The greenhouse gas rebound effect from increased energy efficiency across China's staple crops

Wei Zhen, Quande Qin and Lu Miao

Energy Policy, 2023, vol. 173, issue C

Abstract: A thorough examination of the uneven greenhouse gas rebound effect (GHG-RE) from increased energy efficiency at crop-specific level can contribute to GHG emissions reduction. This study first evaluated the embodied energy intensities (EEIs) and embodied GHG intensities (EGHGIs) of China's 32 staple crops from 1997 to 2017. Then, a rebound quantization model was introduced to assess crop-specific GHG-REs. The decisive agronomic inputs for uneven crop-specific GHG-REs were further examined. Finally, a structural path analysis (SPA), combined with a structural path betweenness analysis was adopted to identify the high-priority energy paths involved in producing decisive agronomic inputs, in order to improve energy efficiency while curbing uneven crop-specific GHG-REs. The results show that: (1) grain crops generate larger GHG-REs than cash crops. (2) To prevent rapid growth in GHG-REs, six key and six potentially key staple crops must be paid adequate attention. (3) The energy efficiency of plastic film is the primary contributor to crop-specific GHG-REs; agricultural machinery, synthetic fertilizers, and seeds also play important roles. (4) Emphasis should be placed on energy-saving in the production of decisive agronomic inputs. (5) According to the characteristics of high-priority energy paths, different energy-saving measures can be adopted when producing various decisive agronomic inputs.

Keywords: GHG rebound effect; Energy efficiency; Hybrid EIO-LCA; Structural path analysis; Structural path betweenness analysis; Staple crops (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522006176
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:173:y:2023:i:c:s0301421522006176

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113398

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().