Study On Carbon Footprint Of Energy Consumption And Influencing Factors Of Shanxi Province

With the development of economy and the expanded size of energy use, thegreenhouse gas emission caused by energy consumption dramatically increases andglobal warming have been the threat to the sustainable development of human. Underthis background, low carbon economy is coming into being and generally recognizedby various countries. China, the largest developing country, is faced with pressure ofcarbon emission reduction. Shanxi, the major province of energy use, is crucial toachieve the goal of emission reduction in China. With the economic development andthe extensive use of energy, the carbon emission in Shanxi will still increase.Therefore, saving energy and reducing carbon emission are the key ways to developsustainable economy against the background of global warming.This paper, discussing from the issue of global warming, is on the basis oftheories of energy, sustainable development and low carbon economy. Giving thesituation of nature, economy, society and energy consumption in Shanxi, it calculatesthe carbon footprint from the year of1994to2013in Shanxi according to thecalculation method proposed by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange) emission listing guideline, and comprehensively analyzes the carbonfootprint from the aspects of total energy consumption, industrial structure and energyconsumption structure in different industry. In addition, this thesis compares thecarbon footprint indicator of Shanxi with that of the whole nation considering theconventional related indicators of the per capita carbon footprint, the intensity ofcarbon footprint, the output value of carbon footprint, and new related indicators ofthe net carbon footprint and the carbon pressure to build a more comprehensiveevaluation system of carbon footprint. It draws the conclusion:1) the number of percapita carbon footprint in Shanxi is higher than the national per capita carbonfootprint and the decreasing carbon intensity is still over the whole country, whichmeans the economic development in Shanxi depends on energy consumption andenergy efficiency is low.2) the carbon deficit and pressure are higher than the nationallevel, thus economical environment is faced with huge challenges.3)Then the paper analyzes the contribution of factors such as energy structure, economic developmentwith the help of LMDI（Logarithmic mean Divisia index） factorization model to percapita carbon footprint. The result shows that the energy structure and efficiency havean inhibiting effect on carbon footprint, but not obvious, and the carbon footprintincrease of energy consumption mainly due to the pulling function of economicdevelopment.This paper not only analyzes existed problem and causes of energy consumptionin carbon footprint in the procedure of low carbon economy by the method ofempirical analysis associated with normative analysis, but also put forwards thefollowing four targeted countermeasures:1) Readjust the industrial structure andpromote the development of resource-based economy transformation;2) Optimize theenergy structure and improve the rate of energy utilization;3) Improve populationquality and advocate low-carbon life;4) Plant trees and increases vegetationcoverage in Shanxi. so as to reduce the carbon footprint of Shanxi Province,developing low-carbon economy, building a green Shanxi Province to providetheoretical and practical support. In order to provide theoretical and practical supportto decrease the carbon footprint, then develop low-carbon economy and built a greenShanxi.