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The construction industry plays a crucial role in achieving carbon neutrality by reducing energy consumption. However, Building energy consumption (BEC) in China is increasing concomitantly with the rapid increase in urbanization. This study utilizes nighttime light data to construct a nighttime light index for urbanization, and empirically studies the impacts of urbanization on BEC intensity. The results show that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between BEC intensity and urbanization level on a nationwide scale, while an inverted-U relationship exists in Eastern developed regions, suggesting that an increasing BEC intensity is not an inevitable result of urbanization. Urbanization in the compact city mode inhibits BEC intensity to some extent, while urbanization in the urban sprawl mode often develops at the expense of increasing BEC intensity. The acceleration of the regional coordinated development and the adoption of the compact city mode are suggested to achieve energy-saving and emission-reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An instrument called the liquid signature analyzer (LSA) has been developed for liquid property studies. The LSA is based on fiber-capacitive drop analysis and produces a liquid drop fingerprint (LDF) which shows the variation of the coupled light signal inside the drop along with the drop formation. The LDF reflects multiple properties of the tested liquids and it is unique under certain conditions. A fiber-capacitive drop sensor is designed through which a satiated and uniform drop is formed. A micro-flow feeding pump, actuated by a single stepper motor and controlled by the computer software, is devised to ensure that the drop is slowly delivered under quasi-equilibrium conditions. Modulation and demodulation are used to exclude the possible influence of ambient light in the fiber signal processing circuit. Three methods are presented in capacitive signal measurement; they are frequency modulation, differential frequency method, and transformer bridge method. A computer interface for the LSA has been established and software for data acquisition and preliminary image processing was programmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]