approximately 20% to China's energy conservation through electricity pricing reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the feasibility of constructing multi-energy complementary systems in rural areas of China is examined. First, the rural energy structure and energy utilization in the eastern, central, and western regions of China are analyzed, and the development and utilization modes of multi-energy complementary systems in different regions are evaluated based on the differences in the resource endowment in different regions. Second, the input-output status of the multi-energy complementary mode in different regions is analyzed. Then, based on the assumption of technical feasibility, the feasibility of the multi-energy complementary system is analyzed in terms of various dimensions, such as economic, energy conservation, environmental protection, and social benefit. Finally, an empirical study is conducted by comparing the proposed multi-energy complementary system with traditional energy supply system. The results show that the development of a multi-energy complementary system in each region is feasible from the perspective of multiple dimensions to reduce environmental pollution, create employment opportunities, and improve the economy. Moreover, the system can significantly reduce the peak-valley difference and improve energy efficiency. • This paper analyzes the differences in energy structure in the different regions of China. • Construct a multi-energy complementary system in each region. • Demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a multi-energy complementary system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest producer and consumer of ten kinds of non-ferrous metals, China's non-ferrous metals industry accounts for 4.39% of total national energy consumption. It is an energy-intensive industry that faces great challenges related to energy consumption and global climate change. Applying energy-efficient technologies may be a useful strategy for the development of this industry. This paper establishes a technology system within the LEAP model to estimate energy conservation and CO2 emissions abatement potentials for China's non-ferrous metals industry in 2010-2020. Five smelting processes are considered for aluminum, copper, lead, zinc and magnesium. Three scenarios (BAU, LT and HT) are set to simulate different technological policies and calculate abatement potentials. The results indicate that energy consumption and CO2 emissions will continue to grow rapidly as the sector develops. Energy consumption under the BAU scenario will reach 88.15 million tce in 2020, 61% higher than in 2010. A maximum of 7.73 million tce of energy can be saved and 36.86 million tons of CO2 can be reduced under the strongest technology policy scenario (HT) compared to BAU. Energy conservation in aluminum, magnesium, zinc, copper and lead smelting processes account for 72.9%, 13.2%, 10.2%, 2.6% and 1.1% respectively of the total energy savings potential, while the CO2 abatement potential mostly comes from aluminum, which accounts for 86% of the total. Targeted technology policies should be made for different metals: in the aluminum sector for instance, large scale aluminum electrolytic cells above 300 kA, new cathode structures and intelligent optimization control technologies could be employed; in the zinc industry, direct leaching and long period electric-deposition could be utilized; in the magnesium industry, new types of kilns could be introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Chinese government has promulgated a wide variety of low-carbon initiatives to control the rapid growth of energy consumption and carbon emissions in the cities. Past records, however, show that the central government's policies are often poorly implemented or distorted by local officials. Using a case study from the city of Changchun, this paper examines how and why the issue of poor implementation persists despite the establishment of the Energy Conservation Target Responsibility System (ECTRS). As a key institutional mechanism providing local officials with political incentives to implement low-carbon policies, the ECTRS has been constrained by a number of problems, including a poorly designed scoring system, weak targets, the use of energy intensity instead of absolute energy consumption as a policy objective, and the lack of reliable local energy statistics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A temperature and humidity independent control (THIC) system is a way to regulate indoor temperature and humidity separately through different approaches. Because of this distinction, THIC air-conditioning systems can satisfy the adjustment requirements of indoor temperature and humidity better than conventional systems can, and they show significant potential for energy conservation. In the past ten years, rapid improvements have been achieved in both theoretical research and the development of equipment related to THIC systems, and more and more applications are being put into use in non-residential buildings in China. This paper focuses on the development of THIC systems in China and reviews recent achievements and progress related to the main devices used for temperature and humidity control, including outdoor air handling dehumidification processors, sensible heat terminals, and high-temperature cooling sources. The energy performance of THIC systems is examined based on an analysis of established applications. Both the performance of key components and the energy consumption of entire systems indicate that THIC systems result in significant improvements in energy performance compared to conventional systems. Developmental trends and recommendations about design methodology, ways to improve the performance of handling devices, and feedback from applications of THIC systems