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Whether renewable energy consumption is beneficial to reducing CO 2 emission intensity and carbon emissions in the context of the goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" in China. To prove this conjecture, considering the spatial spillover effect of carbon dioxide, this paper adopts the spatial Dubin model for empirical analysis based on the panel data of China's 30 provinces over the period 2002–2019. This study explores the CO 2 intensity mitigation effect of China's renewable energy consumption and further investigates the mediation role of technological innovation, industrial structure upgrading and optimization, and energy efficiency in the nexus between renewable energy consumption and carbon intensity. The main findings present that: (1) China's carbon emission intensity is characterized by significant spatial correlation; (2) Renewable energy consumption can significantly reduce carbon intensity and per capita carbon emissions; (3) The mediation effect of renewable energy consumption in reducing carbon emission intensity is to promote technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, as well as improve energy efficiency. Based on the conclusions, this paper offers several policy implications for governments to reduce CO 2 emission intensity. • The impact of renewable energy consumption on CO 2 emission intensity is explored. • Renewable energy consumption can reduce carbon emission intensity and per capita carbon emissions. • Renewable energy consumption reduces CO 2 intensity through the spatial mediation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper construct a CCHP and renewable energy based hybrid energy system driven by distributed energy resources (DERs CCHP). Then, the paper constructs performance indexes from energy, economic and environment. Thirdly, the paper proposes a multi-objective optimization model for DERs CCHP system under four optimization of energy rate (ER), total operation cost (TOC), carbon dioxide emission reductions (CER) and joint optimization. Finally, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center (GHEMC) in China is taken as the object for comparatively analyzing the operation performance of DERs CCHP system and CCHP system driven by natural gas (NG CCHP system). Results show: Joint optimization mode could balance the results of different optimization modes. DERs CCHP system shows better operation performance. ER of ER optimization, CER optimization and joint optimization are higher than that of NG CCHP system. NPV of all optimization modes is positive, IRR are bigger than the expected yield rate. DERs CCHP system could reduce CO 2 emission by utilizing wind energy and solar energy to replace NG. The sensitivity analysis indicates the performance of the DERs CCHP system will become better with the increase of chiller COP, decrease of NG price and wind-photovoltaic equipment cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: With the largest population living in countryside, the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from rural energy consumption is a serious problem in China. The full development and utilization of renewable energy is the key and effective way for solving the CO2 emissions problem. This paper reviews the rural energy consumption level and structure in China. Then, this paper discusses the potential for renewable energy development as well as its CO2 emissions reductions in rural areas. Results show that if full development and utilization of renewable energy is achieved, on the basis of energy data in 2008, China's rural energy consumption and even 2.2 times of that can be supplied by 100% carbon-free energy resources (which do not contain the biomass energy) without considering economic and technical constraints, and 2.4 times of that can be provided by renewable energy. Moreover, to evaluate the application priority, cost-effectiveness of each renewable energy resource is analyzed. Based on the characteristics of renewable energy resources, new promotional strategies to ensure the full development and utilization of renewable energy in rural China are also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With rapid urbanization and industrialization, China has become both the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitting country in the world. As a clean and low-carbon energy source, renewable energy is a good choice to substitute for the exhausted fossil energy. The Chinese central and local governments have made a series of policies and optimistic plans to promote a rapid development of renewable energies. China′s renewable energy development has become a key to the sustainable development of socio-economic system. Unlike most of the current studies which mainly identified the challenges regarding policies and technologies around renewable energy or performed specific analyses for a certain kind of renewable energy, this paper summarizes the spatial disparity and consistency among the major renewable energies, coal resources, energy consumption and its major influencing factors in China, and reviews the positive and negative environmental impacts of major renewable energies. Based on the geographical and environmental perspectives, this paper recommends that the Chinese government: constructs the national energy production bases according to the resource distribution; integrates different energies on the basis of their natural features and spatial consistency; adjusts the overall layout of socio-economic development consistent with renewable energies; and promotes a moderate renewable energy development to maximize the environmental benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract China's power sector has become the largest contributor to China's carbon emissions because of its coal-dominated power structure. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is an effective way to reduce carbon emissions and, therefore, a series of targets for renewable electricity generation have been put forward in national plans. However, how these targets will be reached is unclear. This paper uses a Long-range Energy Alternative Planning system (LEAP) model to explore the optimum development path of China's power sector from 2015 to 2050, taking into consideration the impacts of the renewable energy targets. Three scenarios are designed to examine the costs and benefits of developing renewable energy and improving the technologies for renewable power generation, comprising a base scenario, a renewable energy policy scenario and a technological progress scenario. The results show that the power generation cost would increase by at least 2.31 trillion RMB and that CO 2 emissions would be reduced by 35.8 billion tonnes during 2015–2050 if power generation follows current planning. Furthermore, every 1% increase in the capacity factors of renewable electricity would on average result in the cumulative CO 2 emissions decreased by 979 million tonnes and average CO 2 abatement cost decreased by 5.56 RMB/tCO 2 during 2015–2050. Based on this study, several policy implications are proposed for the development of power sector in China. Firstly, government may reconsider the current planning for gas-fired power and nuclear power to reach low-carbon electricity generation. Secondly, adjusting the carbon price can offset the additional cost of renewable electricity generation. Thirdly, promoting advanced technologies to match renewable electricity generation can obtain greater economic and environmental benefits. Finally, from the perspective of development potential, reducing the costs of solar power would be the emphasis at this stage. Highlights • Effects of renewable energy development plan in power sector are evaluated for China. • The optimal development path with minimum cost for the power sector are given. • National plans for renewable electricity can reduce 35.8 billion tonnes of CO 2 until 2050. • Average CO 2 abatement cost for promoting renewable power is 64.53 RMB/tCO 2 during 2015–2050. • Every 1% increase of the capacity factors of renewable power would decrease the average CO 2 abatement cost by 5.56 RMB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Theses on China's low-carbon economy focus on the driving forces of carbon emissions, energy–carbon efficiency, and the carbon–economy nexus. Meanwhile, comprehensive frameworks that assess China's green economy and also analyze its driving forces are lacking. This paper constructs a green productivity index based on the Global Malmquist–Luenberger productivity index to evaluate the development of the low-carbon economy in China. A panel vector auto-regression model is adopted to further analyze the endogenous interactions and dynamic relationships among aspects of the green economy and its influencing factors. Empirical results show that China has seen a balanced development of green economic growth in 2000–2016, achieved in a series of clear stages. To maintain the sustainable growth of the low-carbon economy in the future, China must rely more on technological progress. This research also makes some important discoveries that have not been found in previous studies: the impact of China's industrial structure and energy consumption structure on the green economy are short term, having a duration of impact of approximately four years. Finally, we provide an assessment of provincial green economy development and describe the corresponding policy implications. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • A comprehensive analysis of China's green economy. • A slack-based Global Malmquist–Luenberger index is adopted to calculate the Green Productivity Index in China. • The stage characteristics of green economic development are identified. • A panel vector autoregressive model is used to analyze the interactions among aspects of the environmental economic system. • The findings that the impact duration of energy structure, industry structure, and urbanization on the green economy is about four years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to address climate change, in 2013 China launched the world’s largest government-driven carbon emission reduction programme, the National Low Carbon Industrial Parks Pilot Programme (LCIPPP). This paper analyses this newly developed pilot program. To deepen our understanding of the causes and the impact of industrial park CO 2 emissions, we use the STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) model and data from 20 pilot industrial parks involved in the LCIPPP for the period 2012–2016. This study quantitatively evaluates the effect of CO 2 emissions on output, energy structure, energy intensity, industrial structure, R&D intensity, and population change in different regions and nationally through an elasticity coefficient method. The results confirm that an increase in output and energy intensity is a dominant contributor to the growth of CO 2 emissions whereas an increase of the share of tertiary industry and R&D intensity has significant effects on reducing CO 2 emissions. The elasticity of energy intensity and renewable energy consumption on CO 2 emissions in the eastern region of China is the highest, indicating that using renewable energy to reduce CO 2 emissions for the industrial parks is more effective in the eastern region as compared to the central and western regions of the country. The elasticity of population is significantly negative in both the central and western areas while it is positive in eastern part of China, thereby illustrating that promoting labour intensive industries will be an effective way to reduce CO 2 emissions for the industrial parks in China’s central and western regions. Our study reveals that differentiated low carbon development pathways should be adopted. Concrete policy implications for reducing CO 2 emissions are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's power industry contributes around 40% CO 2 emissions to the national total. The substitution of wind power for coal-fired power is crucial to the realization of CO 2 emission reduction target in China. By deploying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, this paper identifies that the carbon footprints of a representative coal fired plant and a wind farm in China are 810.35 g/kWh and 12.51 g/kWh respectively. Built on these results, the substitution capacities of wind power for coal-fired power to realize the CO 2 emission reduction target in 2020 and 2030 are discussed. It is concluded that China's wind power needs to develop faster than the goal set in the 12th Five Year Renewable Energy