Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
In China, the power sector contributes to over 40% of total carbon emissions (He et al., 2022). With the Chinese government proposing a carbon-neutral timeline by 2060(Jia et al., 2022), regulating electricity emissions has become a pressing concern (Qiao and Lin, 2023; Zhang and Gao, 2016).The power sector faces significant pressure to reduce emissions, with particular emphasis on the reduction of emissions from industries, especially those that are energy-intensive (Jia et al., 2023; Otsuka, 2023). Some scholars have explored the path to emission reduction in the power industry from the perspective of commercial electricity consumption. However, there is a limited number of studies examining the carbon emission reduction effects of household energy consumption (Xin-gang and Pei-ling, 2020). This is primarily due to the difficulty in regulating carbon emissions from household electricity use, and the challenge in accurately calculating the carbon potential of households. Moreover, there is currently a scarcity of comprehensive data on household energy consumption behavior in China, posing significant obstacles to the research on household carbon emission reduction(Wang and Lin, 2021a).
In recent years, the proportion of residential electricity consumption in China has consistently risen (Mack and Tampe-Mai, 2016). Consequently, there has been a renewed focus on household energy consumption through data obtained from household surveys (Barr et al., 2005; Dillman et al., 1983; Park and Kwon, 2017). However, measuring residents' energy-saving behavior and exploring the endogenous driving factors and pathways of residents' energy-saving are prerequisites for studying carbon emission reduction among residents. Residential users engage in energy-saving for two primary purposes: first, to reduce their utilities bills, and second, to realize their preferences for environmental behavior. These two approaches can yield markedly different outcomes. While the first method of energy-saving may result in a reduction of carbon emissions, behavior driven by cutting bills has limited potential. This is because households adopting energy-saving due to budget constrain tend to have inherently lower electricity consumption, thus offering limited potential for carbon reduction. Conversely, the second type of household, characterized by energy-saving behaviors driven by green and low-carbon preferences, presents greater potential for emission reduction. The scope for emission reduction in this context arises from the fact that some residents are more inclined to invest in energy-efficiency products, technologies, or other green alternatives to conventional electricity, rather than simply curtailing their energy consumption. This inclination creates more substantial opportunities for emission reduction. To delve deeper into the potential for emission reduction in residents' electricity consumption behavior, our intention is to categorize residents' energy-saving goals based on their environmental awareness. This classification will enable us to investigate the various electricity consumption patterns that residents with different characteristics may adopt under distinct energy-saving objectives.