are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: At present, the global energy consumption of transport sectors is about one third of the total energy consumption of the world, such a proportion in China accounts for about 20%. Over the past decades, with the continuous development of China's economy, China's energy consumption increases rapidly, China became the world's biggest energy consumer in the year of 2009. Meanwhile, China's transport energy consumption grows greatly, and the proportion of the transport terminal energy consumption is expanding considerably. Recently, a number of theoretical methods and technical schemes focusing on China's transport energy consumption and saving were reported. In this paper, by reviewing the existing reports, we discuss and analyze the current status of China's transport energy consumption including four different transport sectors: road, railway, waterway and civil aviation, and outline the trend of China's transport energy consumption and the four sectors. In addition, the technology status of China's energy saving in road, railway and waterway transport as well as civil aviation and their development direction are also presented. Here by analyzing the major development barriers of the technology and policy of China's transport energy saving, some related policy suggestions are proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Energy consumption keeps increasing in China's building sector with the constant growth of urban population and people's living standard. In order to achieve co-benefits of reducing energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy costs effectively, all respects related to the energy performance in the building sector need to be addressed. Considering the fact that over 80% of total energy use in a building's lifecycle is contributed by the operation stage, the study's focus is put on this stage for well understanding the energy consumption and carbon emissions and exploring the approach to achieve the effectiveness of co-benefits. The energy use in large commercial buildings is 4–6 times higher than residential buildings in China, thus IKEA Xuhui Store as one of large shopping malls in Shanghai is selected as the case study by using the method formed in the study. The outcomes of research show that the benefit of annual 170 MWh of energy use and 150 tons of CO2e reduction as well as the significant economic benefit have been achieved by implementing different measures in IKEA Xuhui Store between 2008 and 2011. Existing investment, technology and capacity barriers to co-benefits approach in a wider consideration of China's building sector are described. The assessment for evaluating co-benefits of cutting energy use and CO2 emissions in the production and demolition stages in a building's lifecycle are also addressed by the paper. However, it is very complicated to make a lifecycle assessment on the overall co-benefits in the building sector because of the complexity and the lack of available data for the research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Economic growth in China needs lots of energy to support, but how to obtain a sufficient energy supply is now a problem. Meanwhile, environmental pollution caused by energy consumption is a problem that urgently needs to be solved. In order to adapt China’s fast developing economy, and on the basis of current policies, paying more attention to energy saving and environmental protection is more important. Therefore, to reasonably analyze China’s regional environmental efficiency and its determinants has practical significance. This article uses the Super-SBM model under undesirable outputs to measure regional environmental efficiency in China, and then explores influential factors of China’s environmental efficiency between 1991–2001 by means of the Tobit regression model. The empirical results show that during the sample period, the overall average level of China’s environmental efficiency is low, and the gap between different provinces and areas is large. The eastern area’s efficiency is obviously superior to the central and western area, which shows the necessity at present to optimize regional integration and promote innovation of energy conservation and emission reduction technology. At the same time, the “Eleven-Five ” year plan clearly states the energy saving and consumption reducing index, which motivates a great increase in China’s overall environmental efficiency, and promotes the fast development of resource conservation and environmentally friendly societal construction. The analysis of the influence factors by the Tobit model shows that fiscal decentralization and technology progress can increase environmental efficiency on the whole while economic scale and regional difference can also influence the efficiency. However, these factors’ influence is not the same in different areas. Finally, based on the research results, this paper gives policy recommendations on reducing pollution emissions and increasing China’s environmental efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper employs a spatial dynamic panel model to forecast China's energy consumption in 2011–2020. We find that energy consumption would continue to increase at least till 2020, with annual growth rates of 10% in 2011–2015 and 6% in 2016–2020. A higher proportion of service sectors in the economy and technological progress reduce energy demand. However, the latter appears to have dwindled impact since 2001. Strong spatial dependence implies copying behaviour in energy consumption across regions. Therefore, more efficient energy control at the disaggregated level can have multiplied impact on the country's goal in energy saving and carbon emission reducing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Hotel buildings consume a significant amount of energy, especially their chiller systems. This study aims to create a model of the power consumption of the hotel chillers, and to identify the practical means to reduce the power usage of chillers. The examined parameters include air-conditioned floor area, guest floor area, gross floor area, number of employees, room occupancy, food cover, outdoor air temperature, window velocity, service type and relative humidity. It is anticipated that the developed modeling equation may provide a reference for hotel engineers to forecast any diagnostic problems and form a benchmarking indicator for comparing chillers’ energy efficiency. A survey of hotels in Shanghai was carried out to collect energy consumption data of chillers during air-conditioned cooling months. Regression analysis indicates that number of staff was a major and statistically accepted factor in explaining the electricity consumption of chiller in hotels. In addition, the paper discusses some means and suggestions in reducing chillers’ power consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Evaluation of the energy and emissions efficiency of Chinese regions has recently attracted increasing interest. A number of previous studies have contributed to the measurement of energy efficiency using various types of data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. However, most of these DEA-based energy efficiency analyses were restricted to the radial expansions of outputs or radial contractions of inputs. In this paper, we utilize the multi-directional efficiency analysis (MEA) approach instead of the traditional radial DEA to investigate Chinese regional energy and emissions efficiency. Since MEA selects benchmarks such that the input contractions or output expansions are proportional to the potential improvement identified by considering the improvement potential in each input or output variable separately, not just the efficiency status but also the efficiency patterns of different Chinese regions and areas can be detected. The empirical study results indicate that, in general, the MEA efficiency of China experienced an increasing process over the study period 1997–2010; the east area overall is more MEA efficient than the central area and the west area of China during the study period; the significant higher MEA efficiency of the east area to the central area and the west area are due to both the higher energy specific efficiency and the higher emissions specific efficiency of the east area compared to the other two areas; the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, and Hubei etc. have both high energy saving potentials and high emissions reduction potentials, thus they will play the most important roles in China’s effort on energy conservation and CO2 emissions mitigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the critical worldwide energy shortage and global environment concern, lignocellulosic biomass is regarded as one of the potential renewable energy resources to substitute conventional fossil fuels. Among various thermo-chemical conversion technologies, gasification is now regarded as an advanced and efficient method. Based on the mechanism of biomass gasification, this paper outlines different types of gasifiers that have been developed in China. Air gasification technology has been employed in the rural areas or forestry/agricultural processing entities. Obviously, the product gas for cooking and heating can significantly upgrade the living standard of rural residents. The product gas for heating boiler and generating electricity benefits the forest or agricultural processing enterprises. For China’s sustainable development of energy and environment, multi-cogeneration of heat, electricity and liquid fuels together with chemical feedstock will be a potential direction for efficiently utilizing product gas from lignocellulosic biomass. This means oxygen (including oxygen-enriched air) gasification and steam gasification should be taken into more consideration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A number of radiant heating/cooling systems have been applied in Mainland China in recent years for its improved thermal comfort and inherent energy saving potential. Because the systems require relatively higher temperatures for cooling and lower temperatures for heating, many natural low-grade energy sources can be directly or indirectly used. However, because of a lack of information about prior practical projects, a number of difficulties in design, construction and management of the systems have been encountered, and energy efficiency is not necessarily achieved in all situations. This paper reviews the practical applications in four major projects involving different building types located in different climatic cities and presents the associated considerations in system design. Other factors affecting the energy efficiency of the systems are identified, such as the spatial convection and radiation heat transfer processes in indoor environments and the envelope thermal properties. Further studies are needed to achieve system optimization and to realize the full energy saving potentials of radiant systems by developing analytical design methods and monitoring the actual energy use of such systems in completed projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Current energy designs for a building in China focus on the energy efficiency of the whole building and thus often neglect the energy difference between different housing units in apartment buildings. The best design technique in terms of energy savings is not only to decrease whole building energy demand, but also to reduce the energy difference between different housing units to a relatively low level. This paper introduces an important index “energy performance difference between housing units” (EDH) to evaluate the drawbacks of