Development Plan for achieving the target of 45% emission reduction in 2020. Moreover, the feasibility of the substitution of wind power for coal-fired power is analyzed. It is argued that whilst China has great potential to realize such substitution given its rich wind resources, the full realization of the substitution requires some radical reforms in the power sector in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing carbon emissions and managing the aging crisis represent two major challenges in China that involve various requirements for continued economic growth. This paper investigated the relationships between population factors and carbon emissions and further explored the impact of population aging on carbon emissions at the national and regional levels based on the STIRPAT model and provincial panel data from China. Our results show that at the national level, population aging and population quality are positively correlated with China's carbon emissions. The impact of the population living standard on carbon emissions exhibits an urban-rural difference. At the regional level, the impact of population aging on carbon emissions exhibits regional differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the recent decades, China’s building energy consumption has been growing rapidly. Also the fuel mix has been changing quickly with more natural gas & electricity and less coal being used. Meanwhile, the technologies used in building sector are improving in efficiency. In this paper, the impact of technical progress and the use of renewable energy in building sector are analyzed. The energy saving and emission reduction potential of building sector are also measured. China TIMES model is used to model the future energy consumption and carbon emissions in building sector. The modelling results indicate that building energy consumption is expected to grow to around 41.6EJ in the reference scenario in 2050. The energy saving potential in 2050 can be up to 4EJ due to the improvement of both building insulation (envelop) and energy use technologies. Renewable energy used in buildings can be a great contributor to the carbon mitigation in buildings. China’s building sector can reach a relatively low-carbon future with more low- and non-carbon fuels consumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly investigates the relationship among energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth in China from 1952 to 2012. First, we implement unit root and cointegration analysis to test the stationary. Furthermore, we analyze the mutual influence among energy consumption, carbon emissions and economic growth through Granger causality analysis. Next, we also conduct static and dynamic regression analysis on the determinants of carbon emissions and economic growth. Last, we predict the future influence of different energy consumption on carbon emissions and economic growth. We find that coal has dominant impact on economic growth and carbon emissions. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has bi-directional relationship with CO 2 (carbon dioxide) emission, coal, gas, and electricity consumption. It is imperative to change energy consumption structure in China. We had better decrease coal consumption rate. It is significant to develop hydro and nuclear power in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in China for the period 1977–2011. Autoregressive Distributed Lag approach (ARDL) to cointegration and Johansen cointegration techniques are employed by including intermittent variables namely carbon dioxide emissions and labor. We also employed Granger causality test in order to determine the direction of the causality among the variables. The results show that there is a bi-directional long term causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth. This finding implies that growing economy in China is propitious for the development of renewable energy sector which in turn helps to boost economic growth. We also find that labor influences renewable energy consumption in the short term. However, there is no evidence of long or short run causality between carbon emissions and renewable energy consumption. This implies that actual level of renewable energy in China is still insignificant and not considerably exploited in order to contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of the techno-economic pathways to net-zero emission attainment in China. • Analysis of peak carbon emission and carbon neutrality by year 2030 and 2050. • Solar PV, biomass, hydro, and wind power are considered for 100 % decarbonization. • River hydro is constructed considering dry, normal, and wet years. • Carbon emission is reduced by 13.26% to 15.3% between 2030 and 2050. With the imminent acute problems and the harsh reality of climate change, many countries/groups of countries have developed policies to reduce their carbon emission. At the end of 2020, the Chinese government announced a revised policy that will see the country attain carbon neutrality by 2060 and peak emission by 2030. This study aims to determine the techno-economic requirements for net-zero emission attainment in China. The models created are used to explicate the 100% integration of renewable energy into the energy systems in a Province in China considering the years 2030 and 2050. This study is novel as it aggregates the detailed requirements of all the energy sectors and the government policies for the case study. While the approach presented in this paper is applied specifically to Sichuan Province, China, the application of this method is limitless as it is vast and viable for other countries. This study can also serve as a template for many high carbon-emitting countries with sizeable RE potential. The total energy demand in the case study is summarized under three sectors; electricity, industry, and transport. Following the government policies, renewable energy sources such as wind power, solar PV, river hydro, and biomass are considered for 100% decarbonization of the case study. River hydro being the predominant renewable energy source in this region is constructed considering three levels of hydro (dry, normal, and wet) years. The 2017 energy demand and supply data are first used to develop/validate the model on the EnergyPLAN simulation platform, then the 