Energy-Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Policy Options: Assisting Chinese Cities in Prioritizing and Choosing Strategies to Implement to Become a Sustainable Community

摘要

Myriad energy-efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation policy options are available forrnurban communities to reduce energy use and emissions from buildings, transportation systems,rnindustries, utilities, public lighting, water and wastewater, and solid waste disposal. This paperrndescribes a methodology to assist urban community planners and policymakers in China tornprioritize and choose strategies to implement for their particular situation. The methodology wasrndeveloped for use in a dynamic decision-making tool, the Benchmarking and Energy-SavingrnTool for Low Carbon Cities (BEST-Cities), which was specifically designed for urbanrncommunities in China but which could be used internationally. The methodology builds onrnconcepts from other urban low-carbon planning tools, but augments them to address specificrnChinese conditions and needs. The methodology starts by conducting a simple inventory ofrnenergy use by end-use sector, which is then converted by the tool into units of carbon dioxidernand methane emissions. Next, Key Performance Indicators are calculated and the toolrnbenchmarks the city to other cities, providing an indication of the energy saving and emissionsrnreduction potential for each end-use sector as a first step for policy prioritization. Then the levelrnof authority and capacity of the city in terms of financial and human resources and enforcementrnis self-assessed since these are also important inputs for policy prioritization. The tool thenrnprovides Chinese planners and policy-makers with a menu of policies and measures prioritizedrnby sector based on the identified energy and emissions reduction potential and distinguished byrnspeed of implementation, carbon savings potential, and first cost to the government. Planners andrnpolicymakers then prioritize the policy options based on their specific criteria and needs.