conventional designs on a typical residential building in hot summer and cold winter zone. Then nine improved design options were considered as the possible strategies to diminish the EDH, based on a number of building simulations with the program DeST-h. Results show that the option 9 (add movable shading for the east facing windows and west facing windows, and reduce the U-values of the east walls and west facing windows), an improved design strategy according to the EDH of the current design, reduces the EDH to less than 4% that is much lower than other options and meanwhile ensures a decrease in whole building energy demands. A case study was carried out to validate the effectiveness of this index in optimization. As a conclusion, EDH is a very useful index for optimizing energy designs of apartment buildings and can be used in China to improve conventional building designs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In Hong Kong, conventional air-conditioning (AC) systems cause a high energy consumption and poor indoor thermal comfort. This paper investigated the AC load profiles of three typical local commercial buildings, i.e. office, hotel and retail, and examined the energy consumption of liquid desiccant cooling system (LDCS) for these buildings. Simulation results showed that the cooling load contributed to more than 98% of total annual load, with high latent load proportion from March to September. The high reheating ratio, i.e. from 60% to 90%, is found to be the main reason for the poor thermal comfort. Therefore, the LDCS which could handle sensible and latent loads separately was proposed. However, the electricity-driven LDCS was found not suitable for local commercial buildings. significant energy saving could be achieved by the solar-assisted LDCS system with thermal storage, when the installation area for solar collectors is larger than the minimum required one, i.e. 9.7m2/(kWm−2) for office and 12.7m2/(kWm−2) for hotel buildings. Energy saving of different system types with different installation areas was also studied. The solar-assisted LDCS shows more energy saving in winter but less in summer. Results and conclusions can be useful for researchers and local engineers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Energy consumption by passenger transport in Hong Kong increased rapidly in the past decades and in 2008 it accounted for 19.7% of total energy use. Improving energy efficiency has been widely regarded as an effective way for reducing energy use in the transport sector. However, the expected energy savings from energy efficiency improvement are likely to be discounted due to the existence of rebound effect. This paper employs econometric models to estimate the direct rebound effect for private passenger transport in Hong Kong. We find that the magnitudes of the direct rebound effect are respectively 45% and 35% for 1993–2009 and 2002–2009, which indicates that there was a declining trend in the direct rebound effect for passenger transport over time. It also indicates that the direct rebound effect needs to be taken into consideration in assessing the impact of energy efficiency measures on reducing energy use in Hong Kong. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Analyses and forecasts of carbon emissions, energy consumption and real outputs are key requirements for clean energy economy and climate change in rapid growth market such as China. This paper employs the nonlinear grey Bernoulli model (NGBM) to predict these three indicators and proposes a numerical iterative method to optimize the parameter of NGBM. The forecasting ability of NGBM with optimal parameter model, namely NGBM−OP has remarkably improved, compared to the GM and ARIMA. The MAPEs of NGBM−OP for out-of-sample (2004–2009) are ranging from 1.10 to 6.26. The prediction results show that China’s compound annual emissions, energy consumption and real GDP growth is set to 4.47%, −0.06% and 6.67%, respectively between 2011 and 2020. The co-integration results show that the long-run equilibrium relationship exists among these three indicators and emissions appear to be real output inelastic and energy consumption elastic. The estimated values cannot support an EKC hypothesis, and real output is significantly negative impact on emissions. In order to promote economic and environmental quality, the results suggest that China should adopt the dual strategy of increasing energy efficiency, reducing the loss in power transmission and distribution and stepping up energy conservation policies to reduce any unnecessary wastage of energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tiered electricity price (TEP) reform is a planning policy for household electricity conservation in China. Based on TEP, several price hierarchies are provided, and additional payment will be charged if the electricity consumptions exceed the upper bound of each hierarchy. Yet, the optimal level of each price tier and the institutions for implementing TEP need further research, which are set on the basis of considering residents’ affordability and willingness to pay. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring determinants of public willingness to accept TEP and finding out the acceptable range of premium. A questionnaire survey in four urban cities of China is conducted to collect data, and an ordinary regression model is adopted in our analysis to identify the drivers and barriers to general public’s acceptance of TEP. The results show that middle income earners are the groups that are mostly opposed to TEP. Rather than just focusing on economic factors, public environmental awareness should be highlighted during the implementation of TEP, because cost is not a statistically significant determinant in this study. Moreover, the public acceptable rate of premium of TEP in the urban cities, according to our research results, may be below .05RMB/kWh. