Search Results (5)

Food production and consumption require large amounts of freshwater. There is no literature on the decomposition analysis of the intensities of water supply-demand balances (water balance intensities) for each country worldwide. The aim of this study is to evaluate the water balance intensities and elucidate the promoting factors and offset factors of water balance intensities for each country worldwide, focusing on food supply-demand balances and considering food trade balances on a global scale. The modified Laspeyres index method is applied to both a production-based water balance index (WBI^PB) and a consumption-based water balance index (WBI^CB). The major promoting factor for the WBI^PB is the renewable freshwater resources, whereas the major offset factor is the produced item preference. The major promoting factor for the WBI^CB is the consumed item preference, whereas the major offset factor is the producing area preference. Improving irrigation efficiencies of rice and cereals is effective because rice requires the largest blue water footprint intensities, considering irrigation efficiency on a calorie content basis in all of the items, whereas cereals are the largest share of calorie-based production quantities in all of the items worldwide. This study provides the foundation for decreasing water balance intensities regarding food production and consumption. Full article

The development of low-carbon electric power industry plays a vital role in sustainable economic development due to the supporting role of electricity in the Gross Domestic Product GDP. The electric carbon productivity indicator is introduced to investigate the provincial economic development and electric industry-related indicators. The refined Laspeyres decomposition technique is adopted to decompose provincial economic change into the quantitative influence of CO₂ emission, electric carbon productivity, and emission structure for the first-stage decomposition; the electric carbon productivity change is sub-decomposed into the influence of factors such as electricity-economic productivity, electricity import-export, and generation carbon efficiency. Through decomposition analysis for the research period of 2005 to 2015, scientific and reasonable suggestions are made for improvement of electric carbon productivity and provincial economic development: (1) The main obstacle to electric carbon productivity improvement is emissions from the power industry. (2) There is interaction between the green economic development mode and the low-carbon electric power industry. In others words, provincial future economy development mode formulation should consider not only economic and industrial factors but also power industry factors. (3) The issue of electric carbon productivity improvement and regional development mode is partially consistent with geographic locations, which is a comprehensive effect of economy level, power industry, energy resources, technological development level, environmental awareness, etc. (4) Due to the existence of regional protection, provincial local incentives should be promulgated to break the GDP-driven development mode to realize coordination among the economy, power industry, and the environment. Full article

Unprecedented economic achievement in China’s textile industry (TI) has occurred along with rising water consumption. The goal of industrial sustainable development requires the decoupling of economic growth from resource consumption. This paper examines the relationship between water consumption and economic growth, and the internal influence mechanism of China’s TI and its three sub-sectors: the manufacture of textiles (MT) sector, the Manufacture of Textile Wearing Apparel, Footwear, and Caps (MTWA) sector, and the manufacture of chemical fibers (MCF) sector. A decoupling analysis was performed and the Laspeyres decomposition method was applied to the period from 2001 to 2014. We showed that six of the fourteen years analyzed (2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2013) exhibited a strong decoupling effect and three of the fourteen years (2005, 2007, and 2010) exhibited a weak decoupling effect. Overall, China’s TI experienced a good decoupling between economic growth and water consumption from 2002 to 2014. For the three sub-sectors, the MTWA sector experienced a more significant positive decoupling than the MT and MCF sectors. The decomposition results confirm that the industrial scale factor is the most important driving force of China’s TI water consumption increase, while the water efficiency factor is the most important inhibiting force. The industrial structure adjustment does not significantly affect water consumption. The industrial scale and water use efficiency factors are also the main determinants of change in water consumption for the three sub-sectors. Full article

Achieving the decoupling of electric CO₂ emissions from total electricity generation is important in ensuring the sustainable socioeconomic development of China. To realize this, China implemented market-oriented reforms to its electric power industry at the beginning of 2003. This study used the Tapio decoupling index, the Laspeyres decomposition algorithm, and decoupling-related data from 1993 to 2012 to evaluate the effect of these reforms. Several conclusions can be drawn based on the empirical analysis. (1) The reforms changed the developmental trend of the decoupling index and facilitated its progress towards strong decoupling. (2) The results forecasted through fitting the curve to the decoupling index indicate that strong decoupling would be realized by 2030. (3) Limiting the manufacturing development and upgrading the generation equipment of the thermal power plants are essential for China to achieve strong decoupling at an early date. (4) China should enhance regulatory pressures and guidance for appropriate investment in thermal power plants to ensure the stable development of the decoupling index. (5) Transactions between multiple participants and electricity price bidding play active roles in the stable development of the decoupling index. Full article

The following analysis traces U.S. transport CO₂ emissions in combustion by mode for 1960–2008. Changes in emissions are divided into components related to overall population and economic growth, transport mode shift, changes in the ratio of fuel used to passenger or tonne-km of activity, and changes in the CO₂ content of fuels. Where data permit we show how changes in vehicle utilization affected CO₂ emissions. We comment on factors causing the changes in components of emissions. A Log-Mean Divisia Index and Laspeyres decompositions of the 1960–2008 changes are calculated. From this decomposition we speculate to what extent the factors associated with the increases in CO₂ emissions since 1960 would be important in the future, and what other factors could reduce emissions. This thorough decomposition is imperative for the crafting of transport policy that aims to address climate change. Full article