The characteristics and influential factors of direct carbon emissions from residential energy consumption: a case study of Lijiang City, China

Human activities have increasingly contributed to the total carbon emissions in a considerable portion in contemporary society.Energy consumption of each family,which is the basic unit of our society,is one of the most important sources of anthropic carbon emissions.Studying family consumption characteristic as well as the resulting carbon emissions pattern is of great significance for the fulfillment of the low-carbon strategy in China.By conducting a systematic family survey and panel data collection,a detailed inventory on energy-caused carbon emissions from rural and urban households in Lijiang city was exhibited.The divergences among different households,and related socioeconomic drivers were analyzed.The results showed that:(1) The main type of energy consumed by urban families was electricity,with liquid gas and coal as subsidiary,while the main type of energy consumed by rural families was firewood,supplemented by methane and electricity.In rural areas,the annual average carbon emission from firewood consumption was 4051kg per family,which accounted for 83.66% of total carbon emissions.In urban areas,the annual average carbon emission from electricity consumption was 1280kg per family,occupying 83.4% of the total.(2)The amount of family carbon emissions in rural areas was much higher than that in urban areas due to different energy consumption types,while the carbon emissions factor of firewood(1.87 kg CO2/kg) is much higher than the marginal carbon emissions coefficient of electricity(0.7134kg CO2 · kW-1 · h-1).(3) Household carbon emission in rural areas was significantly affected by family size,family income and education level.The enlargement of family size increased the household carbon emission by raising firewood consumption.Improvement of family income and education level promoted the use of low-carbon energy instead of firewood,which led to a decrease in carbon emission.(4) Household carbon emission in urban areas was significantly affected by age structure,education level,family size and housing area.The increase of the factors would lead to the increase of electricity consumption and the resulting carbon emission.(5) Necessary policies and regulations could be implemented to reduce family carbon emissions and included enlarging the covering area of "Home Appliances to the Countryside" policy,especially for remote rural areas,increasing family income by implement supporting policies,and raising environmental awareness of farmers by more education.