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The negative effects of energy consumption and pollution have restrained the Chinese economy from further rapid growth. Therefore to clarify their relationship with economic growth can lay a solid foundation for the decision-making of energy conservation and pollution reduction and ensure the sustainable development of the Chinese economy. Using panel data on the 30 Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2008, this paper builds a 3E model of pollution, energy and production and conducts an empirical study on the interaction between pollutant emission, energy consumption and average GDP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a dynamic low-carbon model was developed to show a quantitative and consistent future snapshot. This study presents three scenarios for Chongqing''s energy consumption and related CO2 emissions up to 2020, which includes basic development scenario, macro-policy control development scenario and low carbon development scenario. It explains the crucial technologies for Chongqing city as it leaves a business-as-usual trajectory and embarks on a low carbon pathway. A major finding from the scenario analysis is that low carbon and energy-saving policies can dramatically improve Chongqing''s position. Under the low carbon scenario, several suggestions for policy making are proposed. This dynamic low-carbon model would benefit from the allocation of decision-making powers in the areas of regulation, policy-making and planning for low carbon development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The shading-type BIPV claddings can act as power generators as well as external shading devices and insulation panels. There is little available information about the impacts of orientations and inclinations on the combined energy effects of the shading-type BIPV claddings, including the power output of PV modules, the cooling load reduction of windows and concrete walls. It is worth studying the effects of different shading-type BIPV cladding designs on the total energy saving in order to maximize the system’s energy performance. By considering the meteorological conditions in Hong Kong, the energy effect of the shading-type BIPV claddings with different surface azimuth angles, in terms of electricity generation and cooling energy consumption reduction is analyzed in this paper. Based on the investigations, the optimum design of the shading-type BIPV claddings for different orientations can be achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Energy conservation (EC) has been taken as basic state policy in China for more than 20 years and China achieves 3.9% annual energy saving from 1980 to 2005. In 2006 China Central Government firstly set up a binding target of reducing GDP energy intensity by 20% in its 11th Five-Year-Plan (FYP). At the end of 2010, 19.1% reduction in energy intensity has been achieved, which is 95% of the target and means 608 million tons stand coal equivalence (sce) saved, 1510 million tons CO2 emission reduced, 300 billion RMB¥ saving in energy bill and vast saving in infrastructure investment. This paper is systematical review and prospective analysis on energy policy issue in China. Review on policy evolution and progress of EC and Emission Reduction (ER) in China during the 11th FYP periods is presented in detail. Outlook of energy demand and supply into 2050 is presented and the roadmap to realize sustainable energy development is drafted to set the framing constraints for China''s energy policy options. Rationality and feasibility analysis on newly formulated 12th FYP EC and ER target is also addressed. Then lessons from the 11th FYP periods are drawn and factors underlying and limiting the policy formulation and implementation are discussed in details to probe the policy predicament and solutions. Finally policy suggestions are proposed for long-term successful implementation of EC and ER in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons for ever growing energy consumption in buildings and to give enhanced supervision strategies for reduction of building energy consumption compared to regular ones. A case study of Ningbo city was used to make a detail analysis. Several factors were determined as the reasons for ever growing building energy consumption including climate change, household electricity load increase, the growth of real estate, fast-growing household electrical appliances, high energy consumption in existing buildings, changes in industrial structure and the lack of enhanced government supervision. Then the discussion of suitable countermeasures shows that only enhanced supervision strategies are currently applicable. Finally, it is concluded that enhanced government supervision strategies, including the establishment of a strict control system for new built buildings through information integration and encryption, establishing an energy efficiency supervision system of large-scale public building and a carrot-and-stick approach with added expert checklist for the building application of renewable energy, showed great advantages in promoting building energy efficiency in Ningbo, compared with other cities. These supervision strategies are applicable in other cities as they are in the similar situations in the enforcement of building energy efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Historically, many resource conservation campaigns failed because they paid inadequate attention to the interests of stakeholders. As a consequence, stakeholder analysis has gained increasing attention in order to avoid potential policy failures in the related fields. However, the stakeholder analysis of China’s energy conservation campaign still has been under-developed. This paper proposes a network-based