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The Effects of Climate and Socio‐Demographics on Direct Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions in A ustralia
Author(s) -
GRAHAM SONIA,
SCHANDL HEINZ,
WILLIAMS LIANA J.,
FORAN TIRA
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geographical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.695
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-5871
pISSN - 1745-5863
DOI - 10.1111/1745-5871.12012
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , demographics , climate change , electricity , natural resource economics , climate change mitigation , environmental science , carbon dioxide equivalent , air conditioning , business , electricity demand , agricultural economics , electricity generation , economics , engineering , ecology , power (physics) , physics , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology , electrical engineering , biology , mechanical engineering
Household CO 2 emissions are a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions and consequently climate warming. Despite this, there has been little consideration of how household CO 2 emissions may be affected by changes in climate. The aim of the present study has been to investigate the way climate, as well as socio‐demographic characteristics, may affect household CO 2 emissions produced from energy use. A national online survey was conducted to determine current household CO 2 emissions in A ustralia as well as capture the ownership and use of household appliances and installations. Electricity and gas‐based emissions as well as the ownership of a variety of household appliances and installations were found to be strongly associated with temperature. Electricity and gas emissions were found to decrease as annual average temperatures increase. However, as temperatures continue to rise under climate change this pattern may be reversed owing to increased reliance on air conditioners. One option for preventing this from occurring is to encourage houses to adopt more solar‐passive installations. Although this may be expensive, households with higher emissions tend to have higher incomes, indicating that they may have the capacity to pay for such installations.