Analysis On Carbon Footprint Of China’s Thermal Power Industry Based On Energy Utilization

With the development of socio-economy and the improvement of living standard, the electricity and thermal demands in China grows year by year, as well as the carbon-emission problems caused by the electricity and thermal consumption. In order to achieve a low-carbon electricity and thermal development, a comprehensive study of direct and indirect carbon emissions is necessary. In this paper, the size, structure and trends of carbon footprint of thermal power industry are discussed, and the carbon footprint flow among industrial sectors and its influencing factors are analyzed. Based on the conclusion, some policy implication is recommended to the government and relevant departments to solve the problem of carbon emissions in the thermal power sector.Firstly, a calculation method which recommended by the IPCC is adopted to calculate the direct investment energy carbon emissions of power from1992to2012. Moreover the size and trends of direct carbon emissions is analyzed.Based on the results of direct carbon emissions, the STIRPAT model is introduced to analyze the direct carbon emissions from1995to2011, four factors are selected as follows: power sector payrolls, industrial output of power industry, power supply coal consumption and energy intensity. The partial least square method is adopted as a solver of the model. A conclusion is derived that the largest impact on China’s thermal power industry direct emissions is coal consumption of power supply which is inhibitory effect. The effect of the other three factors are positive, leading to the growth of direct emissions of the thermal power sector.Secondly, the input-output analysis method is applied to estimate the trends of total carbon footprint of thermal power industry, size and structure in1992,1997,2002, and2007based on the production associated. In addition, changes of carbon footprint in the view of electrical and thermal terminal is measured. With the structural decomposition, factors influencing the carbon footprint of power industry is analyzed.The selected seven factors are carbon emission coefficient, energy intensity, production structure, structure and distribution structure, output size and population. Through the analysis, it can be found that only the energy intensity effect on the carbon footprint are inhibited and the weight of energy intensity is heavier. The remaining six factors are positive and the distribution structure is the most obvious factor.