modeling framework to facilitate the development of stakeholder analysis of China’s energy conservation campaign. Given the proposed framework, an illustrative case study is provided to elaborate how to integrate a set of techniques to further develop a quantitative model, as well as to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed framework. The results derived from the case study shows that the proposed framework and the model can be used as analytical tools to improve the government’s policy-making process in term of providing a systematic perspective of stakeholder interrelations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper computes the three major types of efficient electricity, coal, and gasoline oil savings for 27 regions in China during the period 2000–2003. The data envelopment analysis (DEA) with a single output (real GDP) and five inputs (labor, real capital stock, coal consumption, gasoline oil consumption, and electricity consumption) is used to compute the energy-saving targets of each region for each year. The efficient energy-saving ratios of each region in each year are obtained by comparing the actual energy inputs to target energy inputs. Our major findings are as follows: 1. The east area contains most of the efficient regions with respect to the three major types of energy in every year during the research period. 2. The east, central, and west areas have 2000–2003 average target saving ratios of coal consumption at 18.58%, 44.00%, and 59.80%, gasoline consumption at 13.43%, 22.70%, and 45.04%, and electricity consumption at 8.55%, 16.42%, and 43.70%, respectively. 3. Compared to the cases of gasoline oil and electricity, coal consumption saving is China’s most urgent task. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify the relations between transportation energy consumption and its impacted factors. We first analyze the current status of transportation energy consumption in China. Then, the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) technique is used to find the nature of the factors those influence the changes in transportation energy consumption. We find that: (1) In 2006, the transportation energy consumption increased by 7.63 times against that in 1980. (2) Up to 2006, the oil consumed by transportation accounted for 49.6% of that in the whole country, which almost equaled to the net oil import. (3) In the light of the increasing energy consumption intensity, the energy-utilization effectiveness of transportation sector has been declining gradually. (4) The transportation activity effect is the most important contributor to increase energy consumption in the transportation sector and the energy intensity effect plays the dominant role in decreasing energy consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper decomposes Jiangsu energy consumption intensity change from 1998-2008. And the energy consumption intensity is decomposed into FDI scale effect, FDI structure effect and FDI technology effect, using LMDI model. Decomposition and analysis results show that FDI scale effect reduces the energy consumption intensity. FDI structure and technology effect fluctuates and do not promote the reduction of energy consumption intensity, on the whole. Therefore, to reduce the energy consumption intensity of Jiangsu Province, we suggest that while expanding FDI scale, we should adopt unified energy-saving and emission-reducing requirements to FDI enterprises and domestic ones. Meanwhile, we should increase the foreign investment proportion in the technology-intensive industries and encourage FDI enterprises to use and exchange advanced energy-saving technologies. Moreover, we should adjust the distribution industry structure of FDI to optimize the industrial structure adjustment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Zhejiang is a major province of energy consumption, but poor in energy resources. The inherent and complete dependence on importing energy makes energy security extremely difficult, which draws more attention to the energy conservation in Zhejiang. A great many factors of which the relations are complex affect the energy conservation. By introducing System Dynamics analysis, which has a unique advantage of analyzing the multiple and complex feedback system, this paper aims to analyze energy conservation in Zhejiang, and finally comes to some conclusions of values towards governments’ policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper uses two methods LMDI and Laspeyres to analysis the influences the industrial structure has on energy consumption,including how much the three industries have contribution to energy intensity .The results we conclude are:1) Economy has a strong stimulating effect on energy consumption;2)The effect of improving energy efficiency by using science and technology is significant in Guangdong province, especially in the secondary industry; 3) The secondary industry plays a positive role in reducing energy intensity, and the advantages of the tertiary industry isn’t displayed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although EPC has been used in energy conservation for many years in developed countries, its still a new industry in China. This paper reviews the development of ESCos in developed countries and discusses the current status of ESCO industries in China. Then it analyses the benefits and drawbacks of different EPC mode and an implementation program of energy-efficient lighting in a university is proposed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Based on the definition of carbon footprint and elements that affect it, a model was constructed for empirical research, using data of cities in Hunan Province from 2005 to 2009, to calculate the amount of carbon footprint and to analyze the relationships between carbon footprint and each of the elements, including population, level of economic development, industrial structure and energy structure. In addition, this paper also puts forward solutions to further low-carbon development of Hunan Province in the areas of low-carbon development mechanism energy structure low carbon life style and talent development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article evaluated the energy effeciency in Hebei Province using some indicators such as comprehensive energy consumption, efficiency of energy transformation. Then it makes a comparative analysis about the HeBei Province''s status in the country''s energy conservation. The final part of the paper predicts energy consumption indicators in HeBei province from 2009 to 2013. