Direct and indirect energy consumption in China and the United States

Greenhouse gas reduction and energy consumption are becoming two important issues in both industrialized and developing countries, and policy makers are developing means to reduce total domestic energy use. We evaluate and compare the direct and the indirect energy consumption both in the People’s Republic of China (China) and the United States of America (US) by looking at a series of hybrid energy input-output tables (1997, 2002, and 2007). We also apply structural decomposition analysis (SDA), to identify the factors causing energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product) to differ between the two countries, which lead to potential energy-saving options. Our results show that, besides the differences in direct energy consumption, huge differences also exist in indirect energy consumption between the two countries. Differences in indirect energy consumption are mainly due to differences in technology. Technological change and industrial-structure change are key factors to explain the inequality of energy intensity, while there is a significant trend towards the convergence of sectorial energy efficiency between the two countries

Direct and indirect energy consumption in China and the United States

Greenhouse gas reduction and energy consumption are becoming two important issues in both industrialized and developing countries, and policy makers are developing means to reduce total domestic energy use. We evaluate and compare the direct and the indirect energy consumption both in the People’s Republic of China (China) and the United States of America (US) by looking at a series of hybrid energy input-output tables (1997, 2002, and 2007). We also apply structural decomposition analysis (SDA), to identify the factors causing energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product) to differ between the two countries, which lead to potential energy-saving options. Our results show that, besides the differences in direct energy consumption, huge differences also exist in indirect energy consumption between the two countries. Differences in indirect energy consumption are mainly due to differences in technology. Technological change and industrial-structure change are key factors to explain the inequality of energy intensity, while there is a significant trend towards the convergence of sectorial energy efficiency between the two countries

Framing sustainability in a telecoupled world.

Interactions between distant places are increasingly widespread and influential, often leading to unexpected outcomes with profound implications for sustainability. Numerous sustainability studies have been conducted within a particular place with little attention to the impacts of distant interactions on sustainability in multiple places. although distant forces have been studied, they are usually treated as exogenous variables and feedbacks have rarely been considered. To understand and integrate various distant interactions better, we propose an integrated framework based on telecoupling, an umbrella concept that refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. The concept of telecoupling is a logical extension of research on coupled human and natural systems, in which interactions occur within particular geographic locations. The telecoupling framework contains five major interrelated components, i.e., coupled human and natural systems, flows, agents, causes, and effects. We illustrate the framework using two examples of distant interactions associated with trade of agricultural commodities and invasive species, highlight the implications of the framework, and discuss research needs and approaches to move research on telecouplings forward. The framework can help to analyze system components and their interrelationships, identify research gaps, detect hidden costs and untapped benefits, provide a useful means to incorporate feedbacks as well as trade-offs and synergies across multiple systems (sending, receiving, and spillover systems), and improve the understanding of distant interactions and the effectiveness of policies for socioeconomic and environmental sustainability from local to global levels

Pattern changes in determinants of Chinese emissions

Chinese economy has been recovering slowly from the global financial crisis, but it cannot achieve the same rapid development of the pre-recession period. Instead, the country has entered a new phase of economic development – a "new normal". We use a structural decomposition analysis (SDA) and environmental input-output analysis (IOA) to estimate the determinants of China's carbon emission changes during 2005-2012. China's imports are linked to a global multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model based on the Global Trade and Analysis Project (GTAP) database to calculate the embodied CO2 emissions in imports. We find that the global financial crisis has affected the drivers of China's carbon emissions growth. From 2007 to 2010, the CO2 emissions induced by China's exports dropped, whereas emissions induced by capital formation grew rapidly. In the "new normal", the strongest factors that offset CO2 emissions have shifted from efficiency gains to structural upgrading. Efficiency was the strongest factor offsetting China's CO2 emissions before 2010 but drove a 1.4% increase in emissions in the period 2010-2012. By contrast, production structure and consumption patterns caused a 2.6% and 1.3% decrease, respectively, in China's carbon emissions from 2010 to 2012. In addition, China tends to shift gradually from an investment to a consumption-driven economy. The proportion of CO2 emissions induced by consumption had a declining trend before 2010 but grew from 28.6% to 29.1% during 2010-2012

Agglomeration and networks in spatial economies

We consider the parallel developments in the economics of agglomeration and the economics of networks. We explore the complentarities between the productivity benefits of agglomeration and those of network linkages, arguing that networks of actors dispersed over space may substitute for agglomerations of actors at a single point

Agriculture-Industry Interlinkages: Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues in the Indian Context

The inter-relationship between agriculture and industry has been a long debated issue in most of the developing countries. In the Indian context, the issue has acquired interest since the industrial stagnation of the mid 1960s. Over the years the Indian economy has undergone a structural change in its sectoral composition: from a primary agro-based economy during 1970s, the economy has emerged as predominant in the service sector since the 1990s. This structural change and uneven pattern of growth of agriculture, industry and services sector in the post reforms period is likely to appear substantial changes in the production and demand linkages among various sectors, and in turn, could have significant implication for the growth and development process of the economy. This has triggered a renewed interest in studying the inter-relationship between agriculture and industry. The present paper tries to address some of the theoretical and methodological issues in analyzing the agriculture-industry interlinkages in the Indian context

Combining Geoprocessing and Interregional Input-Output Systems: An Application to the State of São Paulo in Brazil

This work develops a method for the construction of input-output systems capable of estimating the flows of goods and services among cities, having in view that the creation of accurate strategies depends on the regional peculiarities incorporated in the scope of the economic planning researches. The study innovates by combining geoprocessing with inputoutput theory elements, facilitating the interpretation of the information available on the extensive data set of interregional input-output systems. The analytical potential is showed through a panoramic evaluation of the São Paulo State supply and demand relations, and by the application of the estimated input-output system to a study of the regional impacts of the “Bolsa Familia” Program, an income transfer program from the Federal government. The results show that this program must be understood not only as a form of income transference, but also as a catalytic agent for decreasing the regional inequality inside the state