The population of China stands at 1.338 billion people. The Chinese economy after the open policy of 1978 has experienced tremendous growth. The average GDP growth rate of China during the last decade was about 10.03%. The increase in growth of Urban China accounts for a greater portion of the overall growth, which has led to significant increase in demand for energy. To support such rapid economic growth, China’s energy consumption has quadrupled from 603 million tons of coal equivalent (Mtce) in 1980 to over 3,000 Mtce in 2010 and it is still on the rise (National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS), 2010). In 2010, China consumed 17.4% of the world’s energy compared to only 7.9% in 1975, making it the world’s largest energy consumer and top greenhouse gas emitter. According to the IEA (2010), China’s share will surge to 22% through 2035 and will account for over 30 per cent of the projected growth in global energy demand.
China is the second largest energy consuming country behind the United States. The household lifestyle has undergone significant change due to the rapid economic growth it has experienced in the last decade. This change has led to an increase in incomes, demand for goods and services as well as energy consumption. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of change in urban household lifestyle on energy consumption and related carbon emissions. The study employs the use of the Consumer Lifestyle Approach (CLA) in measuring the direct and indirect effects of household lifestyle changes on energy demand. The results show that energy consumption and annual carbon emissions have increased throughout the study period, while energy intensity has shown a declining trend.
From figure 1 below, it is clear that the level of energy consumption has increased over the period for all household indicators. This suggests that changing lifestyles are having proportional changes on energy consumption. During the period, the indirect carbon emissions of food, clothing, household facilities and services was 62.9, 16.5 and 12.5 per cent respectively. The carbon emissions of food production showed an upward trend during the years. The share of food production in carbon emissions is growing over the years as food demand increases. This is because food processing is highly energy intensive (requiring Liquefied Petroleum Gas and/or kerosene) and therefore related carbon emissions are considerable.
From figure 3, it is evident that the share of coal in household energy use presented an upward trend and accounted for the greatest share in the fuel type analysis during the period 2009-2012. The share of petroleum was highest in 2012. The share of diesel, electricity and natural gas is rising indicating a transition in home energy use of urban households. The total household energy consumption grew from 47.9 million Kwh in 2009 to 54.9 million Kwh in 2012. Total annual carbon emissions caused by household energy consumption, grew from 15.3 million in 2009 to 21.8 million in 2012 (30% growth). Of these, coal accounted for the largest share, followed closely by petroleum.
The results of the above analysis quantify conclusively that urban household lifestyle does have significant impact on energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. That is, energy demand and use as well as related carbon emissions are all directly and indirectly impacted by changing lifestyles in the country.
The trend analysis on total household energy consumption (figure 5) shows that the Chinese economy would experience a tremendous growth in energy consumption from 46 million Kwh in 2009 to 282 million Kwh in 2030 which represents over 500% growth in energy demand over the next two decades. A similar pattern is observed for the forecast of total carbon emissions. The trend shows that this would grow from 19.7 million Kwh in 2009 to 75 million kWh in 2030, indicating a growth of more than 300%. The forecast shows that carbon emissions growth will be less than the growth in energy consumption.
The main policy implication emerging from these findings is that policy makers must take into consideration the impact of a growing urban population on energy consumption as a key macroeconomic determinant in policy formulation. There is a dire need for policy makers to focus on policies that will conserve energy through the use of taxation, rigorous energy efficiency standards and price ceilings in the energy markets.
Osasohan Agbonlahor is a PhD Economics Student at the University of Nevada-Reno and a member of the United States Association of Energy Economics (USAEE). She holds an MS.C degree in Energy Studies with specialization in Oil and Gas Economics from the Centre of Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) of the University of Dundee, United Kingdom. Prior to this, she worked as a Commercial Analyst at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Headquarters in Abuja.
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