۱- Introduction

۲- Review of embodied energy quantification in China’s economy

۳- Methodology

۴- Results and analysis

۵- Discussion and policy implications

۶- Conclusions

References

Abstract

Given the substantial resource use and emissions generated from the building sector, China is seeking a more sustainable and greener mode of building construction. To grasp the characteristics of the embodied energy use of the building sector across provinces in China, a multidimensional framework is developed to examine the spatial and sectoral distributions through the whole supply chain using a multiregional input-output (MRIO) analysis and structural path analysis (SPA) as the underlying methods. The results show that from a regional perspective, Liaoning, Shandong, and Guangdong are identified as top contributors, while from a sectoral perspective, the manufacture of nonmetallic mineral products, smelting and pressing of metals, and transportation, storage, posts, and telecommunications are the largest energy suppliers. The upstream examination indicates that self-digestion is an obvious and dominant energy use behavior for most regions, while the relative importance of sectoral suppliers changes regularly with the increase in upstream stages. The energy capture that occurred in the cross-regional energy transfers indicates that Zhejiang and Hebei are the national leading net importer and net exporter of energy use in China’s building sector, respectively.

Introduction

The building sector has become one of the most important contributors to the global growth of adverse environment impacts by exerting significant effects on resource consumption and emission generation. According to the data obtained from the previous research, two-fifths of global energy consumption, one-fourth of waste generation and water use, and one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributable to the construction and operation of buildings (Buildings and Initiative, 2009; Chau et al., 2015a; Dixit et al., 2015). Driven by mandatory energy reduction targets and an ambitious plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 60e65% by 2030, China is seeking to achieve a greener and more sustainable urbanization process by improving energy efficiency in the building sector. Although the operational phase consumes more energy in the lifecycle of a building, the significance of investigating the embodied energy use of a building has been gradually realized by the research community because of its vital role in achieving sustainability in the building sector (Emmanuel, 2004; Huberman and Pearlmutter, 2008; Jeong et al., 2012; Tucker et al., 1993). The necessity of quantifying the embodied energy consumption of buildings may have caused the following issues to arise. First, with the growing emphasis on energy-efficient buildings, innovative materials and advanced technologies have been adopted in newly built buildings, thus causing the proportion of embodied energy to increase by 30e50% of a building’s lifecycle energy consumption (Sartori and Hestnes, 2007). Second, lifespan directly impacts the contribution of the embodied phase from a lifecycle perspective. Additionally, in comparison to the operational phase, which has been extensively studied by more standardized methods (Copiello, 2016; Scheuer et al., 2003; Van Ooteghem and Xu, 2012), the attribution and mechanism of the embodied energy consumption in the construction process remain unclear (Dixit, 2017a).