Three papers on the role of human behaviors in China's low-carbon development

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three papers related to the impact of human behaviors on the low-carbon development in China. Using data from different surveys and various datasets, I improve existing models by incorporating better accounts for human behaviors and study their impact in reducing energy consumption and peaking carbon emissions in China. The first paper focuses on the role of consumption and finds that, by influencing consumption to appropriate levels with the current technology progress, China could peak its emissions at a lower level and at an earlier year (before 2030) than by investing in more ambitious progressing of technologies. The second paper examines the impact of various aspects of travel behaviors and finds that, a combination of at least seven (out of 21) policies could help peak the carbon emissions of Shenzhen’s urban passenger transport sector by 2030. The third paper explores the distribution of energy behaviors, as well as the thermodynamic process and energy systems, in the commercial buildings in Hong Kong. The results show that raising the indoor set temperature save more energy than the regulations and technologies examined in this study. The proposed three models in this thesis are useful tools for scholars and policy makers to explore policy, technological and behavioral alternatives at aggregated levels and thus shed light on the ongoing and future low-carbon development in China, as well as in cities and regions of other emerging economies.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology