Bin Su & Elspeth Thomson 
China’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation 
Household Behaviour, Legislation, Regional Analysis and Impacts

This Brief identifies various aspects of energy challenges faced by the Chinese central/local governments, and also provides an opportunity to study how best to achieve green growth and a low-carbon transition in a developing country like China. The progress of China’s carbon mitigation policies also has significant impacts on the on-going international climate change negotiations. Therefore, both policymakers and decision makers in China and other countries can benefit from studying the challenges and opportunities in China’s energy development.

Table of Content

Introduction.- A Survey Analysis of Energy Use and Conservation Opportunities in Chinese Households.- Household Energy Saving in China: The Challenge of Changing Behaviour.- Prospects of Energy Savings and GHG Emissions Reductions from Energy Efficiency.- Energy and Pollution Efficiencies of Regions in China.- The Legal Challenges of Legislation and Policies on Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency in China.- Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategies in Japan and Their Implications in China’s Future Energy Development.

About the author

Dr. Su Bin joined the Energy Studies Institute in September 2011 after finishing his Ph D in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the National University of Singapore. He received his Master’s degree in Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics from the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007. He also has two Bachelor degrees: a BSc in Statistics and BEng in Electronic Information Engineering, both from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2004. His main research interest is energy and environmental systems modeling and analysis, with particular emphasis on energy efficiency, embodied energy/emissions, carbon footprint and carbon pricing. Dr. Su is presently Associate Editor of Energy Economics (ISSN: 0140-9883), and referee for around 30 international peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Elspeth Thomson received her Ph D from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Her research interests span Asian energy security, energy economics and energy and the environment. Besides her book tracing the history of China’s coal industry, and several edited collections, she has published numerous articles and book chapters on many aspects of the various types of energy consumed and traded in Southeast, North and South Asia. Through the 1990s she taught at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Lingnan University in Hong Kong. From 2001-2007, she was a Research Fellow at the East Asian Institute at NUS where she was a China energy specialist.