2030 proposed pathway to peak carbon emission by the government is analyzed. Three innovative pathways to net-zero emission attainment by 2050 are proposed in this study considering the additional use of biomass (BIO model), pumped hydro storage (EES model), and the import of clean electricity from neighboring provinces (IMP model). Based on the analyses in this study, the proposed pathway by the government cannot achieve net-zero emission by 2050, however, the three optimized strategies/models presented in this study show a clearer and faster path to decarbonization. Carbon emission will reduce by 13.26 %, 14.77%, and 15.3 % between 2030 and 2050 reference models for the dry, normal, and wet year scenarios respectively. From the three optimization models, the total cost of the import model was the lowest under different scenarios. Therefore, the economic feasibility of this approach proves the superiority of the import model in terms of economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Climate change has become the most globally concerned environmental issue. As the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter and primary energy consumer, China has strong incentives to change its coal-dominated electricity structure. Various renewable powers such as wind and solar are suitable and necessary options for carbon emission reduction. The 12th Five-Year (2011–2015) and the mid-term until 2020 are critical periods for the development of Chinese renewable powers. In this paper individual renewable electricity sources were introduced based on their characteristics. Based on the introduction, the targets as well as their effects in the medium and long-term were presented and explained; challenges China has to face in the periods were discussed in detail, and emphasis was put on hydro, solar and wind power, which is highlighted in the plans. Also solutions against these challenges were recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The regional condition and natural resources of the Yellow River Delta are superior, but the issues and constrains there are also quite pronounced. So the development of high-efficiency ecological economy is confronted with serious challenges. Take the Yellow River Delta High-efficiency Eco-economic Zone as the evaluation object and at the basis of the analyses of the development situation in the area, the energy consumption and carbon emissions were forecasted and estimated in the paper. The results indicate that the total energy use in 2015 and 2020 would be 1.62 and 2.22 times higher than that in 2009, respectively. The average annual growth rate of carbon emissions is 8.40% from 2009 to 2015 and that would be 6.50% from 2015 to 2020. The amount of carbon emissions of the area in 2015 and 2020 will take up 13.35% and 16.16% of Shandong Province, respectively. Finally, some suggestions were proposed to guarantee the sustainable energy use and the realization of carbon emission reduction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Energy supply concepts for zero energy residential building (ZERB) in Shanghai (humid) and Madrid (dry) are discussed in this paper. Simulation is employed as the main research method. Two typical housing models are designed according to the real occupancy condition, the life schedule, the thermostats settings, etc., for the two cities. An energy analysis considering the annual balance of input from the grid and output from renewable power systems is made. Indoor comfortable comparisons between the two models are presented to show optimal design strategies for HVAC under different weather conditions. Also performed is the analysis on the primary energy payback time and the CO2 equivalent saving in order to evaluate the performance of novel energy systems to verify the feasibility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Coal is China’s primary fuel for power generation and will almost certainly remain so for the foreseeable future. At present China’s installed capacity of power generation plant totals about 900 GW with over 70% of that based on coal. Although major Chinese programmes are in place to improve energy efficiency, increase deployment of renewable energy technologies and increase the installed capacity of nuclear plant, coal-fired power plants will continue to be built in large numbers for many years to come. This paper presents the results of an energy systems analysis exercise using the China MARKAL model under the support of NZEC (China-UK Near Zero Emissions Coal) Initiative, to provide a perspective on the energy technologies that may be deployed in China to 2050 to meet its energy needs. The model also examines the cost and impact of deploying CCS in China by simulating several carbon emission constraint scenarios. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper identifies the main features of CO2 emission from fossil energy combustion in China. Then it estimates China''s future energy requirements and projects its CO2 emission from 2010 to 2020 based on the scenario analysis approach. China''s rate of carbon productivity growth is estimated to be 5.4% in the period 2005–2020, while the CO2 intensity of GDP will reduce by about 50% but CO2 emission in 2020 will still be about 40% higher than prevailing in 2005 because of rapid growth of GDP. This estimation is based on the assumption that China will implement a sustainable development strategy in consideration of climate change issues. The main objectives of the strategy are to implement an “energy conservation first” strategy, to develop renewable energy and advanced nuclear technology actively, to readjust the country''s economic structure, and to formulate and legislate laws and regulations, and to build institutions for energy conservation and development of renewable energy. It concludes that international measures to mitigate CO2 emission will limit world fossil fuel consumption. China is not placed to replicate the modernization model adopted by developed countries and has to coordinate economic development and carbon dioxide emission control while still in the process of industrialization and modernization. China has to evolve a low carbon industrialization model. This is the key to the success of sustainable development initiatives in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]