Virtual Water-embodied Energy Accounting And The Total Water-energy Efficiency Study Of China's Construction Industry

Water and energy are fundamental materials for the survival and development of human society.They are also the focuses of promoting the healthy and sustainable development of China's economy under the new situation.However,China is a country with serious water shortage and the largest amount of energy consumption in the world.The contradiction between supply and demand of water and energy resources is becoming increasingly prominent with the rapid development of China's economy.Therefore,it is more and more important to carry out water-saving and energy-saving strategies systematically.At the same time,due to the fast development of the urbanization process,China's construction industry has been booming and the construction scale has ranked the first in the world.Since the development of China's construction industry is relatively extensive,the construction activities have caused both large consumption and serious waste of water and energy.Therefore,it is particularly urgent to study the water and energy consumption status in the construction industry.Except for the direct consumption of physical water and energy,most of the water and energy consumption is hidden in the intermediate goods and service in the production process.Such “hidden” water and energy are also called virtual water and embodied energy.However,previous studies mainly focused on the direct consumption of water and energy at the production end,ignoring the virtual water and embodied energy consumed in the whole industry chain.At the same time,water and energy are inextricably linked in many ways.They depend on each other in the process of production and consumption.Therefore,only when water and energy are studied under the same framework can we systematically analyze their relationship and difference.The purpose of this study is to establish a framework to measure the virtual water and embodied energy consumption in China's construction industry and to investigate the consumption and transfer pattern of them.After that,the comprehensive efficiency of China's construction industry will be quantified with both virtual water and embodied energy considered.Moreover,the water and energy saving potential in all regions will be calculated.Such study may facilitate the policy-making for the conservation work of water and energy resources.Firstly,this study systematically reviews the previous research investigating the virtual water,embodied energy and the efficiency of the construction industry.Then based on the multi-regional input-output(MRIO)table of China,this study establishes the MRIO model to quantify the embodied energy and virtual water consumption in China's construction industry.The transfer rules of virtual water and embodied energy among different regions and economic sectors are also investigated.Secondly,this study further analyzes the comprehensive efficiency of water and energy consumption in China's construction industry.With the data envelopment analysis(DEA)method as a major tool,this study establishes the model to evaluate the total water-energy efficiency of China's construction industry from the multi-regional perspective.Based on this model,this study quantitative analyzes the comprehensive efficiency of water and energy consumption as well as the saving potential of water and energy in the construction industry of different regions in China.Finally,considering the status of water and energy consumption of the construction industry as well as the economy of different regions,this study puts forward the strategies for water and energy conservation from the multi-regional perspective.