Research on Carbon Emission Structure and Model in Low-Carbon Rural Areas: Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

As the energy crisis and environmental problems are exacerbated, rural carbon emissions have gradually attracted increasing attention. Meanwhile, rural areas have the important function of ecological carbon sequestration, so the research field of carbon emissions has gradually expanded from urban to rural areas in recent years. To systematically sort out the research progress regarding low-carbon rural areas, a total of 583 papers published during 2013–2023 were acquired through the bibliometric analysis method from the “professional field of science of building technology” in the core database of Web of Science. Then, the research stage, author cooperation, institutional cooperation, national distribution, and keyword co-occurrence of “low-carbon rural areas” were analyzed via data visualization analysis software VOSviewer, and the current hot issues, such as carbon emission calculation list and elements, carbon emission measurement method/model, and energy saving and emission reduction paths, were further summarized and reviewed. The statistical analysis results show that: (1) in most of the current research on rural carbon emissions, geographical characteristics and rural carbon emissions have been rarely analyzed; (2) there is a lack of interdisciplinary research, e.g., less cooperation with geographic information or other disciplines; (3) the differences and characteristics of rural carbon emission factors in different economies and regions have rarely been analyzed. Based on the analysis, this research pointed out that future research can be comprehensively carried out in formulating rural carbon emission inventory, establishing a multi-scale and multi-regional statistical method and so on. This research also provides a comprehensive analysis and summary of the existing research on the structure and model of carbon emissions in low-carbon rural areas and also presents the problems that need to be paid attention to in the future research, pointing out the research direction for relevant scholars.

Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Carbon Emissions in Mixed-Use Villages: A Sustainable Development Study of the Yangtze River Delta, China

“…where E e is the carbon emissions of electric power, E f represents the electric power consumption obtained from China Rural Energy Yearbook (2022) [46], which were released by the local power companies. γ is the electricity emission factor, derived from the Baseline Emission Factors for Regional Power Grids in China [17], with a value of 0.928 kg (CO 2 )/kWh.…”

“…Scholars have posited that mixed-use villages have become one of the main sources of China's carbon emissions [16], which could hinder China's efforts towards its "Dual Carbon" goals. At the same time, this has led to various social, economic, and environmental problems [17], such as harm to the rural environment, negative effects on villagers' health, and a widening gap between urban and rural areas, rendering rural development unsustainable.…”

Carbon Emission Composition and Carbon Reduction Potential of Coastal Villages under Low-Carbon Background

“…Relevant studies show that there are differences in energy consumption and industrial layout in villages of different regions, which leads to the different composition of carbon emissions, but according to the currently available papers, it can be found that scholars have carried out some calculations, evaluations and predictions of single-factor carbon sources and sinks in rural production activities, such as building operation [7], agricultural production [8], animal husbandry [9], photovoltaic carbon sinks, and so on [10]. The results have proved that rural buildings are important carriers of carbon emissions in production and life, and the energy use and production activities generated therein are one of the main sources of global greenhouse gases [11,12]. Due to its characteristics, rural development often lags behind urban development [13], and the same is true for energy use.…”