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The study is reported on the effect of psychological, family and contextual factors on residential energy use behaviour. A survey of 1376 residents was carried out in Dalian, a coastal city in the northeast of China. Results show that energy concern, biospheric value, barriers to behaviour, money saving and personal norm are the most powerful predictors for residential energy use behaviour. It is of Chinese characteristics that the aged has a positive impact on household energy conservation. The paper argues that government and society should make effective instruments to guide residents live in a low carbon lifestyle. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of RIUDS [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Due to the pressure of the global energy resources and the environment, the sustainable development of economy in China faces seriously challenge, the mode of economic growth has to be changed urgently. Nowadays, China is at a rapidly increasing stage of industrialization and urbanization which has the obvious characteristics of the heavy-duty industry. A lot of energy requirement have been brought because of the infrastructure construction and the upgrading people''s consumption level. This paper analyzed the characteristics of China''s economic transition stage, the current industrial energy-saving features, the obtained achievement and the existing problems. Then, a solution of industrial energy-saving has been put forward during China''s economic transformation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper takes Jiangsu province as an example, divides the zone of energy risks and uses GM (1, 1) and the combination of BP network model to forecast energy demand in this region.Finally, we adopt ARCEngine secondary development achieving the system simulation, and putting forward a strategic suggestion on energy problem of Jiangsu province. The study provides the scientific data support for making energy policy rationally, reducing the increasingly prominent phenomenon of energy demand and offer support for different levels in different departments. It can provide the scientific basis for risk prevention and comprehensive risk management plan. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of RIUDS [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Along with high-speed economic development and increasing energy consumption, the Chinese Government faces a growing pressure to maintain the balance between energy supply and demand. In 2009, China has become both the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitting country in the world. In this case, the inappropriate energy consumption structure should be changed. As an alternative, a suitable infrastructure for the implementation of renewable energy may serve as a long-term sustainable solution. The perspective of a 100% renewable energy system has been analyzed and discussed in some countries previously. In this process, assessment of domestic renewable energy sources is the first step. Then appropriate methodologies are needed to perform energy system analyses involving the integration of more sustainable strategies. Denmark may serve as an example of how sustainable strategies can be implemented. The Danish system has demonstrated the possibility of converting into a 100% renewable energy system. This paper discusses the perspective of renewable energy in China firstly, and then analyses whether it is suitable to adopt similar methodologies applied in other countries as China approaches a renewable energy system. The conclusion is that China’s domestic renewable energy sources are abundant and show the possibility to cover future energy demand; the methodologies used to analyse a 100% renewable energy system are applicable in China. Therefore, proposing an analysis of a 100% renewable energy system in China is not unreasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A survey of the key issues associated with the development in the Chinese iron and steel industry and current situations of energy consumption are described in this paper. The apparent production of crude steel in China expanded to 418.78 million tonnes in 2006, which was about 34% share of the world steel production. The iron and steel industry in China is still one of the major high energy consumption and high pollution industries, which accounts for the consumption of about 15.2% of the national total energy, and generation of 14% of the national total wastewater and waste gas and 6% of the total solid waste materials. The average energy consumption per unit of steel is about 20% higher than that of other advanced countries due to its low energy utilization efficiency. However, the energy efficiency of the iron and steel industry in China has made significant improvement in the past few years and significant energy savings will be achieved in the future by optimizing end-use energy utilization. Finally, some measures for the industry in terms of the economic policy of China''s 11th five-year plan are also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]